Mesut Özil: 2019/20 Performances

[GeorgiaGunner]

Surely he's trolling?

Hounslow Harriers, Team Shaolin, Renford Rejects, and Harchester United

 

[Jury]

So he’s a selfish, crippled, depressed, ex-footballer who may well have a crosshair trained on him if he steps out at the Emirates... and is also addicted to Fortnite and is on 350k. Don’t worry, I’m following keenly.

 

[Tosker]

I still think his trip to Turkey was to sound out opportunities there, which is why he had the club's permission

 

[GDeep™]

I still think his trip to Turkey was to sound out opportunities there, which is why he had the club's permission

It’s because his wife gave birth there. The season was ending one day later anyway.

 

[Elwood]

Özil is on the most wages at £350k per week. Him agreeing to a wage cut would have had more effect than any other player and may have saved jobs.

Yeah I get it. And if they were blunt about it and he refused, then **** him. However, the news about the team being unhappy with it points to his part not being crucial. What percentage of wages goes to him anyway?

 

[roz]

Guess we’ll find out in 1 years time.

 

[dka1]

Top tier ITK, wasn't familiar with him but @OnlyOne is a long-time follower I'm told:

Not to be a d*** but if you're not going to say it then why bring it up at all? Just seems like s/he's baiting people.

 

[GDeep™]

Alexis Sanchez cost Utd 6M per assist, 11M per goal :rofl:

 

[Gooner416]

Alexis Sanchez cost Utd 6M per assist, 11M per goal :rofl:

Bargain that. Alexis Sanchez cost us Eduardo Hagn.

 

[Gooner416]

Look forward to the Özil tell all book on his Germany NT situation and final years here under Emery and now Mikel.

 

[Oxeki]

So he’s a selfish, crippled, depressed, ex-footballer who may well have a crosshair trained on him if he steps out at the Emirates... and is also addicted to Fortnite and is on 350k. Don’t worry, I’m following keenly.

Don't forget. Poor immune system. Illness and all

 

[sdotzdot]

One tweet and suddenly his massive decline has a hidden explanation? Ffs

Yeah the way the club stay silent with his situation, the tactics they’ve pulled in trying to push him out and him not directly calling them out should be enough to tell you there’s no secret to feel sorry for Özil.

 

[Lidl_Reed]

Transfer and **** aside, last few hours have shown he was right not to take that paycut. **** Raul

 

[Macho]

This whole saga is just bizarre. It’s a shame, he was actually one of top 5 players once (before he joined).

Never saw him joining us once he touched Madrid. Followed his career from Werder Bremen times (where Per was captain I think). He was a popular wishlist signing on AM back then and I never thought he’d spend 8 years with us and I’d have been sick of him for half of it. Life is funny like that.

Best no.10 in the world at one point no doubt in my mind.

 

[lomekian]

Özil was playing before Covid too, played every game for Arteta.

Im guessing him rejecting the pay cut was seen as him not buying into a new culture or philosophy by Arteta, and dropped. Hasn’t featured at all since then.

Again, people ignore this.

Or perhaps they don't accept conspiracy theory as fact without a smidgen of evidence. Correlation doesn't equal causation, no matter how much it suits your stance.

 

[GeorgiaGunner]

Alexis Sanchez cost Utd 6M per assist, 11M per goal :rofl:

I can’t believe they got out of that deal on a free.

Tbh more of an indication of how much Alexis loves the game (vs. Özil), not Utd being crafty, etc.

 

[lomekian]

Why do you think he wasn’t picked after Covid? Played every game for Arteta before? Seems weird.

Recent story in the Athletic was that he had a genuine injury. Was given some extra days off for the birth of his child, and when he returned to training, he was phoning it in a bit, at a time when Arteta was trying to up the team work rate and get the buy in that ultimately won us the cup.

Perhaps unsurprisingly from a human perspective, Özil wasn't as fussed about trying to adapt his playing style as people might hope. Back issues, new baby, incredible career, no international football.

This coincided with us shifting to 3 at the back, which also created less scope for Özil. With Arteta's pressing demands, declining Özil not playing ball (in whatever way) meant he was sacrificed for the evolution of the team.

Were we dominant in possession, I could see both Özil trying harder to get back in the team and Arteta trying harder to re-integrate him.

I guess we can hope that they are able to have an honest chat and it can be sorted about who stands where and why. Can he be reintegrated? Maybe. No-one seems particularly angry with him. The other players seem to still like him. Arteta has said nothing negative about him specifically, despite there clearly being something there. The question is what can be done?

Sadly, I dont think is willing or able to adapt at this point in his career. But with a vast salary, a lovely life in a global city, with his new wife and new child, I can't imagine he's in a hurry to up sticks to make life easier for the execs.

And if your theory that its all about the wage cut holds any water, Özil could easily win the PR battle and give a % of his wages towards some of those laid off, or come to an agreement with the club about what would justify him taking a cut?

Imagine, he said that he was willing to take the same cut as his team-mates, backdated, but it could only be used to protect the wages of those staff that are left.

I personally don't have any issue with him collecting his wages. All the evidence suggests he's stubborn as hell, and has strong feelings on a number of subjects, but equally that he is loyal and financially very generous to things he believes in. A wonderful player in decline, who's style is somewhat incompatible with the prevailing style, and whose motivation has dropped off since the 2018 WC fallout.

Better for the club if he goes, but its up to the club to learn the lesson. Don't give big contracts to older players without doing due dilligence and without giving yourself some flexibility in how it is structured.

 

[lomekian]

Top tier ITK, wasn't familiar with him but @OnlyOne is a long-time follower I'm told:

I've long thought that along with a motivation drop off, there is something else going on, because the club has resisted the myriad of opportunities to throw him under the bus.
They've made it clear MG is being an eejit. They let it be known through back channels that Ramsey's agent was screwing them around. The worst you hear about Özil is that he's not as motivated, doesn't apply himself as well as he might in training (never did I've heard!), and has a back problem.

If he was just being a prick, we'd know more about it.

 

[City_Skyblue]

Let me tell you what is Özil’s deficiency is.

Özil’s main problem is not even in non-physical/poor defending/not tracking back. Other #10 would heavily involved in the build up phase, and create the difference in the final third phase. Özil would just focus on the final third.

I never rate players who can only operate well in one phase, but being a tactical liability in other phases.

For all of the above (including the last few posts), I am not talking about the “declining” Özil. I am taking about the Özil who he always was. From day one he was here, he has all these flaws in his game.

Don't players who are good in final phase have a good shot as well ?
How many times have we seen Özil trying to shoot with his stronger foot let alone weaker one.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

I can’t believe they got out of that deal on a free.

Tbh more of an indication of how much Alexis loves the game (vs. Özil), not Utd being crafty, etc.

Utd paid Alexis £9m to leave and waived a transfer fee. That's not free but its a lot better than paying out £50m over the next two years. No reason we can't pay Özil off using the players wage cut especially now we're saving all the money from 55 redundancies.