Paid too much? The club gave him that contract right? He didnt force them into the contract. He is worth what Arsenal valued him at the time. I never begrudge any player for making money this is a business after all. I want Emery gone for a variety of reasons ozil not even close on the list in terms of the failures of Emery at club. It's time for Ozil to move on but Emery could've handled this situation better.
This one stood out to me. Are you factoring in the massive campaign and levels of tampering by Barcelona? It angered everyone except Barca then. Barca Players, Barca Management, and Catalan media were calling for him to go back as his "destiny." Barca players put a Barcelona jersey on Fabregas at their celebration ceremony after they won the World Cup. It was blatant, and it still angers me. As I recall, there were statements from Barcelona that Cesc should just go back to Barcelona with little/no transfer fee for a player still under Arsenal contract that was world class - and worth far more than anything Barca was offering or eventually paid. Even if you rule out that those were the zenith of Arsenal's penny-pinching in the transfer market, Arsenal had every right to keep Cesc until a remotely "fair" price as submitted. (I still think Cesc was sold at a deflated price for that time, btw) So how does Arsenal bear any fault in how they handled Cesc?
Yeah, paid too much. I don’t begrudge him getting money. I just don’t think that he has proven it to be a worthy investment at all. Ozil should have played much more( and I agree that he has not been treated well by Emery, but he should have done better with the time that he has had. I think people are still living in the past when it comes to him.
He's played well under Emery. Not as well as under Wenger, but he's still created more chances than any other player, despite playing like a quarter of the time. My point isn't that Emery should be fired because it's Emery or Ozil. That would stupid. My point is that if Emery is so inflexible that he can't find a way to play one of the world's most gifted playmakers (and behind an elite #9), then Emery is not the right person for the club. Capable managers make it work. Emery's primary method of attack is to rub a rabbit's foot.
I have made a similar point that the manager’s job is to get the most out of his players, and Emery has failed there. I agree. I just don’t think Ozil is the player that he once was.
538 enters the fray. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/arsenal-is-wasting-what-remains-of-mesut-ozils-prime/
A fair write up, as with most of their stories. The sum takeaway is that since Arsenal isn't pressing to the level that Emery wants anyway is it possible that Ozil could further strengthen the offensive potency? They contend he would in certain circumstances and that at the very least it's foolish to leave such a talent just completely on the shelf. Interestingly enough this makes for good coupled reading with the ESPNFC article about how Arsenal have changed since the Invincibles. In that piece Arsenal's failure to maintain a strong defense is highlighted as the root of the decline. Pressing style or no the inability to stop another team, or, more importantly, the lack of heart and determination to work on defense, will render moot all the efforts to play fancy offense.
Yup. To be good defensively, it's not just the back line... it should run through the whole team. Players like Auba, Laca, Ceballos, Guendouzi, etc seem to fit that bill pretty well. The jury's still out on Pepe it seems, and that's a concern... for the team in general but also if Emery lasts will he be able to "win him over" or will he lose patience and bench another "huge signing". However, the jury seems to have spoken pretty clearly on Ozil. So I would think they're trying to ship him out in January. But if they can't, then I agree that it would make some sense to try to accommodate his talent somehow. It makes me wonder if a major factor might just be his attitude having become a bit too toxic for the dressing room, from the perspective of the coaching staff.
Yes but I think the critical point is how the spine and the back 3/4 work as the core of your defense. Since the best days of Kos and Per Arsenal has struggled to display a stalwart defense, and no matter how well Hector or Nacho played if your central defense is poor you will give up shots and are unlikely to control a match. I'm not panicking, especially as we expect the team to continue a makeover over the next several months. Definitely want to see how he does with Bellerin behind him. I'm doubtful but this is an area where I would definitely look toward the coach to manage this situation, as maintaining focus and team spirit is a large part of their role. (Failure here is part of why we banged on Wenger, no?) If as head manager you have a plan and know what you want to do then your job is to instill buy-in from the players. Under these scenarios most bench players understand their role and see the big picture. Presumably this isn't happening, at least for some players, but it's something the coach should manage. If Ozil truly was a clubhouse cancer then surely the team would've done more to offload him, no?
People toss around Ozil's supposed attitude problems - yet has this ever been confirmed? for germany i never heard of any attitude issue - the only thing was the political scandal over erdolf. to me it seems to be more "body language" stuff which has never been supported by data
Ozil has splashed with Ornstein in The Athletic that he is not leaving. I don't have a sub so I can't read it. But basically he has thrown down the gauntlet to Emery
Locker room toxicity isn't probably something you normally get great "data" on. Most players are professional enough to not diss their teammates publicly, right? Same goes for coaching staff. I've not read of any proof or confirmation, but I've a fair amount of talk by fairly respectable journos and pundits who speculate about a player-attitude issue, and a relationship-with-coach issue. Which is why I said above that it makes me wonder if this might not just be a major factor in his lack of PT.
What I mean is, I have never heard of any locker room issue under any of his club managers or national manager until Emery. So I agree there might be an issue between the two of them - but overall the idea that Ozil has a "bad attitude" doesn't seem to fit with his overall career.
I think I heard this reported a week or two ago when there was a lot of talk about Ozil going in January. Ozil's response was basically "I want to stay here". Maybe someone who gets the Athletic can enlighten us. I know we never hear from Stan on virtually anything related to our precious club. But his son Josh had a go at open communications... a few times actually. I wonder what their feelings are about their biggest wage-earner riding the bench a lot? The impression so far is that they're letting Emery coach the way he sees fit, which is the way one generally wants owners to be. But if they were in conflict with Emery over the Ozil situation, we might start to hear things?
OK, but there does seem to be a difference between Ozil's last 3-ish years and his previous career. Lots of turbulence. Problems with DfB, alleged racism, Erdogan photo/association, resigning from national team, reduced playing time. In short, more conflicts, lesser PT, lesser quality of play. Compared to his previous many years where his reputation was better. And I'm not even talking about the personal stuff like: getting married, or getting mugged at knife-point with your wife & friends. My gut says that him signing for Arsenal and working under Wenger & Emery wasn't the root cause of his changes. I think it was probably just unfortunate timing that we bought him at the point when something was changing, or about to change, in him. Edit: Added the Erdogan thing above which I meant to the first time, then Yos reminded me. I felt that might be significant in the whole turbulence.
I do. Yes, but in a very diplomatic way. He explicitly says that he has no plans to leave Arsenal prior to his contract ending and that he's working hard in training, even doing extra weight room work, to get back into Emery's plans. He said that the moped attack did affect his training because his wife was freaking out about being left home alone, so, for a few weeks after the attack, he'd do the minimum of training and get back to her as quickly as possible. That's no longer the case (see above) as she's feeling safer again. As for Emery personally, he notes that he's worked with a lot of big name managers and has never had a problem and that his "issues" with Emery are overblown. He notes that they may not see eye to eye on everything (he's quick to point out that such was true with other managers he's worked with) but he respects him and his decisions about the team.
Re diplomacy - agreed It was a carefully managed splash. The obvious intention is to give no soft spot for Emery to scapegoat him. Thanks for the writeup!
It was an interesting article despite definitely having the feel of an Ozil-PR piece. I wish Ornstein had pressed him more on the Erdogan issue. In the article, he basically just says that he shows him respect as he would Merkel or any world leader who wanted to meet with. He didn't mention the wedding thing specifically but maybe he was lumping that all under the same "respect" umbrella. If so, I think it's a little weak or, rather, not a good enough explanation. But then again, I don't have relatives living in a country run by a dictator who I might have to treat with kid gloves.
I suspected this was a signifcant factor. And even though it's "in the past"... is it ever really?? This too, I suspect(ed) is significant. Thanks for sharing the Athletic/Ornstein tidbits Yos.
Ozil played a close door match vs Reading so prehaps he will get some PL or maybe EL time in these next month of matches.
Ozil basically only does stage managed pieces these days It is a but of a coup of Ornstein to get an exclusive on a new publication But no doubt strict ground rules
I love Jitty’s cynicism: it reads like he’s seen so much stuff firsthand. Makes me wonder where he was during the big German international bribery scandals.