Jack Wilshere says he’s ‘devastated’ for Mesut Ozil after the German international picked up a knee injury that will sideline him for up to four months.
The 25-year-old World Cup winner is understood to have picked up the problem in Arsenal’s defeat at Chelsea but was only diagnosed by his national team’s medics when he reported for Euro 2016 qualifier duty last week.
Eager to play down the effect on Arsenal’s tactical set-up, Wilshere stressed that Arsene Wenger has plenty of options at his disposal on the flanks with England colleagues Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the returning Theo Walcott eager to take over.
“We are devastated for Mesut because he can play in that number 10, we have seen what he can do at number 10,” Wilshere told reporters after England’s 1-0 victory over Estonia on Saturday night.
“It’s tough to take but it is part and parcel of football. I have had my fair few injuries. It is not a curse, it happens and you just have to deal with it.
“It will be hard for him [Ozil] because he likes football, he has never really had an injury before. He had a slight one last season.
“I am not even sure how long it is, I’ve not been back to the club. It will be difficult for him. But he is naturally quite a fit lad so he will be alright.
“Ozil was playing on the left a bit so it probably won’t change much in the centre. Chambo will get a chance. Theo is coming back as well. Now it might give Theo or Chambo a chance.”
Tomas Rosicky is another who might have been challenging for a place in Ozil’s absence but it appears he too has succumbed to injury [story here] during the Interlull and is waiting for a full diagnosis.
OOOOOH Santi Cazoooorrrlaaa
Haha nice… OOOOOR Santi Cazooooooorlaaa!
Injury god: so I heard u have best squad depth at midfield? Challenge accepted!
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2232299-mesut-ozil-accused-of-affair-by-christian-lell-amid-mandy-capristo-split-reports
Is this the reason Mesut Ozil has been underperforming and why he was actually sold by Real Madrid?
Go on Jack show us what you’ve got!! COYG!!
Fuck Mourinho…
Not exactly on topic, but you can’t disagree with it!
Ozil is a pile of dog dump.
Arsene’s insistance of playing a pile of dog dump on the left of our midfield is perplexing.
Dog dumps are not renowned for playing on the left wing, infact they stink when played there.
Dog dumps are renowned for not chasing back, getting knocked off the ball easily and not being anywhere as flexible or as good as Cesc Fabregas, who wanted to come home but a pile of dog dump had taken his place.
Arsene out!
I agree with everything you said… except the first and last sentences.
I disagree with everything inbetween. That has to be one of the worst comments I’ve ever seen on this site.
There are a number of reasons to want Arsene gone. Some of them are even good. This reason is a pile of dog dump.
Ozil is not a shit player. Surely you’d have noticed that against Galatasaray and Villa? He plays 2 games at #10 and he gets 2 assists and a goal. For whatever reason, he doesn’t perform as well when he’s out on the wings, even though he does have licence to roam. He’s a brilliant player dude… Not at his best form, but some way removed from a pile of dog dump.
These fans that criticise Ozil don’t actually watch the game. They cheer the goals we score and abuse the scapegoats when we lose.
That is the modern day fan for you.
Damn Straight…. It’s fucking annoying!
Even the Germany natuonal team struggled without him!
Want Ozil to get fit, stay and prove his worth in the team.
The future is bright for Arsenal.
Gutted for the lad, however I agree with jack, to potentially see 6 england internationals in the starting line up is something to be proud of.
I’m hoping one day we’ll see something like this:
Sterling-Welbeck-Walcott
Ox-Chambers-Wilshere
Gibbs- Random Cunt- Hayden – Jenkinson
Any cunt other than Hart.
I’m an Australian, but even so, it’d be great to see that many Arsenal players together for any national team (even England).
Wait, 4 months?? And here I thought it was 10 weeks (German physios) or two months (arsenal).
Saw a study recently that said those who expect the worst only to be pleasantly surprised rated higher on an overall self happiness scale. This is something that pertains directly to the interests of all Gooners everywhere!
I’m going with this and hope to be all the happier for it when he comes back in two weeks. 😉
Dude…. Don’t you mean he’s a brilliant player against inferior opposition on occasion?
But when the going gets tough he’s nowhere to be seen.
He’s inconsistent, he’s inflexible, not a winger and doesn’t provide enough to warrant a free role in the team.
We should accept our mistake and move on, but Arsene won’t, he will persist with sticking square pegs in round holes and with players who aren’t doing it regularly, Cazorla is a much better footballer than Ozil, this is a fact.
Quite convenient of you to compare a ‘fresh’ player like Santi who has been fantastic of late with one who has been played in various positions. Santi got to have a pre-season while Ozil & BFG were thrown straight back into action after a weeks training. Anyway, if you look at the 2 over a longer period, Santi’s chance creation is far less impressive but he has also been victim to playing in a wide role. He should perform a lot better if played in the middle in Ozil’s absense. The bigger problem is the tweaked formation and getting the… Read more »
Ozil just isnt up to speed with the prem, he has consistently under performed in the top games, gets knocked of the ball far far to easy, Im not using him as a scape goat im just saying it like it is. certain players just arent cut out for the Prem and so far I believe he’s one of them that isnt. I pray he proves all us doubters wrong as there’s nothing Id love to see more than the player wee thought wee were getting for 42 million a year and a half ago flourish like he did at… Read more »
I’d add to that that those who scapegoat Wilshere or the 4-3-3 are equally childish
I dont think Ozil has ever had a long term injury until he came to Arsenal, whats going on at our club!
Can someone just wake me up please?
Time to give Cazorla a run in his fav position then.
Or hey, what about trying to play the guy with number ten on his shirt in the number ten role?
The last thing is the bees knees on Football Manager ’14…
I think Wenger playing Mesut on the left is part of the players development, Wenger is a genius and knows how to make great players greater. Playing on the wing teaches you discipline, once Mesut is disciplined enough and comes back to his number 10 role he’ll be a beast.
greatest bullshit i have ever heard. We bought ozil for 42million. He was already polished and playing at his peak at madrid. Arsene has deteriorated that progress stop making bullshit excuses for the old man ffs.
Ita unbelievable really. Arsene could play Woj as a striker and you would still find a lot of people here explaining what he did. Did you notice the number of times jack said “#10”? Either ozil is shit or Wenger is stubborn and stupid.
And you and I both know Ozil aint shit. Plays in his position, gets rave reviews. Plays out of position gets the stupid media on his back. How hard can it possibly be to figure this out?
First Ozil and now Rosiscky???….with the injury list we already have?….who next?
I am beginning to believe someone up there has it in for Arsenal!!!
well if you are listening, please stay away from Meterscielny, you hear me???
Too late for one half of that… ;(
Nothing out of the ordinary then with regards to injuries. 🙁
Tbh i prefer the ox to ozil. Hes a beast whereas ozil is a true lightweight.
didn’t you hear he’s leaving in January anyway, he hates us it’s all in the papers so it must be completely true, papers don’t make things up also Sanchez off next because of some issues with his shirt sleeves and never getting a go in goal
We’ve only played two truly good matches this season, and Ozil was our nr 10 in both of them. I was hoping we’d try to build our team around him, as he’s still young enough for his best years to be ahead of him, but for now that’s simply not possible. We’ll have to make due with what we have, but we should still be able to win our next fixtures, as they shouldn’t be too tough.
Stop making excuses for Arsene. He has lost his competitive touch and as long as he remains in charge, we will not see any Premier leagues or champions leagues trophies. Ozil is the best NO 10 in the world (arguably), by playing him out on the left, and preferring Jack Wilshire (no offense to Jack) is absolutely ridiculous. Wenger is trying to do the same project as he did with Ramsey a few years ago. Jack is an overrated english player who has never reached his peak due to constant injuries. It hurts to say, but as long as AW… Read more »
I dunno, I think that trying to adapt the team and it’s tactics when we came up short last year and are still assimilating new players isn’t a bad idea.
FFS its Cazorla who’s taken up Ozil’s position. Not JACK!!! Jack does not play 10. Good grief.
Wenger said he was trying to accommodate a lot of his creative players and Ozil coming inside from out wide makes sense, just like Iniesta, Silva or even Cazorla. It’s not a given that he hasn’t been in the best form because he’s playing out wide. After all, was he amazing every time he played at #10 last season? The point about Wenger preferring Wilshere in the middle is especially silly as he’s playing Cazorla in the middle ahead of Ozil too. With Ramsey out, Wilshere could have just taken his position in a 4-2-3-1 but obviously Wenger wants to… Read more »
OK so wait – Cazorla hasnt started for the last 3 games, this season its been 4-1-4-1 with ramsey and wilshire in the middle of the park and ozil on the left. Anyway my point remains clear – As long as arsenal fans remain deluded, then the club will be a failure im afraid. Arsenal is making world class players like Ozil,and Alexis Sanchez look like average players. We need a complete change at the club if we are ever to compete with Europe’s elite. AW does not have the answers im afraid. But yet again, you deluded fans will… Read more »
ppl says our 2best matches were the2when ozil played in the middle.. but look at those 2 teams villa gets beaten by far weaker teams than us.. and galata iarejust a joke.they have less pace altogether then welbeck alone.. so stop bashing ppl who says their opinion on ozil.. The have the right and so far this season he proves the doubters right
Just in case anybody wanted some proof that Ozil is not crap for us take a look at this.
http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2014-15/oct/opta-blog-on-true-pass-masters.html
And for anyone that is thinking Ozil was “shunted out on the left”.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2762187/Mesut-Ozil-not-scapegoat-Arsene-Wenger-demands-critics-look-record-signing-s-heat-maps-proof-influence-Arsenal-games.html
That opta article was very interesting actually. Good reading, thanks.
How hard hearted some people could be? Someone’s out injured and instead of wishing him goodluck and a quick recovery they are bashing him all over. What a way to be a fan! Let the guy come back first. His quality is not in doubt and he will prove all of you wrong.
Spot on mate!
But this injury virus is doing my head in!
It’s the constant hoping that we will eventually click that kills me! COYG ffs!
We need to settle on a selection. We have rotated far too much this season. We went for a long period last season winning matches and were at the top of the pile for long periods ddue to consistency. For me, Özil needs to play number ten behind Sanchez on left wing, Welbeck in centre and Walcott on the right. Oxlade alongside either Ramsey or Wilshere at the base. This allows Özil to be the pivot for the attacking pace to be utilized effectively. Özil linked up brilliantly with Aaron last season. He has shown how well he can link… Read more »
Ozil is effective when other players are intelligent enough to make run for his passes. It is insane to expect him to run with a ball and out muscling huge Prem players and net a goal. I haven’t seen him doing it ever and he is not that kind. Jacky boy may do it one day but not ozil.
#ramblingpete where are you?
Shouldn’t Rosicky consider retiring from international football?? It will elongate his football career. It’s not as if Czechs are going to win something…