Özil… is he a lazy player?

By Walter Broeckx

The scapegoat after our defeat on Wednesday will probably be Özil.

He missed a penalty. And yes it was an appalling penalty. I think Özil is a great player but I think he lacks the finishing cool a good penalty taker has.

In fact many good penalty takers over the years weren’t the best technical players at all and you have a lot of defenders who are rather good at penalty kicks.

Or you can have hard working midfielders who are excellent penalty takers – for one of the most difficult penalty takers that keepers had to face when I was young was the Dutch midfielder Neeskens.   (For younger readers, I should explain: Johan Neeskens was a Flamini kind of player).

In fact he was a crucial part of most teams Johan Cruyff played in. Cruyff would do the attacking stuff and Neeskens would work in the shadow for him by recovering the balls and then give it to Cruyff.  This Neeskens was not the most gifted player at all. But his penalty kicks were impressive because he just blasted the ball as hard as he could between the posts and crossbar. Most keepers just were glad that they weren’t hit by his shots on the head, let alone thinking of saving the penalty.

So Özil is a player who likes to just put it past the keeper by sending the keeper to the other side. But he is clearly not cool enough for the moment. And I do think that he will not be taking them again even when Arteta is not on the field.

But even the best have missed penalties. Even Maradonna, even Messi. So those things happen. But now I think it is time to take that job away from him.

Because it clearly affected him a lot. You could see the doubt in his head after the penalty miss. He was clearly frustrated with himself and unhappy about it. Indeed some might argue that Wenger should have taken him off and leave Cazorla on the field. Probably Wenger would get slaughtered for doing that if we lost with the same scoreline.

Wenger likes to give trust to his players and by taking him off now he might have harmed his confidence even more.  So I’m sure that Wenger will help him in regaining his confidence. A confidence that seemingly was coming back after the Liverpool debacle in the games against Manchester United and Liverpool in the FA cup.

But some will use the simple argument: Özil is lazy they say. Is he? Or is it just something that someone has just said and then gets repeated without real evidence but is taken for fact?

Now let us take the match against Bayern. A match that went terribly wrong for Özil.  A match where he will have nightmares thinking about it. A match where you might hide yourself after the missed penalty and let the others do the work.

Now before I show you the stats what is your memory of Özil in this match? Running around the whole field trying to do his best. Or moaning to himself and sulking about his missed penalty, letting the others do the running and the work.  Just try to make up your mind before you look further down this article. No, I said first think about it yourself. No looking.

Ok, made up your mind? Then I will now tell you first that the player that ran most in this match was Flamini. No big surprise. Flamini ran most of all the players on the pitch. In total 13,35 km.  In second place we find Wilshere who ran some 11.80 km.  An amazing difference between the two  I would say.

And to see who was in third place and who ran more than the every other Bayern Munich player you may look at the picture now:

Ozil distance

And believe it or not but the third player that covered most distance was “lazy” Özil. He covered more ground than the Gotze who covered most ground for Bayern Munich.

So saying Özil is lazy is not something that can be said based on the Bayern Munich match. Unlucky yes. Unhappy with himself yes. But not lazy.

It is interesting that the 5th player of both teams was Yaya Sanogo. So he certainly also cannot be labelled as being lazy.

Back to Özil. Of course he will not have been a happy man after the match. But a player with his talent will come back to his best. As long as the rest of the team and the coaching staff will be behind him he will bounce back from this terrible day.

And as long as the fans will not get on his back, he will come back to reward the supporters who support him in this bad moment in his career. I think nobody better than he will know what a miss that was. But that is the life of a football player.

But when it comes to penalty taking I would advise Wenger and Özil to look at two options. First is to have all other 10 players on the pitch to take a penalty and then and only then let Özil take another one. Or go back to the training pitch and practice a new style of penalties. I know Özil can do better if he would but change his penalty style. And if he cannot change his style then there is still option number 1: let others take it.

Bad things happen from time to time. But it is not the falling that decides if you become a champion, it is the getting up and getting on with it that decides who will become a winner. I’m sure Özil has enough in himself to come back from this.

Maybe next Saturday already. When I will be there in the Emirates shouting my lungs out to support the team.  When the going get tough, the tough get going. Come on Mesut, show us the real you and make up for it in the PL in the next matches.

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50 Replies to “Özil… is he a lazy player?”

  1. Teams are built around players like Ozil. He’s not a cart horse and never will be .
    As the stats show , he did his share of the running and chasing around.
    Its just the media and the stupid pundits trying to find a crack in our team to exploit .Good luck with that !
    Next season he will trully blossom and the same media will be made to look like clowns or more so !

  2. The criticism of Ozil is mostly based on lazy repetition of crap journalists notions (another example in today’s Guardian) and certain television pundits. No doubt they would argue that we should have signed Scott Parker.

    One feature of Ozil’s style is that he never appears to be moving at speed or doing things in a hurry. I regard this as a sign of his class.

    Leaving aside impressions, his impressive statistics speak for themelves.

  3. Give Ozil a break,he is a great player and has lifted the mood at Arsenal.A team is made up of 11 ,not one.How many other great players have missed penalties?You are great Ozil,play your game.

  4. Ozil isn’t lazy!
    He is an offense oriented genius who can find a defense splitting pass before most players know is on.
    Unfortunately for him he now plays his club football in a league where physical application of a player is more important than his technical abilities.

    The British ‘industry’ and trickery of foreign players is what makes PL the success it has become.
    Without it’s highly skilled imports , the PL would be just about as exciting to watch as the English national team and about as successful too.

    Ozil is in his first season as an Arsenal player and he will need to make adjustments to his game but we mustn’t forget that Arsenal have lost Walcott for the season and Ramsey for a long stretch , two most important players complementing Ozil’s game.

    Getting a world class striker wouldn’t hurt his game either.

    People who say he’s a flop , are either total idiots and have no idea what they’re talking about or have an agenda . Either way they shoul be ignored.

    As for his penalty against Bayern , I don’t think he should take any penalties for Arsenal, period.

    The most important aspect of penalty taking isn’t technical ability but mental toughness and Ozil is apparently a very sensitive individual.
    Everyone who’s ever taken penalties missed some but if missing one can visibly shake you up to the point where everybody and especially your opponents can see it , then perhaps penalties aren’t for you.

    The eight year trophy drought has put some fans on edge and they are all too willing to go looking for scapegoats whenever Arsenal fail to get a result. Ozil makes the perfect target because of his steep price tag but he is a pleasure to watch and Arsenal fans should count their blessings for having him.

  5. Pundits are useless failed footballers. All they know is to criticise and make fun of players who are better than them.
    Ozil play is all about movement with or without the ball. He makes himself available, that’s why he is so valuable to the team and fundamental to the team’s play this season.
    Modern football is all about movement and positioning that’s where Ozil is top of the class. With Ozil one will see that whenever a player is with the ball he will be nearby to receive the pass or to distract the opposition. He cannot be doing this if he is lazy!
    Someone needs to send the pundits to get some education.

  6. I think hes a great player, Im sick and tired of the silly billy culture at Arsenal, finding a scapegoat at any given moment. The poor bloke has even had to apologise! Footballs not the bloody X factor. Yes, it was a crepe penalty, but so was Dens against Man U, miles miles worse miss, much worse pain, Should Den tweet that hes sorry? What about Paddy for that matter…?
    Im also embarrassed at the coffee -to- go Guardianistas new fans(“oh yah what does one possibly eat on Xmas Eve?”) who leave the ground early. That has a great affect on the players too.I realise that everyone has to get off home to do some conceptual cooking, but for those of us who would love to go to the Emeroids but live in distant lands,its sad to see. Support means everything to the players…
    We’re lucky to have Özil long may he stay!
    Aha and Amen! COYG! COYÖ!

  7. I want to thank the many people on the internet who passed on this picture with the stats this week. I don’t know where they got it from but I must say it was eye opening for me

  8. No doubt he ran a distance in trying to close down but the laziness wasn’t physical it was more about concentration levels and that was I suspect due to him being tired
    The trouble is, and many have touched on it, he and in truth quite a few of your players, and Ozil is one is quite simply not the sort that give that extra bit in terms of defensive strength.
    I am not trying to be negative in terms of them as footballers its more about how AW sets his teams up, coaches them, and in truth how he approaches football.

  9. “Or is it just something that someone has just said and then gets repeated without real evidence but is taken for fact”
    Exactly. That’s what happened. I did disagree with people who were blasting him after the match for not putting in a good shift, and I said it felt we had watched a different game. Certainly in the one I watched I saw Ozil track back time and again, joining Monreal to break Bayern’s attacks and keep robben quiet. Even the sky commentators, particularly Gary Neville, singled him out for praise for running himself into the ground. And these stats just prove what I felt I had seen. The fact he was disappointed in himself is actually a good thing, it’ll make him work harder to get even better.

    I think Ozil hasn’t suddenly become a crap penalty taker overnight. For him and the manager to put him third in the list of our takers he must have been good at taking them before. These things happen, even rooney, Lampard and gerard have missed a couple of penalties in a row. Putting too much spotlight on it isn’t helpful. It can become a mental block, and should we get one against Sunderland I would want to see him take it. Ozil had nothing to apologise, he won that penalty through merit and sheer brilliance, and unfortunately it didn’t go in. I am sure in his mind he would have preferred not to have been stopped by an illegal challenge and gone on to score from open play.

    Ozil’s game is a bit like Thierry’s but in a different way. The similarities are the start stop technique; where he can run with the ball, and then suddenly stop, before taking off again. The main difference is probably Thierry’s run was more towards goal, while Ozil can change direction in any way. But the one person you want to get the ball with one defender ahead of him in that team is Ozil, you just know he will beat him. He’s not slow either, just that his game doesn’t depend largely on pace, in fact he doesn’t really need to run away from a player he’s just beaten as he has the confidence to do it again. Unfortunately we are lacking players who can quickly exploit the space he will have created so we aren’t making the most of his talents. Just to put a little perspective to this, if fabregas was in our team right now, we wouldn’t really see those long defence splitting passes of his working too, simply because we don’t have someone that is looking to make a darting run behind the defence. So when we say Ozil isn’t benefitting from not having someone like that in the team, it’s not trying to apportion blame others, but just pointing out that should we have someone like that then it would profit the whole team. Players compliment each other, like Per and Kos; very different players but the best at what they do coz they compliment each other’s strengths. Look at Liverpool, suarez and sturridge compliment each other too. Suarez takes one or two defenders with him, leaving sturridge to exploit the space. It’s just how it works. I can’t wait for Ramsey to come back, and Theo, they’re the players more suited to do this.

    I think the biggest issue is Ozil makes it look so easy that people fail to appreciate what he’s achieving. He’s certainly not lazy.

  10. hahhahah…LAZY. A person?? You dont have to do a Flamini to be good at defense. Ozil may not be good at tackling or physical contests, but he does defend intelligently. He positions himself in such a way that the options for the attacking player is limited. With 10 men we were stretched a bit, but with 11 men his style of defending helps a lot. Its like Per. Positional play at its best.

  11. Arsenal 13
    Spot on. Too many expect to see a player busting a gut to appreciate the work they’re doing. And like your example of Per, he was also attacked in his first year for being slow, etc. But look at all those people being forced to eat humble pie now. Intelligent players can be quite effective without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately, many in the English game prefer to see sweat.

  12. A lot of the criticism aimed at Ozil is totally unfair and unjustified. It seemed that the media were stunned when Arsenal first signed him – there was resentment amongst the media and certain other interests. Now they are looking to undermine Ozil at every opportunity, unfortunately aided by the brainless AAA. I have noted that even an overfed person from eastern Europe has added to the clamor, the same person who made an unwelcome comment when the van Pursey was listening to the little boy inside him.

    Ozil has been subject to a lot of fouls on the pitch, largely unpunished by the refs – all such fouls designed to stop an attack or prevent a defense splitting pass. Such tactics have tended to make Ozil appear less effective – but he will learn to cope with that treatment.

    Apart from knowing that he has the fans full support, Ozil needs less media attention and a little more time to adjust to the EPL.

    More generally, the Ozil purchase was a statement of intent from Arsenal. Our rivals and those with a vested interest in preventing Arsenal from becoming the top club in the league are desperately concerned that AW will add further class players to an already good squad – hence the present high level of unjustified vitriol aimed at AW and the club.

  13. Ozil is a genuis whos form has dropped a bit due to tiredness, unusual surroundings and adapting to new players. He is clearly more suited to the qualities of theo and Rambo and adapting to who we have now.
    people used to believe some are born with talent, now we know its not true. You can be born with genes and physiques that help, but true God given talent at this level is actually down to hard work and proper coaching. Ozil has got this far, he will put his head down and make himself a huge success, just like Bobby and Dennis before him. He may, or may not need a rest, Wenger will decide on that.
    Really strange, the Spuds had an abysmal result last night, not with ten men against the best in the world, but against, with respect a team not all would have heard of. Have been perusing the press, but no lurid headlines, no calling for their managers head, no picking on expensive players perceived not to have had a good game. Strange that, if I were having a cynical day, I would almost suggest double standards at work.

  14. Tim Gooner Sherwood said its the pitch (as per some headline I read).

    And therz some good news (well if they are to be believed in the first place), Ramsey is on his way back. Chelsea game they say. A month from now….

  15. I do not think he is lazy, but the first season with no break like he is used to is going to cost him some energy, until he gets used to it, this is why he needs a break i think. Use him from now as a sub to see if this helps him ease into the many grueling games. This should get him more ready for the new season more. He is professional enough to know that this is probably the best option for now.

  16. well, being a gooner, have to give TS the benefit of the doubt, but strange again how the press did not sieze on that, wenger gets called all sorts if he mentions anything like an excuse.
    Really hope you are right about Ramsey, but always fear the worst with injuries to our key players.
    Hope Gibbs soon ok, and TV, we might well be needing him

  17. maybe a hint Ozil could be given a well earned rest at the weekend?
    From this, cannot say Ozil does not care. Just wait until we see the Ozil of next season!

    http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11670/9176834/arsenals-mesut-ozil-is-still-suffering-after-his-penalty-miss-against-bayern

    no mention of NB – take it he is now totally out of the picture? I am sure Wenger will have his reasons, but a shame, was looking forward to seeing him try and resurrect his career

  18. Yes, Gibbs and Verminator too. Its sad that we cant expect the same in Theos case…..

    But Monreal is as good. Gibbs more mobile may be. But Monreal hardly played this season. I think thats why he looks less sharp.

  19. Tired, maybe. But if a tired Ozil can put up such stats imagine what a fresh Ozil will do 🙂 Like BJT said, the poor guy is.being kicked left right and centre with the officials doing nothing. I think him and Jack are the most fouled Arsenal players at the moment.

  20. Ozils running stats show he is not lazy. Maybe his defensive capabilities vis-a-vis tackling etc are not as good as they could be but why should we expect them to be, we do not criticise Flamini for not being as creative as Ozil around the opponents penalty area. I suspect the bulk of the people now starting to complain about him are one and the same as those who wanted Arsene to ‘spend some f*****g money’, they will always moan and blame someone for something.

  21. I am kind of relieved that the media have stopped calling Ozil the saviour of Arsenal who ‘lifted’ the club (out of where? I don’t know). A few months back, they would credit Ozil with every good thing that happened to Arsenal on the field of play but today the same set of people can’t see any good in him.

    Interesting.

    This is where I differ from most where Ozil is concerned. I was never in too much awe of the guy. All I saw was an efficient player who was contributing his bit to a great Arsenal team. I never thought that he is beyond reproach as long as it is gentle and constructive. Many thought he was (beyond criticism) as Walter experienced when he had the temerity to write that he had a poor game by his own standard. Other players, particularly Giroud, would be blamed whenever Ozil under-performs. I’m happy for Giroud that he did not play on Wednesday because I’m pretty sure that some people would already be blaming him for Ozil now.

    What we can all learn from the media pile on on the poor guy is not to join them when they start deifying our players because all they are doing is setting them up for a very big fall. The media have been so hard on Ozil because of all those “Arsenal’s saviour” stories that they have written about the guy. Ozil is a great player who is still adapting to his new team mates. I have no doubt of his class so I’m pretty sure that he will weather the storm.

  22. He’ back !

    The Spud lovin’ Arsenal basher , Antony Kastrinakis is back – here’s snippets of his wisdom..

    ” ARSENE WENGER’S Champions League referee rants are as misplaced as the £42million he spent on Mesut Ozil.

    Tired old sorry excuses — just like the mega-money flop’s performance last night.”

    “While he knows Ozil has proved a 42 million pound flop- a panic-buy ,a luxury player , a flat track bully and one who has already infuriating fans – he will blame the ref .”

    “The match was only going to have one outcome once Bayern adapted to their hurly-burly rivals .”

    “….down to the fact that Bayern have much better executives than Ivan Gazidis. Much better players than Ozil .
    And Pep as manager.

    Here I have to state that I don’t buy ,nor subscribe to The Sun ,but read this in our local paper . I just wanted to know what he wrote today about the Spuds in their game against Dnipro – was the pitch deliberately tilted or tilled or for this game ?
    Any mention of Soldado or of any of those magnificent
    AVB’s buys ?
    NO ? Hmmmmm !

  23. While we are still at ” putting the foot in the mouth” mode here’s my attempt to match his comedy with this from…

    http://ancienthomeofdragon.homestead.com/fun2.html

    Famous Last Words in the movies

    -I’ll get a world record for this.
    -It’s fireproof.
    -He’s probably just hibernating.
    -What does this button do?
    -I’m making a citizen’s arrest.
    -So, you’re a cannibal.
    -It’s probably just a rash.
    -Why am I standing on a plastic sheet?
    -Are you sure the power is off?
    -The odds of that happening have to be a million to one!
    -What duck?
    -What do you mean, “I’ll be back”?
    -Pull the pin and count to what?
    -Which wire was I supposed to cut?
    -I wonder where the mother bear is.
    -I’ve seen this done on TV.
    -These are the good kind of mushrooms.
    -I’ll hold it and you light the fuse.
    -You look just like Charles Manson.
    -Let it down slowly.
    -Rat poison only kills rats.
    -I sure they speak English.
    -OK, I’ll go ahead and make your day.
    -I’ll get your toast out.
    -It’s strong enough for both of us.
    -This doesn’t taste right.
    -I can make this light before it changes.
    -Nice doggie.
    -I can do that with my eyes closed.
    -I’ve done this before.
    -Well we’ve made it this far.
    -That’s odd.
    -I’ll just slip into the commuter lane for a second.
    -OK this is the last time.
    -Don’t be so superstitious.
    -Now watch this….

  24. Beware Of Greeks Bearing Gifts. . .
    Two restaurant owners opened restaurants next to each other. Chinese and Greek – side by side. The owners a Mr. Chin and a Mr. Papadopoulos get to be buddies. Part of the deal is one day a week they will break out of the monotony and eat at the others restaurant for free and have whatever is on the menu. Papadopoulos eats at Chin’s on Tuesday and Chin at Papadopoulos’ on Friday.

    This goes on a while but soon Chin starts getting irritated. Papadopoulos speaks almost perfect English but Chin can barely be understood.
    Every Friday when he comes to the Greek place, Papadopoulos asks Chin: “What day is this?” Chin always answers “Fliday.” Papadopoulos then practically rolls on the floor, laughing. He finds the accent so funny.
    This goes on several months and Chin decides he’s not taking it any longer. Chin has two scholarly sons. One attends Harvard and the other goes to Yale. He implores them to teach him the proper pronunciation of English words so the next six months they tutor him. It is hard work but finally he is ready and can hardly wait for Friday. Finally it arrives. Papadopoulos asks him “What day is this?”
    Chin replies “It’s FRIDAY, you GLEEK PLICK!”

  25. Darling, Do I Please You?

    One night Anthony was laying in bed with his wife. He touched his wife’s leg in that knowing way. She ignored him. Feeling a little frustrated he turned to his wife and said

    “Darling, do I please you in bed”?

    His wife replied “Yes you do. But I really love that trick you do with your mouth”.

    The husband smiles and asks “What trick is that then sweetheart”?

    His wife answered “The one where you shut up and go to sleep!”

  26. Two Asprins
    A man come home after work to find his wife sleeping with her mouth open. So he goes in the kitchen and comes back and sticks 2 asprins and little water in her mouth. She starts choking and wakes up. She asks her husband ” what did you put in my mouth??” He replies ” two asprin and a little water.” She says ” but I don’t have a headache.”
    He says ” That’s all I needed to hear!!”.

  27. Things You Can Only Say At Christmas.
    (Not for me !)

    1: I prefer breasts to legs.
    2: Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.
    3: Smother the butter all over the breasts.
    4: If I don’t undo my trousers, I’ll burst!
    5: I’ve never seen a better spread!
    6: I fancy a little dark meat for a change.
    7: Are you ready for seconds yet?
    8: It’s a little dry, do you still want to eat it?
    9: Just wait your turn, you’ll get some!
    10: Don’t play with your meat!
    11: Stuff it up between the legs as far as it will go.
    12: Do you think you’ll be able to handle all these people at once?
    13: I didn’t expect everyone to come at the same time!
    14: You still have a little bit on your chin.
    15: How long will it take after you put it in?
    16: You’ll know it’s ready when it pops up.
    17: Just pull the end and wait for the bang.
    18: That’s the biggest bird I’ve ever had!
    19: I’m so full, I’ve been gobbling nuts all morning.
    20: Wow, I didn’t think I could handle all that and still want more

  28. He isn’t particuarly lazy but he is weak. Great players dont let a penalty miss affect the rest of there performance. According to Wenger he is still not over it which is not really what great players do, they move on and get over it and look to make amends in the next match.

  29. WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED:

    Men Are Just Happier People —
    What do you expect from such simple creatures?

    Your last name stays put.

    The garage is all yours.

    Wedding plans take care of themselves.

    Chocolate is just another snack…

    You can be President.

    You can never be pregnant.

    You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.

    You can wear NO shirt to a water park.

    Car mechanics tell you the truth.

    The world is your urinal.

    You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.

    You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.

    Same work, more pay.

    Wrinkles add character.

    Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100.

    People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.

    New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.

    One mood all the time.

    Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.

    You know stuff about tanks.

    A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.

    You can open all your own jars.

    You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.

    If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.

    Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.

    Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.

    You almost never have strap problems in public.

    You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.

    Everything on your face stays its original color.

    The same hairstyle lasts for years, even decades.

    You only have to shave your face and neck.

    You can play with toys all your life.

    One wallet and one pair of shoes — one color for all seasons.

    You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.

    You can ‘do’ your nails with a pocket knife.

    You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

    You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

    All the above jokes were from

    http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Love-Jokes-And-Riddles/3039738

  30. I agree with bjtgooner the media reacted as though enraged not only by the signing of Ozil but I also suspect that they (or whoever it is that makes the editorial decisions)were ‘miffed’ that they didn’t see it coming, so they look to make him the scapegoat.

    To accuse Ozil of laziness is cheap, silly and cowardly everything I have come to expect from them with regard to Arsenal/Arsene Wenger. I suppose they desparately hope to undermine his confidence and our support… somebody somewhere sounds terrified of Arsenal.

    We can’t allow the spineless and the devious to win the day let’s give the whole team and the manager our full support win, lose or draw.

  31. @GooneressNo1

    You have reminded me of a further concern I noted at the end of the summer transfer window.

    At that time I felt that not only were the media “miffed” (I like the term you used) about not spotting the Ozil transfer coming, but certain other persons who would have liked to prevent the transfer, or direct Ozil to another club, were unable to do so – they were and are also “miffed”.

  32. Matt
    “Great players dont let a penalty miss affect the rest of there performance”
    You mean like how it affected him that he came third in the distance covered stats in that same match he missed the penalty?? If that was a poor Ozil I can take that any day.

    He hasn’t had another match to make amends so trying to say he hasn’t moved on is a bit silly. Wenger may have said those words(I didn’t check to see if he actually said that, but just going by what you say) in the aftermath of the match. But you saying it today(a couple of days later) sounds like that is the state of mind he is in right now. Maybe he felt that way on Thursday morning, but can you say if he’s still in the same mind frame? Any player who feels they could have done something better can rightfully feel upset. As for your statement of him being weak, do you have any evidence for it? If I recall well, you were one of the people who were banging on AW to spend some money. Now he did you’re not happy with that. Despite that all the managers, retired top and current top players saying we had signed a great player. All their opinions count for naught, you and a few hacks in the media know better. We must be wary of turning him into another Gervinho, Arshavin or Chamakh…. Those were all players with a high reputation before they joined our team, but were pale shadows of themselves when they left.

    Those in the media are quick to jump on the bandwagon and knock our players down. Unfortunately, some of our fans provide them with the reason, and fuel to do so.

  33. GooneressNr1

    The only people’ enraged ‘by Ozil signing ,were Madridistas, Spuds fans and Hitler 🙂

  34. Bjtgooner and let’s not forget that strange saga with Man Utd. Moyes wasn’t interested in Ozil… then he was… then he wasn’t ever interested… then he…

    Media persons repeatedly claiming how Ozil perfectly fit the Utd set up… I couldn’t help but wonder why bother with this?

    I heard a caller about a month ago on Talk Sh*te claim that if Man U had been interested Ozil would have ‘crawled on his belly’ to to get to Old Trafford… the presenters let that go without comment.

  35. @ AL

    I can because Wenger said it this morning and said he wasn’t over the penalty miss. Dont take my word for it look online to see for yourself.

    Running around is not a world class performance.

  36. I dont think Ozil is lazy or a bad player but to say his performances over the last 2 months have been good is simply not true.

    Players who cost £42 million will be judged on performances and his have not been good recently. That’s not to say that once he has settled properly that we wont be a great player for us.

  37. Calm yourself Matt why so critical? You know who you remind me of? Three little letters…

  38. Have to remember that Ozil played all of most of the games Liverpool(A), Man Utd(H), Liverpool(H), Bayern(H). I think Mertesacker and Koscielny were the only others to have as much game time – and centre backs don’t run as much (trust me – I was one!).

    The guy would be shattered. He was fairly diligent I thought until the last 10 or 15 when he was struggling to keep up with runners – exhaustion.

  39. German national players are the fittest players in the World. Their inclusion in the German national side is primarily based on their stamina levels and speed, it is the German way and then technical ability is taken into account.

    Yes, the stats show Flamini ran around the most but how much of that distance was productive? How much of the distance ran by Ozil was productive? Why was a TEAM-MATE on the field of play, the one which the stats say ran the most, berating Ozil for not pulling his weight? Nobody cares Ozil missed a penalty, this happens, they do care though about his effort and I have pointed out already he is not tired. All that time Ramsey was being criticised, he was consistently the player who ran the furthest in a game, when the attacking midfielder Denilson was in the team as a DM, he was the season’s best best passer and best tackler, but he was crucified too.

    I have never criticised Ramsey or Denilson, but Ozil would be critcised if this was not his first season. Bobby Pires didn’t really start to shine until February and the same went for Eduardo before Taylor wiped him out, Koscielny and Mertesacker were both better players in their second season.

    I think the universal belief is that a player of Ozil’s calibre, class, experience, fitness, price tag and the wage he is on – should have hit the ground running and he pretty much did, he had a positive impact on the team and the result.

    The only stats which should be shown in this article are his ‘assist’ stats and ‘completed passes’ stats …. and compared with his performance at the start of the season. This will not be done here on Untold, those stats will not count. Only the cherry picked stats fit the argument of the author. Just look at past articles.

    Oh, and when you do check, try to ignore the comments about comment leavers who only follow the rules and comment on the topic itself – you know, like this one. What happened to this website.

  40. A1A

    “I think the universal belief is that a player of Ozil’s calibre, class, experience, fitness, price tag and the wage he is on – should have hit the ground running and he pretty much did, he had a positive impact on the team and the result.

    The only stats which should be shown in this article are his ‘assist’ stats and ‘completed passes’ stats …. and compared with his performance at the start of the season.”

    Disagree with the above. You appear to put forward your argument from a Football Manager perspective. Players moving into a new league tend to need adjustment periods. More so for those coming from a more technical based league to a more physical one.

    Say we go with your argument, I believe Ozil is the 3rd top assist in the EPL with 8 assist (ESPN). He is the 8th top passer in the EPL with 87% passing accuracy (Bloomberg). Satisfied?

    The thing is, the author was trying to defend Ozil from being labelled lazy. Therefore, it was not appropriate to use “assist” and “completed passes” in this case. It was not cherry picking.

    Thing is, with 10 men, there wasn’t much Arsenal could do but defend. Maybe if we were playing another team other than Bayern (or perhaps Barca) we could have still played our normal game. But the class of the opposition and a man down means we couldn’t.

  41. it would benefit some of us to see the beauty in ozil’s game and not wish for him to run like a horse. the ball-on-a-plate to the ox in the previous game is a lot harder to do than it looks, and there are many players out there who have overhit such a ball.

  42. I can assure anyone this is the beginning of a sustained campaign to paint Ozil as the worst flop, even worse than Carroll, Veron, Berbatov combined. I know AW rested him today as its a game we shouldn’t have trouble with, but just watch how it will be painted by the media. These scumbags.

  43. Ok Mick, at least they look like they’re reporting it as it was given to them. I doubt though the likes of the daily mail will adopt that line.

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