freeglennhelder2
Established Member
Country: England
Player:Elneny
Nobody logged on to wish their sweet prince a happy birthday yesterday! Philistines...the bloody lot of yer!!
Hardly explains the Xhaka captaincy though
Look at that midfield ffs, all footballers.
Those days are gone, all hard work now.
Look at that midfield ffs, all footballers.
Those days are gone, all hard work now.
Look at that midfield ffs, all footballers.
Those days are gone, all hard work now.
I would agree on the last point you make regarding Löw who I think has been quite poor given the talent he had in the Lahm, Schweinsteiger generation.Tbh honest he was more integral to the 2010 WC team and I think that was his best tournament performance, really brilliant, but he was still class in 2014 and saying Germany won despite his is a massive stretch. If anything Germany won despite Löw.
That squad didn't need to be dragged anywhere. They qualified at a canter with +26 goal difference. Only drew one game, the freak 4-4 against Sweden where they were up 4-0 at half time. The player that should have been at the WC and would have been a real star was Marco Reus. He was on fire that year but had that unfortunate injury just before the WC.He was top scorer during the qualifying. Basically dragged them into the world cup
To which team?Very bad management from Emery. If you don't want him anymore you sell him immediately. instead if you want to give him another chance you play him.
Sell him to who exactly?Very bad management from Emery. If you don't want him anymore you sell him immediately. instead if you want to give him another chance you play him.
What Özil does care about is the impression that he both struggles against superior opposition and too often blames poor health for his absences.
“It always happens that an ex-player stands there on TV and criticises me,” he says. “Others just continue the theme and it gets in everyone’s heads.
“If we don’t do well in a ‘big’ game, it’s always my fault. If that’s true, how do you explain our results in the ‘big’ games when I wasn’t involved? There’s no real difference. I know people expect me to offer more, dictate play and make the difference — I do, too — but it’s not that straightforward.
“I’m not the only player in the team and, don’t forget, some of our opponents are simply better than us. Also, what is a ‘big’ or ‘small’ game? In the Premier League, anyone can beat anyone. Look at Wolves and Norwich beating Man City, or Newcastle and West Ham beating Man United.
“So you can’t say my good performances only came in ‘small’ games because these games don’t really exist. The intensity is there in every match and often the ‘small’ teams raise their standard against the ‘big’ teams.
“I also get really frustrated when I miss a game through illness and people question if it is genuine. Yes, it happened a few times — usually in the winter — but what am I supposed to do? If you knew me, you would know it takes a lot for me to miss a game and I have never used sickness as an excuse. Actually the opposite. I played many games when I was ill or had injuries. Before the Champions League game against Bayern Munich [in March 2017], I was sick and Arsène told me I was not in the squad because of that. The next morning, the guys from Arsenal called me and said, ‘Listen, you have to come to the stadium, you have to be in the squad’. Despite my illness, I joined the squad and played the last 20 minutes.
“Most players don’t play when injured or sick — it influences your game, you can’t give everything — but I was always available unless it was impossible.”
Özil is similarly robust in defending the demeanour — head bowed, shoulders slumped, arms flailing — he regularly exudes if something is not to his liking.
“It’s my personality,” he counters. “People want to change me but, since the day I started playing football, I was always like this. If a game is not going well or I play a bad ball, of course I get frustrated because I know it can be better. It’s the same when I come off the pitch looking angry. I’m a perfectionist and sometimes I want too much perfection.
“It doesn’t take me long to get over — I’m not going around the pitch or sat on the bench pissed off for the next five minutes or anything. It’s just in that moment and then we continue. I realise afterwards it’s not good to show this, but it’s instinctive, so I don’t plan it and it’s not easy to change.
“This is me. I’m the same person at Arsenal as I was at Schalke, Werder Bremen, Real Madrid and the German national team. People may want me to change but I’ve been successful everywhere and I never will.”
But when asked if he is heading for the exit, Özil replies firmly: “No. I have a contract until the summer of 2021 and I will be staying until then.
“When I signed the new deal, I thought about it very carefully and said it was one of the most important decisions of my footballing career. I didn’t want to stay for just one or two more years, I wanted to commit my future to Arsenal and the club wanted me to do the same.
“You can go through difficult times, like this, but that is no reason to run away and I’m not going to. I’m here until at least 2021.
“I said that Arsène Wenger was a big factor in me joining Arsenal — and he was — but ultimately I signed for the club. Even when Arsène announced he was leaving, I wanted to stay because I love playing for Arsenal and that’s why I’ve been here for six years.
“When I moved from Real Madrid, it was a really tough time for Arsenal. But I always believed in what we could do and together we delivered. More recently things have been difficult and a lot has changed. But I’m proud to be an Arsenal player, a fan and I’m happy here. Whenever people see me in the street I always say, ‘This is my home’. I’m going nowhere.”
Wow, Özil going all in today.
A brutal interview in Athletic from Ornstein