Mesut Özil: Time to Move Ön?

[Makingtrax]

Nah mate, it's significant because yet again we are shocking, absolutely pathetic, away from home.

Can’t argue with that. It isn’t good bro.

 

[progman07]

People don't realise that you dominate games more from deeper positions, the higher position you play the less influence you have when it comes to dominating games, and of course the higher position you play the easier it is to create chances or score them.

The comparisons between Özil and the likes of De Bruyne, Silva and Eriksen are doing him injustice, The latter 3 all start from much deeper positions, almost as number 8's, and they have much more room to operate and dominate games from these positions.

Özil throughout his Arsenal career at least (except for a few games last season) has played always been a final third player, Of course he's going to suffer and disappear at times if we cant control games because of the quality of players behind him/the tactics deployed. We've seen how Özil flourished when he had the likes of Cazorla behind him for example. Its simple, the more control we have on games, the more Özil will show his magic, which explains why he tends to show up more in home games compared to away games, or against lesser oppositions compared to big games.

The criticism for Özil on the basis that he doesnt dominate games for us is unjustified given his position, until he starts playing in deeper positions and participates more in the buildup then you can actually give a valid opinion on that regard, until that happens .. we have to face it and accept the fact that he will never dominate games for us by himself from higher positions.

Having said that, judging Özil as a final third player, the fact that hes the player who created the most chances for us even though he played less than half of games played so far is remarkable and tells a lot about his ability.

The problem is that Arsenal have lost a lot of creative technical players without replacements, Sanchez Cazorla Wilshere Rosicky Arteta and soon Ramsey who barely starts any games this season, we've only replaced them with Xhaka and Mkhitaryan. Özil is suffering a lot from that, and sacrificing his quality in the final third to play in deeper positions doesnt seem to be a viable option given the squad we have now.

So true, and also true for our strikers. You cannot score the chances you do not get, because Elnenny plays a sloppy sideways pass towards our fullbacks instead, or Guendouzi makes 5 more touches on the ball than necessary.

 

[Toby]

As a result you won’t be able to press high so you’d have to set up in a low block which we should have done yesterday.

I think there's multiple way to include one or two non high pressing players in a pressing system by tweaking it.

 

[Godwin1]

I think it can work if you have movement around him, the key of the invincibles was that we had top class movement around Bergkamp despite his age. Yesterday it was so static it was painful to watch.

Also defensively we’re not going to get much out of him pressing, he uses his energy by drifting around into pockets of space, that’s his game.

As a result you won’t be able to press high so you’d have to set up in a low block which we should have done yesterday.

Yeah like any playmaker he'd work better with more movement around him, Bergkamps game was different in that he'd occupy the central defenders and could play off them or come deep. As you say Özil's game is drifting into pockets of space and pulling players around receiving balls in tight areas etc.

I'm not trying to advocate him adapting his game to press with the rest of the team though just to be more flexible in games like this.

 

[krackpot]

I remember when it was 'if Özil plays well, the rest of the team play well'. So I'm wondering if his abject displays away from home may have something to do with our crap away form? I know--how dare I say such a thing! Not that I believe it to be the case anyway, but just sticking it in there because it's as valid as some of the horseshit you read in defence of him.

So, yeah, as it's the Özil thread and not the match thread, where I can slaughter the whole team, it's worth saying here that he had all the presence of a wet fart in a hurricane yesterday. I even think Özil himself is getting as frustrated as we at his inability to have an impact away from home. That can't be a bad thing, I suppose.

I agree with you. I would have worded it a bit differently.

The team lost because of a (forced) pathetic selection by Emery. Özil and Mkhi were pants but Özil was subbed because reasons.

Our defense lost us the match, our wide open left flank would have cost us three goals in any other game.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

Making this guy our talisman is what made us drop from a Champions League team to a Europa team.

Arsenal fans hate Alexis but he did way more for us than Özil ever did, when Alexis was here he was our only player that would perform away from home and once we lost him our away from went to ****.

We need to replace Alexis, Auba lacks the intensity and Lacazette is a mid-table level striker. We need someone on Alexis' level when he was here.

 

[yybecause]

we need new fans

 

[Oh_Snap]

Making this guy our talisman is what made us drop from a Champions League team to a Europa team.

Arsenal fans hate Alexis but he did way more for us than Özil ever did, when Alexis was here he was our only player that would perform away from home and once we lost him our away from went to ****.

We need to replace Alexis, Auba lacks the intensity and Lacazette is a mid-table level striker. We need someone on Alexis' level when he was here.

HAHAHA are you taking the piss? Mesut MADE Alexis the player he was.

 

[Sammy1887]

HAHAHA are you taking the piss? Mesut MADE Alexis the player he was.

Mesut can't even make himself the player he was supposed to be.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

HAHAHA are you taking the piss? Mesut MADE Alexis the player he was.

Lmao no he didn't. Alexis was a individual player, he didn't need Özil to thrive. Özil needs everyone else to play well for him to flourish, he's a weak man.

 

[say yes]

In all the talk about Mesut, I don’t think it is mentioned enough how much the guy’s game has declined over the past two years.

He used to be something truly special, so much so that you could excuse his flaws.

What does he offer at the moment though? There’s no drive in his game anymore. He doesn’t dribble, the assists have almost completely dried up, he’s not breaking the lines with his passing and he’s not killing teams with his movement off the ball. As @Trilly pointed out in the matchday thread, Iwobi has more of an impact on our offence these days ffs.

He’s not a bad player but the best it seems that you can say for him at the moment is that he’s ‘tidy’ in possession. That’s such a sad decline for the talent he has. Certainly not what we pay him £350k a week for.

 

[BigPoppaPump]

In all the talk about Mesut, I don’t think it is mentioned enough how much the guy’s game has declined over the past two years.

He used to be something truly special, so much so that you could excuse his flaws.

What does he offer at the moment though? There’s no drive in his game anymore. He doesn’t dribble, the assists have almost completely dried up, he’s not breaking the lines with his passing and he’s not killing teams with his movement off the ball. As @Trilly pointed out in the matchday thread, Iwobi has more of an impact on our offence these days ffs.

He’s not a bad player but the best it seems that you can say for him at the moment is that he’s ‘tidy’ in possession. That’s such a sad decline for the talent he has. Certainly not what we pay him £350k a week for.

He's not that much worse than he was over the years it's just now less people are scared to call him out. He's always been only able to perform at home and very lack luster and weak when he's not up for it.

Arsène wouldn't even take him to away games up north, notice how all the back aches and illnesses have disappeared now he's back in the team?

 

[Football Manager]

Compare, and you’ll see Özil is overrated.
His pre-madrid performance was not bad to be fair.

 

[Maybe]

Compare, and you’ll see Özil is overrated.
His pre-madrid performance was not bad to be fair.

He is not overrated, his salary is overrated.

 

[Football Manager]

He is not overrated, his salary is overrated.

Both are.
The videos are evidence to prove that.

 

[Oh_Snap]

Banworthy, disgusting stuff. Go back playing "Football Manager".

 

[Maybe]

Both are.
The videos are evidence to prove that.

He is really not, only Arsenal fans consider him as a top class player. Mostly, people think of him as something between very good player and occasionally world class (on his day) and that's what he is, so not overrated if you exclude our fans.

 

[yybecause]

there's still some people who think sanchez was a player here, while all he ever did after a good start was playing tennis on the pitch, on his own.
disgusting player who couldn't care less for Arsenal in his last 2 years...yet people call that class...

 

[Mark Tobias]

there's still some people who think sanchez was a player here, while all he ever did after a good start was playing tennis on the pitch, on his own.
disgusting player who couldn't care less for Arsenal in his last 2 years...yet people call that class...

And then there's the realistic posters who agree with what you have just stated but equally agree with those complaining about how absolutely garbage Özil is since he got this whopping new deal. Cans his international setup too. Literally costing to retirement. I use to love this player but I can't stand him anymore. Whining little brat who offers nothing anymore. Was probably THE worst choice for captain on Sunday!

 

[Tosker]

this thread is non-stop Groundhog Day with all this exagerrated pro and anti Özil stuff

can't we all just agree that he is very inconsistent, and leave it at that?