Mesut Özil: 2019/20 Performances

[freeglennhelder2]

As far as I know, someone please correct me if wrong, Özil did not state "These are my personal views and do not reflect those of Arsenal FC" as part of his social media postings.

Now bearing in mind the current situation with Houston Rockets, whose games are still being blocked in China, Arsenal had a choice, either stay quiet and risk their silence being interpreted as tacit approval of Özil's statement, or try and get ahead of the issue.

They chose to try and get ahead of the issue - who knows they may even have had some pressure exerted on them from other affiliated football organizations.

 

[celestis]

As as said, consistency never was his bag

Man does more good than most , not saying he should stop it , but at some he is going to have to evaluate his friendship if he is going to go down this road .

 

[Eaststander74]

I was surprised the Hector #****Boris tweet was still up.

It's the equivalent of tweeting '**** micky mouse', isn't it? It's Boris. Nobody cares, and why would they? Nobody really likes him. Even his supporters think he's a clown, but they just wanted Brexit.

 

[A_G]

Easy to say isn't it? Of course it's about money, but the bottom line is the the club are being consistent.

Had they got involved in other political issues in the past and chose to avoid this one, people might have a point.

They didn't need to get involved in other issues in the past though, they're just afraid of reprisals from the Chinese government. If Özil had criticised the German government for something they wouldn't have commentated.

 

[celestis]

To be fair to Arsenal , most Muslim countries are suddenly mum when it comes to China, Imran Khan has been very vociferous calling India , Islamaphobic , comparing them to the Nazis . I have never heard him say a word about China who is a strategic ally (correct me if I am wrong ) . Seems very few dare upset them .

 

[HaffBR]

Sell. He is in a mission to destroy Arsenal's pretentions on and off the pitch.

 

[Chaoz_Enigma]

Football is a part of society and cannot be neutral. And you cannot have campaigns against homophobia, for equality etc. and then distance yourself from certain other problems. Football players are idols and symbols just as clubs are for society and they hold societal responsibility you cannot deny or shift. Sport - any sport not just football - has to finally acknowledge and shoulder its societal responsibility and influence. You can't just always take the easy positives like run a campaign for inclusion, football and sport need to learn to take a stand with hard issues, too.

It can and it should. Football will only take a stand (and it should be) when the integrity of the game is directly involved such as racism in the game or inequality in the game. Because these hard issues affect the chances of young footballers from being developed thats why football has to take a stance.

For other problems that do not directly involve football, such as political repression, it should be left alone even if it involves humans right.

Think about it....political repression and arsenal... It just doesnt have much direct links to it. Its like saying that dalai lama have to be concerned about a tax policy change in america(famous figure should shoulder some views as many bluecollared workers america is affected by that change). It is simply ridiculous.

 

[celestis]

By the way sport and politics are not strange bedfellows , Barcelona do it quite successfully for one.

 

[krengon]

They didn't need to get involved in other issues in the past though, they're just afraid of reprisals from the Chinese government. If Özil had criticised the German government for something they wouldn't have commentated.

Yeah if the club wanted to stay out of it, they wouldn't have made any comment at all. This isn't staying out of politics, this is just trying to appease China, begging them not to cut them off.

 

[Eaststander74]

They didn't need to get involved in other issues in the past though, they're just afraid of reprisals from the Chinese government. If Özil had criticised the German government for something they wouldn't have commentated.

There are levels of sensitivity when it comes to politics, so I wouldn't expect the club to feel obliged to publicly distance themselves from every remotely political statement put out by a player. However I'd expect the club to respond to the religious stuff for reasons I've stated and others.

 

[Eaststander74]

Yeah if the club wanted to stay out of it, they wouldn't have made any comment at all. This isn't staying out of politics, this is just trying to appease China, begging them not to cut them off.

You can't just say nothing on certain issues though. You only have to look how people respond to certain statements on this forum to see why. You're guilty by association unless you respond, a lot of the time. E.g. unless you were calling Emery a bum and showed total condemnation, you were an 'Emery b*m boy' and other such stuff. This is just another example of the Özil defence league being who they are.

 

[HaffBR]

Could we play Özil in the Pirlo position instead of in a more attacking role? He could dictate play. Pirlo managed to play on like that till 36 or something, Özil is only 31.

You are underestimating Pirlo's work rate and defensive skills.

 

[Toby]

It can and it should. Football will only take a stand (and it should be) when the integrity of the game is directly involved such as racism in the game or inequality in the game. Because these hard issues affect the chances of young footballers from being developed thats why football has to take a stance.

For other problems that do not directly involve football, such as political repression, it should be left alone even if it involves humans right.

Think about it....political repression and arsenal... It just doesnt have much direct links to it. Its like saying that dalai lama have to be concerned about a tax policy change in america(famous figure should shoulder some views as many bluecollared workers america is affected by that change). It is simply ridiculous.

As entities of society in advanced and globally perveivale positions I do think athletes and sports clubs are tied to other societal entities as politics. But they cannot even act if it actually harms the integrity of the sport, see e.g. different Olympics or the Qatar WC.

 

[Batman]

If we start standing against racist regime, we should be standing against every government right now. Let's begin with the USA.

Sad but so true.

 

[krengon]

You can't just say nothing on certain issues though. You only have to look how people respond to certain statements on this forum to see why. You're guilty by association unless you respond, a lot of the time. E.g. unless you were calling Emery a bum and showed total condemnation, you were an 'Emery b*m boy' and other such stuff. This is just another example of the Özil defence league being who they are.

Well by doing what they did they took a stance and sided with China, that’s the optics now..

Özil is irrelevant here, this is about Arsenal.. Could have been any player speaking out, wouldn’t change the situation at all..

 

[Batman]

Well by doing what they did they took a stance and sided with China, that’s the optics now..

Özil is irrelevant here, this is about Arsenal.. Could have been any player speaking out, wouldn’t change the situation at all..

The unfortunate reality of life in 2019 is that every corporation is in bed with **** and quite often those who are outspoken about a particular issue are themselves in bed with some other kind of monster. Everyone has a blind spot when it's someone who they're friendly with or who helps line their pockets. I 1000% agree with Özil that someone should be helping those suffering in China. I also think someone should be keeping Kurds safe from his pal Erdogan, an issue he will never address. I think this situation just reenforces the fact that for most people, right and wrong are entirely relative to how much doing the right thing costs an individual in terms of their personal or business relationships. Far too many people are fine doing the wrong thing or going along with it if doing the right thing comes with a personal cost.

 

[Big Poppa]

It's quite simple actually, not sure why people don't see it.

Let me start with this: I think Özil has been underwhelming too. At least after his latest contract.

But. And this is what matters now: we have no one to do what he offers in midfield. He's not De Bruyne, but we can't stick Willock there either. Nor Xhaka, Ceballos, Lacazette or anyone. Maybe ESR if Ljungberg thinks he's ready. Though I doubt that.

We'd have to get a replacement. Until then you play him because he's the only one who can receive a ball between the lines and might do something with it without looking like he should play at Stoke City.

If receiving a ball that’s passed to him is some kind of rare skill or noteworthy asset, we really are in trouble.

What happens when we’re not in possession? How’s he stretching defences? Breaking lines? Applying pressure?

How is it that teams without a sole creative vessel are 20+ points ahead of us creating significantly more chances without being any less defensively assured?

 

[Eaststander74]

How is it that teams without a sole creative vessel are 20+ points ahead of us creating significantly more chances without being any less defensively assured?

Apparently we aren't supposed to try and solve our defensive problems; we must persist with the failed formula because we allegedly improve in one tiny aspect, even if there's zero evidence to support the theory.

 

[A_G]

There are levels of sensitivity when it comes to politics, so I wouldn't expect the club to feel obliged to publicly distance themselves from every remotely political statement put out by a player. However I'd expect the club to respond to the religious stuff for reasons I've stated and others.

This is much bigger than Özil bro, this is huge institutions in the West kowtowing to an authoritarian regime because they're afraid of effecting their bottom line. It's no different to Netflix allowing themselves to be censored by Saudi Arabia.

 

[Fallout]

love that this thread is getting political, because lets face it, arsenal is very dry nowadays. i find the reactions to this issue extremely interesting.

it's so easy to pass judgment from afar about what an organization ought to be doing about some external issue.

if you are morally consistent, and you truly find it reprehensible that arsenal have passed the buck on this, then feel free to criticize arsenal, BUT then you must also look inward to yourself and ask what sacrifices you should be making to try to correct the problem.

e.g. stop going to matches, stop buying apparel, mobilize dissent on social media, mobilize dissent in the stadium, stop buying chinese imports. do something about it.

that's my first point. you cannot ask another person/organization to make an economic/social sacrifice without simultaneously being prepared to make some sacrifice yourself. doing so would be hypocritical and unfair.

related to this point, one poster on here mentioned that by taking an official position of neutrality, arsenal is, in fact, siding with the chinese. well, by doing nothing meaningful about this issue, aren't all of you also implicitly taking the same stance?

obviously i find that line of logic ridiculous, but again, you can't draw the line at the club without also drawing the line at your own feet. in my opinion.