Arsenal v lincoln

Obviously we need to make sure we finish in the top four (preferably top three), but with us being in the semi final and the kind of teams left in the cup, I think the FA Cup should become the top priority for the season. I think all the others will be thinking the same and we need to have our best team available for the remaining games.

Winning the FA Cup would turn this season from a dissapointment to having some proper joy and help to build a winning mentality at the club. Plus it might help to convince Sanchez and Ozil to sign new contracts.

 

Brilliant parody. Especially the last few sentences.

 

I bet he regrets saying that...

 

Nobody is overlooking how good he is. He is elite class and is bloody good but he isn't a proper fit for our team. He needs better players around him with a different mentality. What we need are battlers like Sanchez who is trying to change the weak mentality our players have. Ozil isn't the type to get his hands dirty. Am I blaming him? Of course not. It's the managements duty alongside the coach to determine the right balance in our squad. We don't have the right balance or the necessary qualities in our squad or manager to take us to the top.

I thought the squad was good enough to challenge but I was wrong. We've capitulated at key moments again and again, regardless of having world class players and years of trying. Nothing has really changed and picking up a couple of FA cups does not change that and neither has our mentality of winning.

We are at domestic cup level at best.

 

Ozil is the best in the World in his position.
He's won the World Cup with Germany and league titles with Real Madrid creating an incredible number of goals in the process.

The main problem with him is that he is a shy introverted guy and I think to really flourish he needs to be playing besides some more natural leaders. We have far too many characters in our side that disappear when the pressure is on. If the rest of the midfield 'disappears' he is not the kind of guy who will try and carry the side on his own.

 

Exactly the point I was making. I don't want to see him go at all but to cater for him we need to overhaul half our squad and change it's mentality. He would have been perfect for Wenger's earlier teams that had leaders all over the park. But apart from Sanchez, the rest just don't fit the bill. Just imagine having the likes of Walcott, Oxo, Giroud and Coqs around you. It doesn't inspire confidence when the Chips are down. Great for selfies or funny Instagram videos...

 

When have we done that then? What about the far more numerous times against good opposition where we've tanked, lost, played poorly and Ozil has been present and done sweet FA?

These are our performances this season against the better teams with extracts from the BBC match reports:
Liverpool (H)- lost 4-3. Didn’t play

Chelsea (H) – won 3-0. Scored. Whole team great, Chelsea abysmal and changed tactics to become best team in the league.

United (A) – drew 1-1. Poor performance. Ozil anonymous and not mentioned once in match report.

PSG (A) – 1-1. Did little. Not mentioned once in match report.

Spurs (H) – drew 1-1. Took a free kick that led to an OG. Dembele got mom as The Spurs midfielder was "elegant on the ball, combative off it, and played a crucial role in minimising the influence of Mesut Ozil”

City (A) – lost 2.1. Poor performance. Ozil anonymous. “Mesut Ozil shrank from the occasion and wandered around aimlessly and ineffectively”

PSH (H) – 2-2. Did little. Not mentioned once in match report.

Chelsea (A) – lost 3-1. Ozil anonymous.

Bayern (A) – lost 5-1. All atrocious.

Bayern (H) – lost 5-1. Didn’t play

Liverpool (A) – lost 3-1. Didn’t play.

So your conclusion that he plays well when we turn over the big teams. Isn't that sort of admitting that he's not that great and only looks good when his entire team are carrying him, which by the looks of things, happens rarely against the good teams?

 

And these are for 2015/16:

D Arsenal 0-0 Liverpool (H). Does little. "Mesut Ozil is the weakest link for Arsenal. He doesn't do enough on the ball and he doesn't do anything defensively."

L Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal (A). Does little. Subbed off at 75 minutes.

W Leicester 2-5 Arsenal (A). Good team performance. No goals or assists for Ozil though.

W Arsenal 3-0 United (H). Scored and assisted. A good performance from Ozil and Arsenal.

W Arsenal 2-0 Bayern (H). Scored the second. Another good performance from ozil and Arsenal

L Bayern 5-1 Arsenal (A). Poor all round from all

D Arsenal 1-1 Spurs (H). Assisted the equalizer. Tepid from all of our team.

W Arsenal 2-1 City (H). Assisted Giroud. Good performance from Ozil and Arsenal.

D Liverpool 3-3 Arsenal (A). Ozil did little. Subbed off for Arteta.

L Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea (H). Poor all round. Ozil does little.

W Arsenal 2-1 Leicester (H). Assisted with a free kick. Not a great performance.

L Arsenal 0-2 Barca (H). Poor, did little.

L United 3-2 Arsenal (A) Scored and assisted. Finally a game he does something in when the rest of the team aren’t also turning it on.

D Spurs 2-2 Arsenal (A). Does nothing of note. Subbed off at the end.

L Barca 3-1 Arsenal (A). Does nothing note.

D City 2-2 Arsenal (A). Doesn’t play.

 

So I make that 27 tough games we've had since start of last season. Ozil has played in 23 of them. And of those 23 I make it that in 4 of them both Arsenal and Ozil have been great and we win. And only one game where Arsenal didn't win, weren't great but Ozil was a significant contributor.

#replaceable

 

Mourinho calls Ozil the 'best number 10 in the World'.
For Real Madrid he created a record number of assists.
For Germany he was instrumental in winning the World Cup and gets picked ahead of Draxler and Gotze.

You dont have a career like he has without being supremely talented. He's playing alongside an undersized defence and mediocre players like Chamberlain, Coquelin and a CF in Giroud who goes missing whenever he is under pressure to perform.

Ozil isn't the kind of player who can carry a team but that's a mental issue more than anything. To get the best out of many attacking players address their weaknesses. Put Ozil next to a workhorse like Kante/Schweinsteiger and you give him the space to work miracles. Wenger just doesnt know how to use him.

 

The point is he needs the players around him to do well especially against tough opposition, otherwise he disappears. Our last world class midfielder Fabregas was a consistent performer against all opposition , I can't remember too many occasions where he disappeared when the going got tough, unless it was the year he wanted out.

Again, Ozil is only effective when he has top class players surrounding him like Germany or Real, otherwise he won't grab the game by the scruff of the neck when everyone around him is playing ****e.

He doesn't lead from the front like most world class players.

Saying that, if he goes to someone like PSG or back to Real, he will look wonderful against most.

 

I don't care what Mourinho says. How many people would put Ozil in a world XI?

There are loads of attackers that I'd rather play ACM than Ozil. Not because they can necessarily do what Ozil can do but better... but because they're simply better footballers and would score more. They might not get the arbitrarily pointless stat of 'creates the most chances in the world' tag... but that's about as useful as Arsenal claiming for a few years that we were the best team in the calendar year. These are players who, regardless of opposition, have physical strength as well as mental strength and can perform without having be molly coddled.

If we assume that the best teams have four offensive attackers then there's no way Ozil would get one of those positions ahead of Ronaldo, Bale, Messi, Suarez, Neymar, Sanchez, Aguero, Muller, Robben, Griezmann, De Bruyne Aubemeyang. I'd also have De Bruyne, Griezmann, Sanchez, Messi and Suarez ahead of him directly playing in the ACM position if we had the choice.

Ozil is a technically very good footballer. However, his mental and physical weaknesses mean he will always be a luxury and not someone who is pivotal to being a winning team. If that were true Madrid would have been worse off without him. Conversely since Ozil left they've won two out of the last three Champions Leagues so he clearly was not missed.

Now Sanchez on the other hand... he is in the elite bracket. But I also feel that, should he leave, his absence might bring in a few new faces and allow some others to be less overshadowed. Hopefully. Maybe. Wishfully.

 

Wenger doesn't know how to motivate him.
Ozil said himself that Mourinho blew up at him and kicked his arse when he got two assists in a first half.
Not good enough. Put more effort in or **** off and have a shower.
Ozil chose the latter, then apologised and upped his game.

Can you see Wenger doing that? I can't. Not knocking him, but he doesn't strike me as that kind of person.

 

Yep - exactly right. I was going to address the Mourinho quote myself. Ozil is a timid, introverted guy he needs someone to light a fire under his arse. That's not Wengers style.

To be honest I cant even be bothered to address this. I cant help but think if Ozil played for another side your opinion would be different.