Paternity leave outrage shines light on regressive realities of competition

by .

Oh man, it’s so fucking great to support a club that offers its players paternity leave. We’re so modern and trailblazing. I love it.

Yeah people, did you hear? Granit Xhaka has been given a month off to be with his newborn. Isn’t that wonderful?

I am of course joking here… this is one of the weirdest stories in sport.

Footballers are basically like part-time workers. Sure, there are away games, but overall, they have 2-3 hour training sessions, maybe a bit of video analysis. Put it this way, Mesut Ozil has so much spare time on his hands he’s in the top 5% of Fortnite gamers in the world. He’s basically a pro. There are lots of examples of footballers managing to balance the beautiful game AND get their gold handicaps down to basically zero (pro level). I think part of the Gareth Bale/Zidane beef is literally golf.

The news is coming from Switzerland.

“There are more special things in life than football. For example, when you become a father”

I’m probably reaching… my gut reaction is that blowing off your team for a month seems quite, I don’t know, anti-sport… but the other part of me thinks that, damn, maybe that’s a regressive view. He’s a human. He wants to spend the first month with his wife. That’s a good thing.

I work in America. I am already in disagreements with my GF about taking paternity for a child I do NOT have on the way. Why would I think such things? The true nature of business in a competitive environment is that someone is always there, waiting, with a knife, ready to slice your throat. My own adventurous/debilitating paranoia plays a commanding role in this, sure, but there’s a hint of truth there which is probably bad for society as a whole.

This Xhaka situation is the m/paternity nightmare everyone goes through.

Xhaka, 26 (36 in working years), has two talented kids (cheaper) ready to take his place indefinitely if they have a good month. Willock and Matteo have a huge chance to win out long-term here. That means LT will have a chance to reimpose himself onto the first team. For Xhaka, it’s a huge risk for someone who isn’t rocking 65 hr weeks as it is. Also, football is a lot less advanced than most other businesses, empathy not being its strong-suit… what does ducking a month tell the manager?

Still, at least it’ll shine a light on the truth. We’re either going to shine without him, or it’ll look very Gilberto Silva back in the day (bad). For reference, no one had ever seen a midfielder that marked space back in the day. We’d also never seen a Brazilian that wasn’t electric. People wondered about his usefulness, then he picked up an injury and we all missed him.

I would trace a lot of this: ‘Oh, you don’t get football if you don’t get X’ because of Gilberto. No fan wants to be seen as the ingrate that doubted Gilberto, so people do the math.

Terrible player keeps getting played + expensive managers keep playing him / Hedged bet that there’s some underlying reason he’s player = I’ll look like a sage if I too back him with vague assessments of his talents.

Denilson, Senderos, Xhaka, Ozil, Nik B, Randall…

Anyway, back to Xhaka. The notion that we gave a player that makes a horrendous amount of errors the captains’ armband also amazes me. A leader should be absolutely accountable to the team. To hear him basically roll Auba and Laca under bus post Spurs was quite incredible. Keep your thoughts to yourself when you’re an radical error-ist, especially when talking about two players that have gone above and beyond for the team to keep them semi-competitive.

Hopefully, we’re waiting for the return of Hector to make an announcement.

… I’d be suggesting Matteo if it were a year on. We should let him grow before we burden him with any additional responsibility. Didier Deschamps has sent some fingers wagging our way because of that exact last sentence.

“Do not ask too much, he’s a young player, who is still the Espoirs generation, who plays a lot of matches with Arsenal where there is strong competition,”

“He’s the modern midfielder, box to box as they say there, with a lot of power and technical quality too. He’s there. What I expect from young people is that they bring this freshness, this dynamism.”

Love to read the plaudits he’s picking up, but Deschamps is correct. Two parts to this:

  1. Don’t call him a fraud if has a bad run. Kids aren’t consistent, he’s still only 20. There will be a dip.
  2. I hope Arsenal don’t butcher his growing body. Jack Wilshere was overplayed at 18, and we paid heavily for that. I think it’s hard not to argue that red zoning him ruined his career. He lost motivation with all the knocks and struggled to live up to the hype.

On that note, I shall hand the comments over to you! x

 

368 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Freddie Ljungberg

And yes, I know Torreira started against Spurs, clearly not 100% yet though and probably won’t be starting against Watford if his injury for Uruguay isn’t ok.

We’re incredibly thin in midfield with only 3 competent CMs, all young, and only 1 CAM that isn’t a u23 player and he’s new to the league.
Hope we make some moves in January or it will be a long season.

Ishola70

Pierre

“Due to injuries , ceballos may get a start v Watford though I doubt if he will be in the starting line up if xhaka, willock and Torreira are fit.”

Guendouzi and Ceballos are ahead in the pecking order in front of Willock.

Pierre

Fred “Willock had a knock against Spurs” What is the difference between willock carrying a knock and xhaka carrying an injury .. ” Mikhi has been shit since he came to England” I am not saying he has been brilliant but In his 14 starts for Arsenal before Emery arrive , 3 goals and 6 assists is a pretty good return ….not exactly shit . ” Ozil retired before Emery arrived.” Created the most chances per 90 minutes in the world just over a year ago….retired? “so which are those quality players that should have started instead of Xhaka?” I’m… Read more »

Pierre

Ishola
“Guendouzi and Ceballos are ahead in the pecking order in front of Willock.”

I’m not so sure , though I’d be more than happy to see willock as a regular starter.

What we have with Emery’s selection policy is his version of ” name that tune ” instead we’ll call it ” name that team”.

Pierre

“Created the most chances per 90 minutes in the world just over a year ago….retired?”

Should have read ” world cup”.

Pierre

Fred
“We’re incredibly thin in midfield with only 3 competent CMs, all young, and only 1 CAM that isn’t a u23 player and he’s new to the league.”

Willock, Guendouzi, Torreira, Xhaka and possibly Ceballos can play in centre mid .
Luiz and chambers have previously played in centre mid. ….incredibly thin ?

Stop making excuses for why he played a player carrying an injury and more importantly is struggling form wise.

Freddie Ljungberg

“What is the difference between willock carrying a knock and xhaka carrying an injury .” All injuries or knocks are not created equally, we don’t know the severity of either but Xhaka himself has said that he has pain but it’s nothing serious, aka not an injury… Sure, a fit Torreira should start before Xhaka, he’s not 100% matchfit yet though, meaning he can play but not the full 90, he’s getting eased in so he doesn’t burn out again, it’s a long season. Same with Ceballos although he doesn’t play in Xhakas position. I want Xhaka banished from the… Read more »

Redtruth

“I am not saying he has been brilliant but In his 14 starts for Arsenal before Emery arrive , 3 goals and 6 assists is a pretty good return ….not exactly shit ”

Those stats bring the game into disrepute because he’s shit…

Freddie Ljungberg

“Willock, Guendouzi, Torreira, Xhaka and possibly Ceballos can play in centre mid .
Luiz and chambers have previously played in centre mid. ….incredibly thin ?”

AMN can play there too, why not bring back denilson as well, is it too late to recall Elneny?

Luiz and Chambers are CBs and Xhaka shouldn’t be anywhere near the team. I obviously meant, and wrote, competent CMs. COMPETENT

We’re thin on quality, not quantity. And like I said they’re all young. Reinforcement needed in January.

Valentin

Personally I am against a player needing an injection to be able to play through the pain barrier. Studies have shown that in most cases the long term damage and the increase risk of serious injuries outweighs the short term benefit. Also Bar exceptional circumstances (world cup, final, Olympic games, last games of the season, …), professional athletes should not perform when they have tendons injuries. Over extending injuries lead to break. Those are not muscles tears that can repair themselves with rest, tendon breaks are synonymous with major surgery. The previous season Koscielny played through the pain barrier and… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

Xhaka didn’t play with injections and clearly not all our other midfielders have been match fit at the same time yet this season, why is this so hard for the usual suspects to understand? It’s been 4 games but some of you go on and on about it like half the season has gone by. Ceballos is already frozen out of the team after playing 2 and a half of those 4 games while adapting to a new league. Torreira is now below Willock in the pecking order despite missing all of pre season and being eased in. Xhaka is… Read more »

Bojangles

In the TV revenue league Arsenal finished 6th, just 3 mil behind Spuds.

http://dailycannon.com/2019/09/tottenham-only-make-3m-more-than-arsenal-despite-cl-final-liverpool-top/

Alex Cutter

“I just think as a dad myself, being gone for 4-5 hours a day isnt really going to impact any bonding with the new baby. In fact, its a break from the daily grind with a newborn…”

Wasn’t there a woman involved at some point in this process? Maybe it’s the mother who is the one who wants to go back to work?

“being gone for 4-5 hours a day isnt really going to impact any bonding with the new baby.”

You’re going to need to come up with a source for that.

Danialtos

If xhaka was injured them why did he play twoatches for Switzerland….or are we just looking for a new stick to beat Emery with

Frank Mc

Alex good luck with all the shit that’s going on in your life man!

Northbanker

Amazing how many medical experts there are on Le Grove. Some of you clearly in a better place to judge soft tissue and tendon injuries than our own highly paid and trained experts in our state of the art medical centre. Lol

Bojangles

Someone was looking for a means of watching games on the net the other day. There are a few apps available in play store that you can check. The best I have found are Live Football TV, Live Football WC and World Fan Zone. Although I don’t think WFZ is available in play store, you need to google it. The two LF’s contain ads but not during the game. They all have the same problem which is, you can only view in vertical aspect. However if you want to go to the trouble of purchasing a device (Bluetooth I’d imagine)… Read more »

Bojangles

One of the good things about Le Grove is the number of experts in all aspects of football.

Pierre

Bojangles
Not forgetting Tony, who’s impression of judith Chalmers is much to be admired.
His knowledge of holiday locations is extensive ( unlike his football knowledge) .

Pierre

Danialtos
“If xhaka was injured them why did he play two matches for Switzerland”

Exactly…normal practice is that if a player is carrying an injury , the manager/club withdraw the player from the squad to allow the player to recover from the injury.

Whoever allowed Xhaka to go on international duty is either incompetent(Emery) or has a cunning plan( Raul or edu) so that Xhaka makes the injury worse and consequently is out of the Arsenal side.

Silverhawk

Pierre

Are you trying to assume that Xhaka is dumb? If true, why is he playing for us?.

Pierre

Northbanker
“Amazing how many medical experts there are on Le Grove. ”

It’s nothing to do with being a medical expert , it’s just common sense

If a player is carrying an injury then he should withdraw from the international squad..

It’s that simple.

Valentin

Talk about agenda when the Arsenal medical team being hailed. Same medical team that was viewed in previous years by everybody as a joke. But it was under Wenger so different agenda. There has been some progress behind the scene, but the same approach of not considering the long term implication of small niggling knocks continue at Arsenal. It is the same at many clubs but seem to be more prevalent at Arsenal because of the added pressure to reach top 4. Last season, Ramsey was diagnosed as in the red zone. However both Ramsey and Emery decided to continue… Read more »

Pierre

Silverhawk
“Are you trying to assume that Xhaka is dumb? If true, why is he playing for us?.”

It’s not for me to decide , people should make their own minds up.

Firstly , he plays for Switzerland carrying an injury and has to come off suffering from the injury.

Secondly, he tells the world that he has been carrying an injury for a few weeks when he could have said nothing.

Sensible or dumb.

Valentin

If a player is carrying an injury then he should withdraw from the international squad.
Exactly.

Of course international manager will put pressure on their captain to play despite the pain. Of course a dutyful captain will believe that he should lead his country to qualify for the next competition. However a smarter player will take care of his body first.

Bojangles

Of course this whole Xhaka injury thing could be fake news during the interlull.

Bojangles

Not sure just how loyal Xhaka is to Switzerland seeing as he would have preferred playing for Albania but was unable to do so due to something being amissd with his passport.

Bojangles

The chances of Ceballos staying at the Emirates next year seem to have waned somewhat after his good showing with us and Spain recently. Some Spanish newspapers questioning why he was allowed to come to us on loan this season.

https://talksport.com/football/599043/arsenal-real-madrid-error-dani-ceballos/

Left testicle

‘Butcher his growing body’

He plays sport. His health is monitored. We’re not sending him down the mines.

Valentin

Zidane does not want him and would prefer Paul Pogba. He may settle for Ericksen as a cheap substitute. So unless Zidane leaves Real Madrid or Fiorentino Perez convince him that Ceballos is a better option, Ceballos chance of playing regularly for Real Madrid first team will be severely limited.

Because of that I am not sure Ceballos chance of staying at Arsenal has waned. However one thing is clear is that his price has increased with every good performance with us and with his national team.

Bojangles

Not sure how tenuous Wenger’s links to these were but here’s an XI that c

Bojangles

Fuck it, couldn’t be bothered finishing the post now after accidentally hitting post.. here’s the link

https://www.givemesport.com/1503925-an-xi-of-arsenals-failed-transfers-after-arsene-wenger-reveals-he-tried-to-sign-lionel-messi?autoplay=on

HighburyLegend

Are we sure that he has try to sign ONLY Messi ?? lol

In other news, back to Xhaka admitting he was playing since a few weeks with a pain on the Achilles tendon .
Nobody seems curious to know if he has warn Arsenal about that fact ?

HighburyLegend

“Henrikh Mkhitaryan claimed two goals and an assist”

On Sunday’s game against Bosnia… the question is why he’s not able to play at this level with Arsenal.

Sid

Ramsey has always been in the red zone and will never get out!
Iwobi will get more goals than martial this season, you heard it here 1st!

WengerEagle

You have to crack a couple of eggs to make an omelette RH. You really going to argue with their track record? Pirlo for free, Pogba for free, Arturo Vidal for 10 million, Tevez for 8 million, Llorente for free, Coman for free [although let him leave for Bayern they did pull in 21 million for him], Evra for 1 million, Khedira for free, Dani Alves for free, Szczesny for 12 million, Rabiot for free, Ramsey for free, Emre Can for free, Dybala for 30 million, Pjanic for 30 million, Alex Sandro for 25 million, Mandzukic for 20 million, Higuain… Read more »

WengerEagle

Do feel for Can though, surprised that he was cut instead of Khedira to be honest but Sami strangely seems to be a staple at Juve at this stage regardless of the manager even though his legs fell off in 2015.

HighburyLegend

“surprised that he was cut instead of Khedira to be honest”

A phone call from Mesut to Sari has changed everything.

Receding Hairline

“Very rarely waste money in the TM.”

That article begs to differ

A lot money is indeed being wasted on enormous wages and agent fees for players who are basically back up now. They do well to seize opportunities but as you can clearly see they struggle to move on players they would love to see the back of, we have insulted the guys who ran things here for the same thing

Bojangles

WE, was you looking for links to watch matches on the net the other day?

Receding Hairline

Xhaka makes a silly mistake in a crucial home game

Xhaka goes to play for his country

Xhaka picks up a knock playing for his country and now wants you all to believe he has been carrying a knock for weeks so his silly lunge against Spurs was just him not playing optimally

Xhaka has the likes of Pierre fooled…again

WengerEagle

RH

Who are these players you are talking about though? The difference is that they are top players in Dybala and Mandzukic who can still contribute to the cause whereas in our case they are guys like Mustafi who actively harm our chances every time they set foot on the pitch.

And they’ve won 8 Scudetto’s in a row not to mention 4 Coppa Italia’s and 2 CL Finals. They’re doing something right if they’ve managed all that with a net spend of virtually nothing.

WengerEagle

Yeah Bojangles, twas.

Got hooked up by N5 and Marko.

Bojangles

WE

If you’re interested in some apps for your phone (save searching the net) I posted some info about them. Scroll back to my 8 am post today.

Receding Hairline

“The difference is that they are top players in Dybala and Mandzukic who can still contribute to the cause ” Eagle not everyone seems to think they can contribute to the cause relative to their cost seeing as they were up for sale this window and they were no takers sought of like Mustafi eh, hope you do know clubs will take Mustafi for reasonable wages a week, same way some would have take n Dybala and Mandzukic if their wages weren’t high, seems like the same thing to me. Regardless of what they have won at Juventus, they are… Read more »

WengerEagle

RH It’s different because the Dybala situation is a strange one and pretty unique considering he’d 100% still be the linchpin were it not for the opportunity to bring in Ronaldo coming up last summer. Was established pretty early on that they don;t play great together so clearly there was only going to be one winner as Ronaldo is still a top 2 player in football and was brought in as a 100m investment and statement to Europe. Re Mandzukic, he’s 33 now. He’s still very decent but he’s not at the level to start as the CF for a… Read more »

WengerEagle

Nice one Bojangles, hate streaming at all if I’m honest but just can’t justify paying silly money for Sky every month so a necessary evil.

Receding Hairline

Eagle bottom line is Juventus have players currently on their books they would rather not have.

I am not disputing their quality, contributions etc just simply stating that fact and it is a fact. Sarri is on record saying the squad is too big and their UCL list confirms that.

This really should not be an issue, there was poor planning involved. I am not debating if they got use out of the players or not, just that they were not as efficient this summer in the transfer market as they would have liked to be. Simple

WengerEagle

The club did very well this summer though have to say. Out of the deadwood we shifted on Mkhitaryan [albeit loan at least we’re not paying his 180k wages for the season], Elneny [loan too but should get made into a permanent switch provided he doesn’t stink Turkey out], Iwobi for 30m [still laugh about this], Jenkinson for 2m [lol], Bielik for 10m, Ospina, Koscielny and Monreal [bittersweet but they had to be moved on, neither were at a competitive level anymore in PL top 4]. While bringing in Pepe, Tierney, Luiz, Ceballos on loan and Saliba for next season.… Read more »

WengerEagle

RH

They’ve still outfoxed arguably every club in Europe this past decade regardless and deserve a reputation for being savvy in the market.

Only Citeh and Liverpool have bought better and they’ve had to spend much more to do it, particularly City.

WengerEagle

A top 3-4 finish and selling Xhaka, Mustafi, Kolasinac next summer and we’re up and coming.

Bring in a couple of CM’s and CB’s. Have to be the right players though, if you look at Liverpool a few years ago as a blueprint they spent nearly every penny well a purchase or two aside.

WengerEagle

The day we finally get shot of Ozil as well will be a sweet one although we’ll have to wait until June 2021 for that one.

A close 2nd to cutting the cord on AW.

Receding Hairline

“The day we finally get shot of Ozil as well will be a sweet one although we’ll have to wait until June 2021 for that one.”

Does not mean the coach does not have a duty to find a use for him in the team, he is here, play him. That’s why it’s a 6m a year job, we lack creativity most times as it is.

WengerEagle

RH

I think Emery should use him all right but only in certain matches i.e vs lower opposition at the Emirates primarily where they pack bodies behind the ball and leave space and time to pick passes.

Nowadays though there are less of these teams. Even mid table sides like Leicester, West Ham, Everton have players who can really shred you on the counter and some decent midfield players, better than ours you could argue.

Ozil hasn’t looked like a guy remotely interested in his football since about 2017 and he’s only getting older, 31 next month.

Receding Hairline

“I think Emery should use him all right but only in certain matches i.e vs lower opposition at the Emirates primarily where they pack bodies behind the ball and leave space and time to pick passes.” Not just at home, away from home too. I have grown weary of watching counter attacks break down away from home due to the wrong weight of the pass or the wrong choice of pass. A coach also has motivation as part of his responsibilities, like i said he is here, he is on the payroll, find a way to use him effectively to… Read more »

Receding Hairline

“Ozil hasn’t looked like a guy remotely interested in his football since about 2017 and he’s only getting older, 31 next month.”

We can hope for that one final burst Eagle, that’s all we can do, hope

He did look up for it in preseason then that incident happened and he went back into his well paid shell

Bojangles

WE

Have to agree with you about the cost of Sky but then someone has to pay for the billions they are paying the PL.

Dissenter

WE
Juventus are operating under a growing debt.
They may have to curb their appetite for bowman transfers because they pay crazy wages and transfer fees for these players. Ramsey’s wages are just the norm at Juve.

China1

No one has managed to get a committed ozil for about 10 years At real he was a luxury player surrounded by the best players and enablers in the world so his floating in and out of games and interest wasn’t that important So whilst motivation is part of emery’s Remit, ozil is quite clearly a lost cause. What can emery possibly do to get an ageing player who doesn’t fit into the system, isn’t enabled by his team mates, has expectations on his effort levels and is in a high tempo league where he can’t take his time on… Read more »

China1

Emery doesn’t have a duty to use ozil or play him. His duty is to making the team as effective as possible. If ozil makes us a better team emery needs to play him. It’s a long stretch to imagine ozil will make us better unless a torreira guendouzi partnership is vastly more effective behind him this year than it was last year. Also what’s the point of ozil when you have Ceballos? Ceballos needs to play so where does ozil play? I don’t want to see an old ozil with no pace and no interest in football put on… Read more »

Dissenter

China1
‘Emery doesn’t have a duty to use ozil or play him. His duty is to making the team as effective as possible.’

True but it is to Emery’s advantage if he can extract anything out of the poorly motivated celebrity.
Ozil’s is Emery’s problem too even though he’s not his creation

Marko

Feel for Can because apparently he was linked with a move away in the summer and they convinced him that he was part of their plans and then he gets cut from their champions league squad. Poor showing by Juve but unsurprising from Sarri.

Guns of Brixton

Ozil can roll over those lower teams and put on a bit of a spectacle with a deft touch here and there.

Then when a City or Chelsea level game comes round, we assume his on form and roll him out expecting some virtuosic performance but he goes missing.

Sigh. Best to leave him out imo. Play him in those games vs lower league teams or Save him for europa

Marko

How to solve a problem like Özil day 985. Sick of it honestly it’s rehashing the same thing over and over again and thrown in is the usual misbelief that this season things might be different. But we’re 4 games into the season he’s yet to play a game he’s not trusted in the big away games or the high intensity ones at home and oh yeah he’s already called in sick too. I’d completely ostracize him from the team but that won’t happen. At the very least Emery should start him in Carling cup/Europa League group games and let… Read more »

HighburyLegend

We should stop being so harsh with Ozil, the guy has deficient immunity defenses, plus an addiction to Fortnite.

#IamMesut

Pierre

At the moment Ceballos is first choice playmaker and deservedly so due to what looks like a stronger all round game. Ozil will be involved in Europa and league cup to get him to match fitness, ready to step in if Ceballos is not up to the job or is injured. The Europa league should be a much more watchable competition this season due to us being in a stronger group, and with the inclusion of possibly ozil/Ceballos along with Nelson , saka and Martinelli though as I have said previously, don’t be surprised to see us put out a… Read more »

Nelson

The season is long. We need rotation to keep our players fresh and avoid injures. We need to use all available resources as long as they don’t go nuts and give out penalties like Mustafi or Xhaka.

HighburyLegend

“Ozil will be involved in Europa and league cup to get him to match fitness”

If he don’t have flu, of course.

Marko

http://sportwitness.co.uk/club-close-adding-arsenal-man-manager-big-admirer/

Pedro will be happy that Emery’s fitness guy is being linked with a move away

Marko

ESR is still here. Maybe best if we give Ozil’s mins to him and hopefully see him develop further

Pierre

Marko
“not trusted in the big away games or the high intensity ones at home”

You do realise that the above comment could well be aimed at Ceballos in the coming months.

Yes he played in a tough away game at Liverpool , was substituted after half an hour, through no fault of his own in my opinion….
Don’t expect to see him in a tough away game anytime soon.

Consequently, he was left out of a high intensity home game v Tottenham and one can see that the trust is already not quite there.

Pierre

*Hour hour from the end

Eduardo

Month off for a professional footballer is a joke, simple. I don’t see anyone performing at an elite level in any competitive environment taking a month off. Want to be the best? You have to make sacrifices. Clearly, Xhaka doesn’t want to be the best, which is fine. But do we want players like that at Arsenal?

Having him as Captain is laughable. So would Bellerin, by the way, for different reasons. He’s a student union activist, not a leader of men.

Hopefully xhaka will be another one in the bin next summer.

Marko

You do realise that the above comment could well be aimed at Ceballos in the coming months.

I doubt it but good point? 4 games into the season he’s started away to Liverpool and came on against Spurs. The writing sure is on the wall alright. Meanwhile in Ozil world it’s zeros across the board. I believe Ceballos only needs one more assist to equal Ozil’s total for last season

China1

True ozil is emery’s problem – but only if he’s not considered written off which he should and does appears to be

He’s on our books but if he often can’t even make the squad it seems we’re basically cutting our losses with him for most games.

Chris

What happened with the link between Ozil and DC United? There was rumours of him going in January. At first glance appears to be a good fit for all parties.

Otherwise he will likely be a squad player at best, as previously mentioned.

Pierre

Marko “4 games into the season he’s started away to Liverpool and came on against Tottenham ” It depends how you look at it . To me , if Emery was happy with his performance v liverpool he would have kept him on the pitch and then trusted him enough to start him v Tottenham. He did neither , whereas he kept xhaka on for the whole game v liverpool and started him v Tottenham and played him the full 90 minutes. That says it all really….its all about whether a manager trusts a player to do the job they… Read more »

Distant legrover

Ozil has this supernatural ability to make people go on and on about him. It’s the weirdest thing. U’d think his name was Messi.

I can see us improving, looking more balanced and smoother without Xhaka if he does take a month off.

China1

It feels to me like arsenal and ozil have just found this compromise where ozil has basically won, in that he doesn’t need to play and arsenal prefer it that he doesn’t, but they are legally obliged to pay him and since there’s nothing they can do it about it they just accept the outcome No other way they let him take half a season off with mysterious illnesses and miss the entire season to date If he was a 30 year old DB10 and he was genuinely ill/traumatized by criminals/injured or what have you the club would be desperately… Read more »

Marko

That says it all really….its all about whether a manager trusts a player to do the job they want on the football pitch . Started away to Liverpool and played against Spurs. That’s one away game and a big home game that he participated in in his first three games since joining despite no preseason. Zeros across the board for Ozil. I think it’s pretty obvious one will be used in meaningful important games while the other won’t be. With Emery it is all about what a player predominantly does off the ball. Simply not true. It’s the things Ceballos… Read more »

Marko

*making should be marking

Guns of Brixton

It is a shame re Ozil.

We all know what his capable of on his day and how he can really influence the game.

Genuinely was the best No 10 in the world at some point.

Pisses me off knowing he could do a lot more than he is now.

Usually AFC mess up and lose talent by not securing a player to a proper deal and paying them the money they want.

The f****r has the dream dream contract and chooses to be lazy.

Thats what frustrates and infuriates me regarding Ozil.

TheBayingMob

“Jack Wilshere was overplayed at 18, and we paid heavily for that. I think it’s hard not to argue that red zoning him ruined his career.” Not sure I agree with this 100% (although I’m sure it also plays into the equation as AW injured many a player by doing this), but JW was always going to break because he had an awkward gait that made him prone to muscle problems, added to the fact that because of his ‘passion’, he had to jump needlessly into aggressive challenges often. I remember the one for England (v Denmark?) where he put… Read more »

China1

yeah Ceballos is a vastly superior player on the ball as well as off it right now. It’s a very one-sided comparison

If Ceballos was only working hard that would be one thing, but he’s doing great things with the ball, beating people, taking shots, making things happen, nice range of passing, breaking between the lines. The hard work off the ball is the (very much appreciated) icing on the cake

Receding Hairline

“To me , if Emery was happy with his performance v liverpool he would have kept him on the pitch and then trusted him enough to start him v Tottenham.”

To you

It’s your opinion and you are entitled to it

Someone else will say a new signing starting two of the four games played and making appearances in all four indicates trust, but that person would be rational, you are anything but.

Pierre

Marko “Simply not true. It’s the things Ceballos does with the ball that gets him game time not some baloney about making and tracking back that you love to bring up constantly.” Interesting that you think marking and tracking back and putting in a defensive shift is not important now to the manager. Against liverpool Ceballos was assigned to shadow Fabinho whenever they had possession , in other words mark fabinho. If it was the things Ceballos does on the ball that gets him game time then surely he would have started the game as he is more creative than… Read more »

China1

Another issue with wilshere was he didn’t recognize his physical weakness and play around it If you have glass ankles and cotton muscles, there is no way you should be trying to beat 3 people and release the ball at the last moment with opposition players rushing you As much as it’s a shame because technically when he was young he was a fabulous talent, he should’ve become mature enough (and the club should’ve coached him) to release the ball earlier. It’s like how guendouzi lets players get right up behind him, turns them and draws the foul about 10… Read more »

Pierre

China
“If Ceballos was only working hard that would be one thing, but he’s doing great things with the ball, beating people, taking shots, making things happen, nice range of passing, breaking between the lines. The hard work off the ball is the (very much appreciated) icing on the cake”

Very true , and yet he wasnt deemed good enough to start v Tottenham.

I would say 95% of Arsenal fans would have loved to have seen Ceballos start v Tottenham and do all the excellent things that you rightly point out…

Danish Gooner

Our midfield is far from the finished article we need someone like Youri Tielemans of Leicster a real powerhouse in the mould of Vieria or maybe James maddison or ndidi all of Leicester.Brilliant players and wont come cheap but i feel a Tielemans/Maddison combined with the promising Guendouzi will make us as solid in midfield as Pool.

China1

At 18 wilshere was set to become a top 5 player in the world if he could’ve maintained fitness for the long term

What an absolutely travesty it all went down the drain

Marko

Of the 10 games against the other top 6 sides Ozil started in 4 and I feel like the first two shouldn’t count because they were literally the first two games of the season against City and Chelsea and Emery didn’t know any better. With him we picked up 4 points without him it was 7.

Uwot?

Hacker off for a month.what joy.All set for a far more mobile midfield,that hopefully will rotate effectively.watch Gwen dozy go…..

China1

How do you know he wasn’t deemed good enough? And how do you know he wasn’t just deemed not ready for two massive games in 1 week in a new league?

Emery didn’t go for a like for like replacement with ozil, he went for a different tactical setup and played 3 DMs to try and nullify them instead.

Emery was a dumbass for doing so, but his thought process was clear enough, however flawed.

So yes, perhaps he didn’t trust Ceballos or think he was good enough… to be a DM…which is a position he doesn’t play after all.

Uwot?

Danish.i would agree but the English/ Leicester premium will make it impossible to buy.unless Raul has one of his very creative tricks up his sleeve lol!

Marko

Interesting that you think marking and tracking back and putting in a defensive shift is not important now to the manager. It is but not as important as attacking influencing the game and contributing to goals and assists. Pierre you’re this truly dense fucker who still believes Ozil doesn’t get picked because he’s really shit at putting in work and tackling but it’s his lack of application as much on the offensive side of things that gets him dropped. Declining numbers and poor attitude has arsenal fans counting down the days till he leaves. Against liverpool Ceballos was assigned to… Read more »

Receding Hairline

“Very true , and yet he wasnt deemed good enough to start v Tottenham.”

By that logic only 10 outfield players are considered “good enough” at Arsenal football club by the manager

Substitutes are after thoughts. rejects who were not “good enough” to start the game

Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane did not make the starting line up against Tottenham in the champions league semi’s…apparently they were not considered “good enough”

Marko

At 18 wilshere was set to become a top 5 player in the world if he could’ve maintained fitness for the long term Absolutely ridiculous reimagining of Jack Wilshere that you would only get from an Arsenal fan. Top 5 players not even CM’s in the world really. On the basis of what? That one good game against Barcelona that we lost? That good against Norwich at home perhaps? Respectfully I disagree with that whole statement Jack Wilshere was a prospect nothing more who went unfulfilled and who was never going to be anything more than decent. One of the… Read more »

Pierre

Marko
” With him we picked up 4 points without him it was 7.”

So basically a point a game with him in the side and a point a game without him in the side ….was it worth making that point Marko.

If you add the 2 HOME defeats to United and Tottenham without Ozil then actually our record against top 6 sides was actually better with ozil in the side .

Of course its irrelevant but Marko seems desperate to discredit ozil though he is not making a very good job of it, is he.

China1

By all accounts emery had a tactical mare against spurs and corrected that later by bringing him on

The issue was clearly tactical. VEeryone and their uncle could see what emery was trying regardless of how dumb it was