Mesut Ozil is back in the news again, drawing attention to himself in an unflattering light, but making the same statement again… he ain’t going nowhere.
He doubled down on his grim relationship with a dictator. He stated his love for Arsene. He reiterated that he’s training hard and wants to play.
So how did Unai respond? With a messaging approach as garbled as a hippy atop a London Underground train in Canning Town.
“But really the last two to three weeks he has improved with us in training,”
“I didn’t close to him the possibility to play. … My idea is to use all the players and he is one who can help us. He also has very big skills and quality we will need in the next matches.”
UNAI FFS MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
You either like him… or you hate him. This indecision on what you want from the player looks so bad. Worse than your assistant coach learning Spanish.
Leadership demands consistency.
Emery needs a PR strategist in his team. Every time Mesut talks to the press, he manages to persuade the people he’s the victim and he’s just out there trying to make a living at a club he loves.
It’s masterful… because Emery always caves. It’s clever, because the German’s army rises up and amplifies his victimhood.
I think we should offer a way back into the side for the German. We lack creativity, and as far as I can see, there’s been no benefit to his absence. We don’t create. We don’t defend well. We are one dimensional. The manager should find a way to extract some value from this mega deal he’s on. Worst case scenario… Mesut shames himself again. Best case, we unleash the front three with opportunities.
Short post today, can’t believe we’re a Monday game again.
See you in the comments. x
Woke up earlier than I needed to. Sure it’s down to the rugby this morning. I agree DB10, England’s discipline is key as well as how the game is reffed! French ref who took the ABs v SA game
Read an article about the Pocock/ Hooper v Kamikaze twins, I think it was Hooper said that they’d have to gauge the ref’s breakdown officiating. That battle in itself will be great to watch. Hoping England win relatively comfortably but Aussies game management means that they have a chance if England are sloppy.
England by 8
ABs to win by 25.
DB10
Completely agree with your game assessment.
It will be a cracker.
With regards to DON Nomski, Charlie also sussed him out as being Don last week where Don capitulated that he was one and the same.
I was wrong with my first impression of Normski being NA.
Anyway for me the Normski situation is moot. I’m done with the juvenile matter.
Tony /Bob N16/ TLDB10/ ES
Goodmorning to you all.
Just surfaced. Bloody awful weather…….again!
What a day of rugby(sport) to look forward to.
Endless cups of tea and slices of toast with lurpak butter. I know Tony, not on your professional dietary plan.
Sticking with my predictions, although we all know the games could swing either way(bar AB/Ireland)
Fancy MU will also get a right tonking.
Spuds to slip up again? Maybe not.
As for Normskibeat, what a tosser! You’re right, the IQ test debacle was a classic.
Come on England!!
I have just read on SSN that Farrell has been moved to play as fly-half. Elliot Daly plays as 15. Does this mean the Elliot is the kicker or will it still be Farrell? Here is Eddie Jones’s selection: England: 15 Elliot Daly; 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Jonny May; 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs; 1 Mako Vunipola, 2 Jamie George, 3 Kyle Sinckler; 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Courtney Lawes; 6 Tom Curry, 7 Sam Underhill, 8 Billy Vunipola. Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Dan Cole, 19 George Kruis, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21… Read more »
Goog morning G62.
I am really liking this line up. Glad to see that both Vunipola brothers are playing. They are both such an asset to us. So I am not surprised that Eddie has selected them both.
This Farrell/ Ford swap has got me thinking. I am wondering whether Eddie has still chosen Farrell to kick but, if he fucks up like he did in that first half vs Argentina (where he had 0% conversion rate) he will be subbed out for Ford?
DB10, Daly has been at 15 all tournament. Farrell will take the kicks unless they choose to kick a 50 yarder, then Daly will attempt to boom one over.
DB10 Farrell will still be the main kicker, but Daly is the long range expert of 50+ meters. I believe his best is around 63 meters that is outside Farrell’s range with accuracy. Ford was dropped as he is also the 3rd choice scrum half if injuries force Youngs and Heinz off the pitch. Ford is a bit lightweight (even though he has bulked up for the WC) with the Australian heavy hitting backs. Jones has picked like for like in the backs and pack with the idea to wear the Aussi backs down before reverting to the Ford Farrell… Read more »
DB10
Thanks for the update.
The weather has improved, drinking my first cuppa and the lurpak and jam on toast is working a treat.
As long as Ozil isn’t playing, we’ll be fine.
Really looking forward to this.
With all of you on here, I don’t need to listen to the pundits.
Cheers.
BobN16
👍
Tony
Remember the Wilkinson drop goal to beat the Australians in the dying seconds of extra time, of the 2003 world cup?
Yep. Wilkinson is a legend. His kicking ability was so good he could kick from anywhere, regardless of how far (I remember him doing a few 50m + kicks which was incredible to watch him score).
Sir Clive Woodward’s strategy was simple: ensure total discipline in the team while pushing the opposition into commiting mistakes and thus enabling Wilkinson to score and keep the scoreboard ticking.
Wilkinson was crucial to our World Cup win.
i was stuck on the A27 when Wilkinson put over that drop kick in 2003.
Woodward just talking about the need to keep your head and not get sent off – stating the obvious but discipline obviously key. Curry and Underhill need to tackle with menace but not too high! Those two are amazing, Underhill’s frame was born to tackle, check out his shoulders – beast!
They are up against the world’s best in Pocock and Hooper, Bob..
What a contest
Agreed Tony.
Got to leave home in an hour a half to catch a train to visit my Mum, just hopeEngland so far ahead that not important! Doubt it somehow.
Start should be ferocious, here we go!
And here we go!!
Come on England!!!
Not a good start! Kicking the ball away, missing tackles.
First blood Australia. They been edging it .
England more nervy, Bob. Need to settle more.
Get in!
Superb conversion too!
That should settle the nerves. Watson playing the game of his life.
Yes!
Yes!!!! We did the right thing to play it out and use the overlap!
7-3 to England.
Very good kick by Farrell.
You might be ok Bob going to your mum’s with a good feeling.
Long way to go, though.
Brilliant interception!!!!! Great try!!
And brilliantly converted by Farrell.
I see the resident Le Grove know it all is also an expert in PR as well….
Bore off ffs.
Youngs should stop kicking to their backs.
Curry 21 years old!
Great tackle by Curry!
We’re starting to control the game. This is good to see. And doing pretty well in defence.
Glad Aussies went for 3 pts, 17-9 still two scores ahead.
UTarse… Lol. Got him in one.
Youngs kicking the ball away, Daly shit at tackling. Watson should be FB.
Shit. Good start by the Aussies and score a try. Converted. 17-16.
Sweet, great pass from Farrell.
Yes!!!! Great pass to Sinclair to score the try. Converted. 24-16
Said to my son at half time zen
England need to reply each to me Australia score.
Tony
I like how we didn’t let that Aussie try faze us. Really good response by England.
And we win a pen. 27-16 for England.
DB10
Agreed but need to keep our dicipline .
Superb defence.
Brilliant defense by England.
Damn, have to leave. Enjoy.
DB10
Farrell back to his best
Tony.
Yes. Really happy with his kicking. My faith in him has been restored. 😃
We are doing really, really well at the moment.
And Farrell converts another pen. 33-16!
33:16 with 7 minutes to go with Australia needing. Small miracle
Jones got the Ford decision right.
England score now game over.
Yes!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic try by Watson!! Aussies fannying around a bit there. Nice interception by Watson.
Converted.
40-16.
England have met my semis predictions.
Fucking Aussie TMO tried to pass it off as not a forward pass. Lol.
Wow, it’s a humiliation now
Stuffing the Aussies in anything is wonderful.
This is extra special though.
Bravo England!
40!…….FORTY!!
Lovely jubbly.
Great stuff from England
Yes! Yes! Yes!!! Through to the semis!!!!
Really good performance by England defensively, first and foremost, as well as offensively. Really happy with our performance.
If NZ wins, then this will be an even sterner test for England.
Great game and looking good for the Semi.
Big win defeating a good Australian side convincingly.
DB10
Agreed.
We put in a good performance against NZ at Twickenham only just losing.
Jones will prepare us well for that game.
In some ways I’d prefer to play NZ instead of Ireland.
England support over in Japan phenomenal.
Another reason why we are still the greatest country in the world.
Shoot me!
Great victory but Graham, you yourself were highlighting the drunken borishness of Brits abroad.
Proud to be British though, unless I witness drunken loutishness, then I’m embarrassed!
Tony
In some ways I’d prefer to play NZ instead of Ireland.
I was going to question why you said this but you are right. It will force us to be focused and disciplined if we play vs NZ. I feel we will take it for granted if we do play Ireland.
Nonetheless it will be a very tough game playing NZ (if NZ win).
Let’s wait and see what NZ do. They are my second team actually, always have been since the days of Jonah Lomu.
If Nowell is fit I’d play him on RW and twinkle toes Watson can play FB.
Whoever wins next week will win final. Hope Irish give them a really bruising encountet. B Bradden concussion would be welcome!
Bob 😂😂
Right about Nowell and Watson
Daly looked suspect today.
DB10
Ireland know our game too well from the 6 Nations whereas we can still spring surprises on the All Blacks.
We’ve lost too many games against the Irish recently home and away.
Very classy from the Irish trying to drown out the Haka………… *shakes head*
It’s a shame that they are not right in Ireland’s faces like they used to. All that for the cameras. Pfft.
Tony
Good point. Ireland would definitively would want to exploit that.
Come on NZ!!
Bob
Just because I highlight the obvious negatives, which we are all well aware of, there are certain things that still make us so unique and so special. Remember I’m half Scot!
In any case, Boris will be our saviour in respect to the “drunken” louts.
Lol!!!
Ouch! Irish getting a right old tonking.
17-0 after 20 mins.
Bob
As for the “drunken borishness of Brits abroad” it’s all down to tougher laws………much tougher.
Our lily-livered rulers are the ones to blame.
Boris to the rescue.
Back to the rugby.
This could be a cricket score.
Could be 22-0.
TMO in operation……………………
Yep, Try!
Game done and dusted.
Could be really embarrassing now.
Come on Ireland, make a fist of it.
Sorry Bob, it’s Rugby day.
No more politics
Promise.
Tony ladyboy
No wonder you speak so much shit if you use the daily mail as your bible. You are aware that us peasants receive the daily hiel here too. We don’t need your daily dump of shit.
Is a combination of Un and good old Norm what you fantasise about? You couldn’t be more wrong if you got your information from the daily mail…oh you do?
Maybe just maybe more than one person thinks you’re cunt.
Grandad62 calm down you’ll give you and Little T a fudging coronary getting this exciting over the egg chasing.
Obnixious little shite is back on the airways.
What’s wrong Normskibeat, still reading up on the rules of Rugby so can throw a few more insults?
Anyway, make the most of your time on here because you ain’t got that long left.
Obnoxious
How’s the IQ today?
Up around double digits?
Must be tough for you planning that next attack.
Tony
I wonder what all those who slaughtered Emery for with drawing Ramsey contract even though it wasn’t him will say now it’s coming out he can’t cope with a much less physical league.
Sanllehi got it 100% right – if he’d have been running things longer Ramsey would’ve been moved on 2 years earlier.
I wish people would stop talking rubbish about the Ramsey contract. He could have signed the contract before Emery even joined and it was Raul who withdrew it, not Emery.
Never mind the fact Ramsey was injured more than he played.
benny
That was my point – and now he can’t even stay fit in Italy.
Grandad62
‘ Anyway, make the most of your time on here because you ain’t got that long left.’
Neither have you and Tony.
It’s mathematically possible that ManU could finish the weekend in the relegation places after a quarter of the season.
How much did they spend on their defence in the summer?
I always questioned the reasoning of people talking about Ramsey being overplayed
Is De Gea injured for tomorrow?
Grandad62
And I’m sure you’re aware that rugby is a minority sport that the majority of people could give two fucks about. Almost like your opinion on it and everything else you give your 2pence on.
Outdated relic you are old chum.
PierreOctober 18, 2019 18:20:58 Chris The manager is not interested in getting the best out of Ozil (whatever that is). It like an episode of Jackanory when Raul or Emery speak . >>>>>>> No, no it’s really not. When you speak however that is the very definition of Jackanory. The irony is amazing. PierreOctober 18, 2019 19:09:11 Eduardo “The benefit to Ozil’s absence is that we would be even worse with him in the team.” Well , I’m afraid you and all the other Ozil obsessives are going to be dissppointed. He will again be putting on the red and… Read more »
Beeny
Have we improved with Ozil out of the side?
Normskibeat
Bravo!
You’re one desperate individual.
Normski
Wrong question – the question is how much worse would we have been if Ozil had been playing more.
No one is saying everything’s great, I haven’t seen anyone say that they wouldn’t pick Ozil even if he was performing well. What you have is a group on here who say Ozil hasn’t performed for some time and doesn’t look like he will ever make a major contribution again.
Marc It can’t be proved anyway we slice it. He would help us going forward with his creativity and intelligence. We’ve missed someone to knit us together from back to front. We’re wide open and concede chance after chance…he can’t really make that worse. We don’t press as a unit…he can’t make that any worse. I’m not saying play him away at city or Liverpool or any particular game where it will be a battle but to not utilise him at home where we should dominate the ball against most teams is just a waste. I see only upside to… Read more »
Grandad62
Nice one grandad.
Marc
And he doesn’t need to make a major contribution. Just help us perform better than we have done so far. Which shouldn’t be hard should it?
Iwobi is playing well enough as the ACM. Walcott is lack of confidence. He always rushes to get rid of the ball. Everton plays a 4 2 3 1 formation with Davies and Gomes as the midfielders. Without Calvert-Lewin and Sigurðsson, the attack still looks quite balance. Richarlison plays better as the lone striker.
Normski
“We’re wide open and concede chance after chance…he can’t really make that worse.
We don’t press as a unit…he can’t make that any worse.”
Well actually yes he can – with our current set up having Xhaka plus 2 other’s in midfield at least we have 2 midfielders who will make a challenge. With Ozil in the team we effectively are playing with 10 when we don’t have the ball.
Iwobi and Walcott best players that first half. Easily good enough to play for them lot.
Apparently both Pogba and De Gea are both missing for ManU tomorrow. The occasion might be a bit of a leveller, similar to a derby match but this could very easily go really badly for ManU.
Marc
Not really when we’d play 433 or 4231. When you’ve got most of the ball and the manager sets the team up correctly the wide men would funnel back to make it a 4 across the middle, leaving Auba up top and Ozil sauntering back.
This would leave you ready for the counter once we get the ball back with 2 of the most dangerous players with the ball in the right place. I’m not a fan of emery’s basketball tactics.
Normski
But you’ve just made the anti Ozil case whilst defending him ” leaving Auba up top and Ozil sauntering back.”
PL football is too fast and too competitive in todays world to have “luxury” players who won’t work for the team. Currently the best team in the PL is Liverpool who’s midfield in my opinion is more functional with an incredibly high work rate than flair.
You said Ozil’s finished with us but we should utilise him till he’s sold – who’s going to pay money for him?
Iwobi and Theo having decent matches
Not sure there is much between Iwobi and Ceballos.
Iwobi has looked quite decent. Everton need to put this game to bed though, they have had the run of play but could get stung if they don’t make the most of it. Great to have real football back!
Jack is coming in. Let’s see whether he still has it.
Against the lesser sides why not play ozil instead of xhaka and they’d lose nothing defensively but gain in the attacking third . Play two holding mids and we’d be no worse off the ball but he’d knit the attack better . Way I figure it ozil can’t be arsed to track back and xhaka tries but is too slow and cumbersome and can’t catch anyone anyway , at best giving away fouls in dangerous areas so it’s no more effective than ozils blasé play off the ball . He can without doubt improve our attacking play though which is… Read more »
Everton is having the same problem as us. They have two strikers, Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison. Up to now, Richarlison is pushed out wide as a RW. Obviously, he plays much better as the lone striker supported by two true wingers..
Without Sigurðsson, Everton lost their free kick specialist.
Marc Don’t play stupid. We’re not Liverpool and we don’t have a manager with that philosophy to play that way. He’s an attacker. He’s not the one going flying into tackles or making a nuisance when he hasn’t the ball but as I said above if the team shape is right with the wide players making it a 4 across the middle we’d have 2 banks of 4 to break down. Auba and Ozil wouldn’t be busting a gut and wasting energy chasing back they’d be cutting off angles of the defenders trying to play out form the back but… Read more »
Iwobi can’t score one on one vs the GK!