Firstly Mesut Ozil is a class act, he sees the game in a way that others players can't and he has the skill to carve chances and find players in a way that a true craftsman of the game does. But, and there's a big but, does he really have the qualities needed across 38 premier league games ? He can go missing in games, rarely tracks back and tackles and when things aren't going well he simply becomes a passenger. With the ball he is incredible, but when we don't have it, it's like playing with 10 men. Ozil was suited to a team like Real Madrid, because he was surrounded by stellar players who allowed him to express himself without needing to get stuck into the nitty gritty of the game, but the premier league is different, games are more evenly matched and the physical level of the game is that much harder. He's been called a Luxury player and for good reason, but is he a Luxury that Arsenal can afford ? He's in the last year of his contract and we risk losing him on a free next summer, so should we cash in in January ? As long as we don't sell him to another Premier league team I would have to say yes.
May be too late - BBC have been saying he's off to Man U for free at the end of the season - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/gossip - although I have read that Inter will buy him in January. How many times will he play for us again?
He could move to a rival prem team. Wouldn't bother me as much as RVP doing it, or if Sanchez does it. Those two were top class, losing them would (or did) make us worse and made the teams they moved to better. Ozil leaving wouldn't make us worse, and I can't see any opposition team in the prem who'd be better off with him in their first XI. Chelsea? Nope, not in their formation. United? Nope, not with all their forwards. City? No chance. Liverpool? No chance either their pacy pressing play. Spurs? Nope not with their style of play.
Toledos going to have your head on a stick. I know the argument already.... you use your eyes, i will use facts Ozil has more interceptions than most other arsenal players in the team so to say he doesn't defend is not fair. Ozil covers more distance than most of the arsenal players to say he's lazy and doesn't track back is unfair. He covers far more distance than the "hard working" sanchez
Think he's a wonderful player and if you're looking for him to be tracking back and defending then you're not getting the best out of him. Our problem seems to be we don't have the team to use him to his full potential. Think if we had different central midfielders behind him (such as Santi and Kante) he'd be dynamite.
I want us to keep him. Top quality player who can do things others can't. I really hope he signs a new contract tbh.
Great player but can be replaced. Not with a different player in my opinion but with a change of strategy. So what we loose in creativity we gain in stability. I personally believe it is harder to find a balanced side than finding a side with creative players. Most players today want to be creative. This is why we have so many of them...Isco, Modric, Iniesta, Bruyne, Silva, Veratti, etc. Having a proper box to box player that allows your other players to be creative is harder to find. So if we replace him strategically we should be fine. Harder will be with Alexis. Even though it really feels like Henrys last season. As soon as anyone gets the ball they make a pass to Alexis. Even if it is 1meter and pointless. After Henry left it got worse but at least players stepped up and took more responsibility and it was quite dynamic in the beginning.
I think Ozil would be dynamite at United if they got him. Mourinho seems to be building a team over there with physicality as well as skill, and I think he would complement the likes of Lukaku and Matic. Its sad, but I just dont think he fits in with us; I think in our teams of yesteryear he would have been magnificent (in a team of Bergkamp, Vieira, Adams, Parlour etc.), but right now I dont think we have that physical side to our game, and its players like Ozil who suffer, since we look at the whole team to defend as a result.
What I will say is I think we are about to enter another period of transition (ironic since we havn't got anywhere near winning the league in the last decade) Alexis and Ozil will both be gone by next summer, and at that point I think we will have other players entering the last year of their contracts. (Giroud, Ramsey, Welbeck possibly?) I am cautiously optimistic that we will sign proper replacements for Alexis and Ozil. (I think that is why we were withholding funds this summer), but the fact remains those are two GIANT losses that would get into most teams in world football. How crazy is it that all of a sudden our warchest / cash reserves dont look anywhere near as impressive as they once were? 150m about 4-5 years ago (we definitely had it then) could have bought you one hell of a team. Now we cant even buy ONE neymar (or Mbappe). We really did NOT spend our money wisely from a business perspective. Had we invested 150m 5 years ago, we could now had a team worth 300m or more. We have done exactly what one is not supposed to do with money -put it in the bank and watched it deteriorate in value.
I don't think selling him is the solution. Yes he is a top player and yes we don't have the right blend of midfielders to complement him, but losing our two best players by summer will send all the wrong signals. We should have a settled team by now but we're still saying the same things. If anything, we should be adding and not replacing our best players. Either way, will have a difficult summer replacing our outgoing players.
We were stupid to leave the contract talks too late. The players want to leave so really they hold all the cards in that regard. For me Ozil is expendable. I've said this before, this team is not set up to get the best of an Ozil. I can see him doing well at United unfortunately. What we need is a DYNAMIC #10 in the style of Coutinho, Dybala, Isco, etc. He has to be a dribbler, physically about it, willing to shoot and actually test keepers, and decent vision. Vision doesn't have to be as good as Ozil's, but all the other attributes have to be there in my opinion.
Sounds like Bergkamp...The main downfall of Wenger has been he's tried to change too much. Sometimes you don't need to reinvent the wheel. He had the winning formula for the PL but tried to emulate Barcelona too much and lost it.
Hmm. Maybe. I think Wenger's actual downfall is that he's been a **** manager for a very long time now. It's hard to be good when you're actually ****.
We barely have a single player, or anyone associated with the club, that hasn't been slated by the fans at some stage and branded not good enough for Arsenal. I kind of ignore it as some kind of freak delusional psychological disorder suffered by only by Arsenal fans.
Ozil will always create chances he's got great vision and is technically superb. But I think without a solid defensive platform behind him (which we don't have) he is somewhat of a luxury. With Giroud arguably peaking - I think he offers more to our starting 11 than the German for this reason I think our best lineup doesn't include Ozil. ---------------------------Cech--------------------------- --------Koscielny----Mustafi----Monreal------------ Bellerin------Car/Ram-----Xhaka------Kolasinac ------------------------Sanchez-------------------------- ------------Giroud----------------Lacazette-----------
To be honest we wouldn't be saying these things if Cazorla was playing. He is the bridge that fills the gaps in our midfield by bringing balance. With or without Ozil, we would still have a problem. Cazorla knows exactly how to execute Wengers plans on the pitch.
Since making his Premier League debut in September 2013, Arsenal's Mesut Ozil has provided 45 assists,more than any other player in the competition and 21 more than any other Gunners player in that time. Just another stat to add to the long list of top Ozil stats.
