Was choosing Ozil over Fabergas a mistake?...

You have the sideline as your ally when you're wide. He's also playing as a forward... not a midfielder, so he has 2 layers behind him as opposed to just 1 as a mid.

Yeah but Ozil is not playing well even with the ball at the moment. Its not just his defending or finding the ball (which he has more difficulty with out wide incidentally)

Him playing, will give you some defensive difficulties if he plays left, right, CAM or anywhere. But I think Arsenal fans will live with the defensive fragility if he does what he is meant to with the ball. At the moment he isnt.

Wenger - I can accommodate all my No 10s

Arsène Wenger believes Mesut Ozil will thrive at Arsenal - even if he can't always play in his favoured No 10 role.

Ozil is one of an array of playmakers in the Arsenal squad - Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey are also comfortable in the No 10 role - and Wenger insists he can accommodate them all.

"Of course," he said. "The main man is the one with the ball. The others have to give him solutions to play. Every teams finds a way to go through its strong point. Subconsciously, a team will go through were its strong points are.

"[Ozil is] a confident boy. This guy has played for the German national team and won the World Cup playing wide and nobody found a word to say. He has been criticised during the World Cup and still played well and he was always in every single team. You have all this debate and you have to think is this debate right or wrong?

"Zidane went to Real Madrid for £82 million and he played on the left. He’s not quicker than you and me! There was never a debate and he had to play there, because in the middle they had Raul and Ronaldo and he made room and played on the left. When you have the ball you play where you want and go where you want.

"It is a debate as old as the world. Since we played football. When you look at the Brazil team in 1970 they had Tostao, Rivelino, Pele, Jairzinho, Gerson, Clodoaldo. They played all No 10 in their club. They didn’t know what to do. They put them all together and they won the World Cup in a convincing way.

"What is Wilshere but basically a No 10? He played his whole life at No 10. Somebody had to go out there. Is it Wilshere, Ozil or Ramsey… nobody is really natural out wide. So you keep good players out or you try to get them together.

"It is [ambitious], but without ambition you cannot progress. We have that desire to play well altogether and I think we can really achieve it. We can have a fantastic team."

Wilshere or Ramsey as a 10. Was't he talking about how Jack could be a DM.

oziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil

If we wants to accomodate all the 10's then play the best of them centrally atleast

Why buy all these 10's if the only way to fit them all in is putting them on the wing!?

Well I don't know what Wenger is on about, Ramsey is not a 10 and neither is Wilshere. Wenger himself said so not long ago. Of course they can play there if needed but we have better options. I bet he considers Chamberlain aswell in that list.

We have Özil, Cazorla and Rosicky as our natural no 10's. Rosicky can't be considered as a serious option every week. And Cazorla hasn't exactly shown why he deserves to play centrally over Özil.

Just play your best no 10 in his natural position, like every top manager does. Mourinho also has Oscar, Fabregas, Hazard etc to choose, yet he doesn't put Fabregas on the wing to accomodate the weaker Oscar. It doesn't make sense for any other big manager and it shouldn't for Wenger either.

Too hard on Santi, he did well whenever he's called upon, be it centrally or left wing. Also it's Jack who push Ozil to the left so yeah problem is there.

To answer the questions, yes, obviously Cesc is the better all round player.

K

1991 wrote:To answer the questions, yes, obviously Cesc is the better all round player.

It is actually a trick question.
See you like many others immediately sat back and thought that the question was about which player was better at there preferred position and could bring more to the team.

The correct answer would actually be no.
After watching Wenger for the last couple of years. If Cesc would have been brought back he would have been playing at right back or somewhere else far away from his preferred position. Wenger would have continued to come up with strange formations that did not fit the personnel. Wenger would have continued to look into the transfer windows and not filled positions we need or actually strengthen the side. Wenger would have continued with a starting X1 that seems to have have more a a basis in fancying certain players over winning.

So it just would not have mattered!

6unner wrote:

1991 wrote:To answer the questions, yes, obviously Cesc is the better all round player.

It is actually a trick question.
See you like many others immediately sat back and thought that the question was about which player was better at there preferred position and could bring more to the team.

The correct answer would actually be no.
After watching Wenger for the last couple of years. If Cesc would have been brought back he would have been playing at right back or somewhere else far away from his preferred position. Wenger would have continued to come up with strange formations that did not fit the personnel. Wenger would have continued to look into the transfer windows and not filled positions we need or actually strengthen the side. Wenger would have continued with a starting X1 that seems to have have more a a basis in fancying certain players over winning.

So it just would not have mattered!

So basically #wengerout

@cesc4official has the same number of assists (7) as the whole of the @Arsenal side. Ouch.

If Özil is going to be played on the left wing anyway then how does Cesc not fit because of Özil? Your midfield today was Flamini-Wilshere-Cazorla. He couldn't have played instead of Wilshere or Cazorla?

Not wanting him is one thing. Not wanting him while immensely strenghtening a direct rival is hilariously bad of Wenger.

Lol

I wouldn't of wanted Cesc back here and ive always said it.

Yes Ozil hasn't lived up to expectation and perhaps Madrid did have us over but we didn't need an attacking Midfield player which Cesc is we already had Ozil so there was no room for him.

Cesc is suffering, bring him home.

We all knew this would happen

Özil is still an underrated player in some ways, frankly. Not underrated in the sense that he was a cheap diamond in the rough - no, his price tag was upscale. But because he appears lazy and languid on the pitch sometimes, people still underestimate how good he is.

We haven't even seen the best of him at Arsenal - I'd say that's true. But screw it. He's great. He's a Gunner. I'm glad we have him. I mean, everyone's read that recent Brian Phillips piece on Özil, right? Our little googly eyed playmaker is actually really good, even when he's below his best. It just doesn't always look like it, especially on the stats.

Mourinho and Abramovich and all those jokers can have Cesc to themselves. I say this as someone who loved Cesc as a player, and who still appreciates his talent immensely. But as a gooner I'm sticking with Mesut.

(PLUS - If we had Cesc over Mesut, I'm unconvinced we'd be doing better overall in our competitions. And you all KNOW this much is true: people would be making threads instead about how Cesc is slow, he's not good enough to win us the league, if Arsenal were ambitious we'd have gone after James/Kroos/Pogba/etc. instead.)

Phew I nearly ate humble pie, didn't want him for sentimental reason and still stand by my opinion.

Maybe for the best of both world, buy Cesc, play him intensively until Feb then Ozil finish the rest

I'M sticking with Ozil and I count on Wenger to find a way to get the best out of him.

So where should I deliver them humble pies now?