The Mesut Özil Thread

[green gooner]

Maybe when Ozil signed he was assured by Wenger that more 'big names' would arrive in the next window, now like the rest of us he feels cheated, let down and totally disillusioned.

Or maybe he is just a lazy twat

[augie]

Should have bought Cabaye, half the price and double the effort

Cabaye wont fill a need in the team though - I wish people would stop looking at face value things like goals and assists and instead focus on what needs the team has and player a player to suit those needs. There is no way that we should have signed ozil (cos we already had cazorla doing the same job) but nor was there any need to sign cabaye. We need, and have done for the past few years, a real tough physical ball winner in midfield and even more importantly we need a top quality striker and cabaye is neither

[gp543]

Should have bought Cabaye, half the price and double the effort

And less than half the quality or pedigree.

[wibble]

He's also been used to playing in a league with a winter break so this could be a factor-could just be knackered.

Which makes playing him in games such as Coventry, even more perplexing.

He looked good when he first arrived and will hopefully get back to that level soon

[King Henry]

Ozil is class and worth every bit of £42.5m. Most of his issues however have already been highlighted by others but I would say the main one has to be the players Wenger is trying to shoehorn into his system. If we're going to play this 4-2-3-1 then you either need a mobile and pacy striker or you need both wingers to have pace. We have neither and have spent the entire season just grinding out results.

At home against mid to lower table teams it is fine to play both Ozil and Cazorla and has worked very well for us this season. Last season teams started to double up on Cazorla and we began to find it difficult to score. With both Ozil and Cazorla it becomes difficult for teams to stop them both creating because they are both class and we know that eventually we will score. Playing both of them away in tough games is suicide and will continue to cost us if Wenger perseveres with it.

[Supagoon]

We needed a striker and everyone knows it.

Suarez + Ramsey and Theo would have led us to PL glory, there is no doubt about.

We should have bid 55M for suarez (cavani like fee). Liverpool would have sold because they only thought he was a really really really good player at the time when in fact as this season has shown he is a really really really facking good player.

[1989]

His game is about vision and making through passes and he has no one making runs off him. That takes away so much of his game. He's also got a donkey to work with upfront.

[northbank123]

Drop, rest, whatever you want to call it but it should have happened a while back. Although the 'settling in' excuse is generally propagated far too much it is true that PL football is played at a much higher tempo than La Liga, where games tend to ebb and flow a bit more (or you end up camped outside your opponent's box for 90 mins more often than not if you're one of the top teams). As was mentioned above did he need to play against Coventry? I'm glad we played a strong team and won that game in the first 30 minutes but all season we have watched various players get rested whilst Ozil has played more or less every game. Taking aside the two PL games and Spurs FAC game (sub) where he was injured, out of 28 games he has started 27 and come off the bench in the other.

I think he's just one of those players who is always going to look disinterested when things aren't going his way - it is frustrating as a fan but tbh I'm hardly desperate for him to go flying into tackles, squaring up to opposition or tracking 30 yards back to try and win the ball back.

He would also certainly profit from a centre-forward who offers an option getting in behind defences - I also think over an extended period of time he would profit from playing with Walcott too who has become far smarter with the angled runs he makes asking to be slipped in.

Despite those factors he is still performing well within himself - he is a player who can still contribute massively to the team without taking the game by the scruff of the neck, but it's disappointing that he hasn't really turned in any barnstorming performances at all in months.

[I Hate Hleb]

Don't know about 'winter break' but didn't Ozil have a couple of weeks off around the Christmas/New Year period under the guise of an injury?

[northbank123]

Don't know about 'winter break' but didn't Ozil have a couple of weeks off around the Christmas/New Year period under the guise of an injury?

He missed Newcastle (Sunday) and Cardiff (Wednesday) before returning off the bench against Spurs on the Saturday. Agree that 'injury' may have been overplayed slightly (think the same happened with Giroud so that Wenger couldn't be accused of sabotaging FA Cup game against Spurs) but still not much of a break when you consider the only other game he hasn't started since signing was sub appearance vs Chavs League Cup.

[I Hate Hleb]

So it was 2 weeks since he last played a game then. Not a winter break as such but a break nonetheless.

[northbank123]

So it was 2 weeks since he last played a game then. Not a winter break as such but a break nonetheless.

9 days between Shammers and Spurs games. Not an incredibly long time if there was also a genuine injury of some sort during that time.

Just seems bizarre (notwithstanding his great ability) that a player playing well within himself and looking fatigued doesn't find himself on the bench from time to time - call it a rest or being dropped. Especially when we have Cazorla and if fit Rosicky who are more than capable of providing creativity.

[I Hate Hleb]

Agree. Wenger should certainly be doing more with the midfield options available to him to help try and get the best out of Ozil. Be it through rest, rotation or just playing him consistently in his preferred number 10 role, where he wouldn't have the responsibility to track back, something should be done.

[GoonerN5]

Should have bought Cabaye, half the price and double the effort

And less than half the quality or pedigree.

Debatable at the very least

[northbank123]

Should have bought Cabaye, half the price and double the effort

And less than half the quality or pedigree.

Debatable at the very least

Really? Imo Cabaye is decidedly average - big player for a team like Newcastle but wouldn't cut the mustard as anything more than a back-up squad player at a top team. I also don't personally have him pegged as a particularly industrious player. Also hardly a glowing resume for a 28 year old and not loads left in the tank.

Ozil undoubtedly has miles more ability and having made the purchase it's a case of finding a way to consistently get the best from him.