the xcx wrote:Madrid does not take refunds!

LeSwagg James wrote:Since when do attacking midfielders need to have grit and steel, of track back a lot?

GoonerJay29 wrote:His performance today was bad, just as bad as every other Arsenal player. But as far as his whole Arsenal career so far is concerned, what were Arsenal fans really expecting from him?

He's not the sort of player who runs with the ball and takes on three or four players, or the sort who's prolific in front of goal or bangs a few in from distance. He's not a work horse. He won't put himself about the pitch, getting a foot in and hassling the opposition.

What he is is a creator, and creating isn't just the responsibility of the single player. It requires someone to see the movement ahead of him and find that with the right pass, but it also requires the movement to be there in the first place. In this Arsenal team, he's playing with guys like Cazorla, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Arteta, Rosicky and Giroud who's first movement tends to be towards the ball and not behind opposition defences. Ozil will get on the ball, look up and see one player ahead of him, usually Giroud, surrounded by several players, and will see four or five of his team-mates in and around his position, not ahead of him. So what can he do in that situation?

Imagine if he had the pace of Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez ahead of him on a game-by-game basis. Imagine if he could play with Walcott or Ramsey on a regular basis. You'd see a lot more from him.

So yes, he can improve. He can tighten up his game a little bit, perhaps work that little bit harder or try something a little different every now and then when things aren't working out. At the same time, the team isn't set-up to get the best out of him, and you're not going to see the best of him until either the team changes or he changes.

LeSwagg James wrote:Since when do attacking midfielders need to have grit and steel, of track back a lot?

GoonerJay29 wrote:His performance today was bad, just as bad as every other Arsenal player. But as far as his whole Arsenal career so far is concerned, what were Arsenal fans really expecting from him?

He's not the sort of player who runs with the ball and takes on three or four players, or the sort who's prolific in front of goal or bangs a few in from distance. He's not a work horse. He won't put himself about the pitch, getting a foot in and hassling the opposition.

What he is is a creator, and creating isn't just the responsibility of the single player. It requires someone to see the movement ahead of him and find that with the right pass, but it also requires the movement to be there in the first place. In this Arsenal team, he's playing with guys like Cazorla, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Arteta, Rosicky and Giroud who's first movement tends to be towards the ball and not behind opposition defences. Ozil will get on the ball, look up and see one player ahead of him, usually Giroud, surrounded by several players, and will see four or five of his team-mates in and around his position, not ahead of him. So what can he do in that situation?

Imagine if he had the pace of Sterling, Sturridge and Suarez ahead of him on a game-by-game basis. Imagine if he could play with Walcott or Ramsey on a regular basis. You'd see a lot more from him.

So yes, he can improve. He can tighten up his game a little bit, perhaps work that little bit harder or try something a little different every now and then when things aren't working out. At the same time, the team isn't set-up to get the best out of him, and you're not going to see the best of him until either the team changes or he changes.

che wrote:that's exactly what arsenal were getting into... a guy who strolls around the final third picking passes, with a tendency to completely disappear out of a game once/twice a month

he still has the ability to get you a good number of points on assists alone, even more if arsenal were playing an actual forward, not a traffic cone

Hapless_Hans wrote:so wait a minute, you've been top of table all season, today you had a disastrous game for a number of reasons, with Özil's performance surely not in the top 5 of those reasons, and now is the time to really get to the bottom of this Özil problem, right?

Well this post doesn't counter anything I've said. If it was supposed to.

You're just basically saying that it isn't working at the moment. That something needs to change. And that I completely agree with.

So is Özil good enough that we change and base our game for/on him? We'll need an awful lot of changes and maybe even new players, because as you said a lot of our players have the style of coming to the ball rather than making runs.

Maybe, the Özil signing was just more to uplift the spirit around the club and maybe not well thought out tactically-wise.