Arsenal

[The Fox]

I'm getting so bored of defending Ozil in here and on Twitter. It makes me sad that his price tag makes him an easy target for people to vent at when things go wrong for the team. He was playing left wing back for an hour ffs, what possible conclusion can anyone draw from how effective he was in that role? He's not in great form but what exactly did you expect from him last night, given the position he had to play in, getting triple teamed by Lahm, Rafinha and Robben?

And yeah his head possibly went briefly after he fucked up the penalty - whose wouldn't? He's struggling for confidence a bit (probably in part because the press and a section of the support are on his back all too easily), and that was a big blow. I guess Dennis Bergkamp must be "a dick" too for his shit penalty against Man Utd in the FA Cup which cost us a trophy.

The guy is clearly suffering physically. He didn't have a pre-season with us, went straight into the side, and has played 90 mins in almost every game since. He's someone used to getting a winter break, and also is perhaps not the most naturally fit guy in the world because Mourinho would routinely remove him before full time, like Wenger does with Podolski.

Despite that, as usual the 'work rate' jibes at him are lazy and not backed up by any facts. He covered more ground than any Bayern player and more than all of ours bar one.

Personally I'd have him on the bench for the next three league games, only using him if needed, in order to try and freshen him up for Spurs/Chelsea/Man City.

[mop]

Careful now, fox, less someone calls you a 'football hipster' for defending Ozil!

It is getting a bit annoying and tiresome how much of a lighting rod for anger Ozil is becoming.

[Gotters]

as always the truth lies between the he's shit and he's amazing positions

he's a decent player struggling for form who I suspect if it wasn't for his price tag would be getting different treatment from both the manager and fans

for a lightweight playmaker no measure of anything can ever be taken by how much he's run about can it, what does that prove? he gets to areas of the pitch where he's still ineffective last night

[The Fox]

He's definitely not amazing at the moment, I'd never claim that, even though he's still producing amazing flashes. He's not in a good form, but you'd think this exact same thing didn't happen with Silva and Mata post-Christmas when they came to England. Physically they weren't used to the rigours and faded badly.

It just winds me up that we have this amazingly talented player, like 'Top 10 in the world' level, and people are giving him such a hard time for not beating six players and rifling it into the corner, while also playing as a left-back against the world's best right back and right winger.

As for the running -- covering that much ground (which he does on a frequent basis) proves he's not lazy! Doesn't mean he was effective, but you'd think he was fucking Berbatov the way some journalists/fans harp on about it.

[Gotters]

I agree the negative reactions are too much - but arsenal fans waited ages for money to be spent now have the huff its not immediately paying off I guess - which is unrealistic

I'd still rather be £40m into Ozil than £60m into Lamela and Soldado.

You should never be surprised at the level of idiot reaction towards football - its a game that prides itself on stupidity at all levels

[Larsen B]

It's also bonkers that people think not playing him will do more for his confidence than playing him through a bad spell.

[Silent Runner]

I agree the negative reactions are too much - but arsenal fans waited ages for money to be spent now have the huff its not immediately paying off I guess - which is unrealistic

I'd still rather be £40m into Ozil than £60m into Lamela and Soldado.

You should never be surprised at the level of idiot reaction towards football - its a game that prides itself on stupidity at all levels

The highlighted bit blows my mind. This time last season we were 21 points off the top. Right now we're 12 points better off than after the same number of games played last year, we're still (just about) in the Champions League and the Cup.

[Gotters]

it feels to me we are better off mostly in spite of Ozil not because of him - I think in terms of things actually happening on the pitch Flamini has been more important - Ozil's signing certainly gave the team a little boost in the immediate aftermath and he started brightly, not sure either of those things in evidence now.

[The Fox]

It's also bonkers that people think not playing him will do more for his confidence than playing him through a bad spell.

I'd agree with that but I think he needs a rest from a physical perspective. He's played a hell of a lot, Christ he even played 90 mins vs Coventry.

[wev]

I agree with Fox (sorry dude!)

Ozil is in need of a rest, allow him to get his fitness back over the next couple of games, maybe chuck him on for the last 10)15 minutes of those matches so he's a little fresher than everyone else so he can do his thing and regain that confidence.

[Charliemouse]

Now you have mentioned Lamela, a lot of Spurs fans have written him off and constantly moan about the money we have spent on him. Even though he has never had a run in the team and when he has played, its been in a position that he just isn't used to.

Solado while obviously a decent player, you don't score that many goals in the Spanish league and not have something about you. Just doesn't seem to be suited to English football, though it doesn't help Spurs have played most of the season with wide players with very little creativity who can barely get a decent cross in.

[The Fox]

Doesn't seem like Sherwood fancies either of them though.

[Rev]

Ozil looked exhausted by the end of last night. He literally hurtled after a ball about a minute after kick-off for the second half and then I'm not entirely sure he moved again after that. It was like he'd just run the marathon.

I really feel sorry for him, because he's got to get used to being battered constantly for 90 minutes preventing him from playing how he would but he's also in a team that has got literally no use for him. He's amazing at what he does, but we don't have anyone to take advantage of him. Going from having Ronaldo hurtling off on one side of you and Di Maria on the other with Higuain in front, he's now got Cazorla and Wilshere stood where he wants to be, 3 identical forwards that can't make runs and the only bit of pace on the field is usually on the far side of the pitch where he can't get near him.

It's bad luck to an extent with injuries and I still think we had to buy him given the chance...But it's pretty much a complete tactical disaster.

Lamela is an ace player for £10m. He's never going to be a £30m player.

[The Fox]

Bit harsh on Lamela, £30m is steep but he was bloody good last season and is still very young.

[Shoes]

As for the running -- covering that much ground (which he does on a frequent basis) proves he's not lazy! Doesn't mean he was effective, but you'd think he was fucking Berbatov the way some journalists/fans harp on about it.

And 'running about a lot' was what many people praised Wilshire for against Liverpool, now the same is being said for Ozil as a negative.

[The Fox]

Well I'm not saying it's indicative of anything in particular, other than that he is willing to put a good shift in. Last night he was mostly tracking back to try and defend, and bombing forward on the rare occasions he was able. Not particularly useful then in terms of the type of contribution you'd want from one of the world's best attacking midfielders, but still an indication that he wasn't being lazy.

[Dude Ranch]

Truth is he did cost 42 million pounds, he does earn God knows what, he has got all the high level experience under the sun and he has utterly fucked two penalties and last night possibly cost us a result (we'll never know). What can you do? These things happen but you can't prohibit the fans from feeling pissed off. He is a good player, probably needs to settle in properly and has maybe been put out of whack by the pace of the Prem. The last hour of the match last night wasn't a time for him to showcase his talent. It was backs to the wall and everything else went out the window. The penalty set us up for that though, do doubt. A stinker of a penalty from a player of his standing. Tired or not he didn't entirely cover himself in glory tracking back (he might have put in the mileage but his attitude was poor at times, one particular moment of blatantly disregarding an overlap on our left stands out) but some players aren't bought for that kind of role and you commit to the transfer knowing that. If you want that kind of game then buy James Milner. A different substitution might have helped last night but when you're forced to make two changes you absolutely didn't want to make you're a bit stuck.

Would I rather be with him or without? Definitely with. Should he be able to take a better penalty than that, definitely yes. I would question anyone who is genuinely comfortable with his contribution so far even though there's hopefully lots of fun to come. He's class but he hasn't lived up to his billing and the settling in excuse can only go so far. The price tag and wages thing can't be ignored either, like it or not. It's not his fault but it's the reality of the situtation.

Still a few positives from last night, could have been a total disaster and a lot of what we did was admirable and Ozil did contribute in his own way. Would be fairer to judge him if it had stayed eleven vs eleven, we'd have probably seen a bit more of what he's here to do.

Also, it's not just the Mesut Ozil show. He's only one man.

[The Fox]

His penalty technique is definitely horrible. I know he's only third choice at the club but surely there's someone else better?!

[Charliemouse]

Doesn't seem like Sherwood fancies either of them though.

He does seem to love Aaron 'has barely improved since he was 19 and in fact in some ways he is now worse' though, so I am not sure his judgement on players is especially brilliant. He has got Ade looking like he gives a shit though so at least he is doing a good job there.

Sorry to derail your thread

[Dude Ranch]

Ramsey has proved to be an incredibly costly absentee recently. I think we would have got more from all our recent games if he'd been fit, possibly even the Liverpool away game although they were on fire that day.

[The Fox]

Absolutely. He definitely would have given Arteta a lot more defensive help than Wilshere did on that day.

In Jack's defence he was *loads* better last night in terms of positional discipline and use of the ball. Shame about the brainless free-kick that lead to the second goal though.

[The Fox]

Putting aside his struggles and the absolutely horrible resulting penalty, how goddamn good was this?

Boateng should have done the honourable thing and retired on the spot tbh.

[Silent Runner]

Yeah, that was tasty. As was this from Sanogo:

[The Fox]

Spurs fans were loling it up at us for losing to the best team in the world with 10 men. Tonight they lost to Dinamo Ballsack or something.

Truly a never ending source of amusement.

[Gotters]

to the emirates - hope we get a quick start today rather than the recent 0-0 at HT, the team are going to need to lift the crowd as reckon it will be a bit flat at KO

I reckon he'll take Ozil out the firing line and give him a rest

[Silent Runner]

Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Rosicky, Wilshere, Cazorla, Podolski, Giroud

Ozil not in the squad.

[wev]

Happy with starts for Podolski and Rosicky, surprised Chamberlain isn't starting based on his recent form, plus that line up lacks any pace whatsoever

[pinholestar]

Will be interesting to see how Santi does as the creative fulcrum (assuming he plays at #10) with Özil out of the team. He's found his way back to decent form but has been nowhere near as effective as he was last year & it's not hard to see why.

Always nice to see Podolski get a start too. I'm sure the boss has his reasons but it's been quite sad how he's been a fringe player this season.

Edit: hehe! Nicely worked goal.

[Silent Runner]

Really good goal. Nice little passes and a great finish. Good to see OG scoring again.

[Silent Runner]

Tasty finish for the second.