It’s over for Özil

by .

via @arsenal

So, what shall we talk about today? Oh… squad lists.

Mesut Özil has been bombed from our Premier League squad list until February at the very least, but the chances are, that’s him finished forever at Arsenal FC.

It’s always a shame to watch someone push the self-destruct button on their career, and let’s be clear, that’s exactly what Mesut Özil has done to himself.

Most of his downfall is related to one thing… a lack of application. This is not an ability problem, he’s one of the most capable footballers to have lived. No, the issue is he simply doesn’t want to apply himself in 2020.

Arsene Wenger, the mollycoddler in chief, decided that he’d let him take tough away days off. Unai Emery knew the German wouldn’t do a shift, so he attempted to exit him in Jan 2019, then he lost his bottle, reinstated him, and his job shortly after. Freddie couldn’t stand him.

Then Mikel landed.

He knew what might happen because everyone at the club explained. After playing most of the games pre-lockdown, the old Mesut, lurking in the wings, reared his uninterested head. He apparently missed team Zoom calls, he didn’t do the homework the club set/tracked, and those ‘injuries’ didn’t go unnoticed.

Additionally, he didn’t play the game on the pay cuts, deciding that he’d need more info on how Arsenal losing £90m in gate revenue might affect the finances. Now, I doubt this was the main sticking point. Auba, Kola, and Mustafi were also apparently against the move. The problem, I think, is that when you are trying to build a united culture, having your most high profile player doing all of the earlier explained issues, plus not accepting a pay cut, can cause optics issues.

I know some people will say he was correct on the pay cuts. On reflection, sure, we fucked-up our restructure and the comms were atrocious. However, football is a team game. Mesut Ozil didn’t take the cut, the young players did. That might seem ‘clever’ to some, but the reality is, he just looked like a selfish individual while everyone else is pulled for the greater good.

Performance on the pitch was also a problem. He is not the same player he was 5 years ago. He’s a traditional #10 in a world that doesn’t allow for them. Andy Carroll managed more assists last season than Özil has managed in two. He simply doesn’t impact games in the way he used to. Remember, he went from blowing it up with Giroud, to tanking with… Auba. All his stats cratered.

A lot of people are trying to insinuate this move is about his righteous attack on the Chinese for their disgraceful treatment of the Uighurs. Again, I’m not so sure. He played games after that happened. This is a player that also had a brutal human rights abuser at his wedding. He also avoided blowback then as well.

He’s out because of football reasons. He doesn’t apply himself, he’d prefer to win cheap PR points than fight to get back in the team. The whole drama is just so fucking boring.

Arteta is trying to create a high-performance culture at Arsenal. One that we’ve lacked for years. People that work alone tend not to understand what goes into creating an elite team culture, which is why the beta male types that had it so absurdly wrong when it came to talents like, say, Arsene Wenger… still have it wrong with Mesut Özil. An artful quip does not make a good manager, just like a high salary and a ‘READY’ tweet does not make an elite #10 in 2020.

In a high-performance culture, every single cog in your machine needs to be at the very top of its game. Any weakness brings down everyone else. Mesut Özil is now a weak cog. He doesn’t think the rules apply to him. If Arteta gives him a pass, he gives everyone a pass, he loses authority, and performance levels dip.

Elite culture is about setting agreed standards, holding people accountable to them, and acting swiftly if people step out of line. We finally have a coach that will do that. Very few in elite level sport have been around a more extreme performance-driven setup than Arteta had been at Manchester City. He’s not guessing, he knows. So let’s trust that he has this covered.

What is clear is this: Arteta has to crack creativity. We need to find internal solutions. Willian has to look like value. Thomas Partey can’t simply be a defensive shield. We need our attack to progress, otherwise, the Öziltologists will start petitions and writers from the Crouch-End-Beyond-Meat-bacon-sarnie-set will start making poetic noises about our heathen manager that they’ll claim only goes to battle with barbarian pillagers. We can’t have that. Let’s hope Arteta can simply prove out that he was right by delivering us a ‘now’ solution that’ll lay to rest a miserable 3 years of Mesut Özil.

Right, see you in the comments.

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play

470 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Marc

Jamie

I’d actually love to see Ozil sign for the Spud’s now.

Luteo Guenreira

“but the truth is you can feel the venom in every comment”

He’s so mad! 😂😂😂. He actually said “so long suckers” to sign off one of his comments. Bitter pill to swallow for a bitter, bitter man.

Words on a Blog

Pedro,

Ozil has better PR than Arsenal.

Sadly, the football may be over. But Mesut will keep going with his social media missives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY8Es9GWE0s

TheLegendaryDB10

Marc

Now that would start quite a riot!!!

And it’s hard to imagine how Pierre would feel…. that hard on will feel very difficult to wank off to!!!!

Dissenter

Jay
Don’t expect us to do your homework for you.
Ozil played 11 games under Arteta after the incident with China.

Marc

Luteo

The funny thing is Pierre’s the guy so angry he’ll fight anyone then everyone – of course he’s a joke so everyone just laughs at him. When he does throw a punch he misses slips over and knocks himself out.

salparadisenyc

Our man Pepe could take some notes from Coman.

Uwot?

No Thomas.No Partey!By the way “ a lazy ozil” is in no way better than a non creative Arsenal.utter bollocks.One of the reasons we ended up with shellackings thanks to that approach.

Marc

DB10

He’d spend hours posting on the “amazing” football being played at the the toilet seat all whilst denying he was referring to Ozil.

Graham62

Pierre is a compulsive liar imo.

Everything about him just doesn’t add up..

Moniker, age, golf, backdated Arsenal experiences etc etc

Hides behind a fair few insecurities.

Ishola70

Some strong running on the ball from Jota since he has come on as sub for Liverpool.

TheLegendaryDB10

I really hope that we go out and play vs Rapid Vienna with far more attacking gusto than we have against Man Shitty.

They are a far weaker team. (Obviously. They are only a few billion pounds short in budget compared to them)

Auba has to be upfront if we want to score goals There is no other way around this.

Ishola70

wtf is wrong with Ajax.

They are simulating You’ll Never Walk Alone on their fake crowd sound system.

Dissenter

LegendaryDB10
“Auba has to be upfront if we want to score goals There is no other way around this.’

You want to play Auba on Thursday for a meaningless group EL game?

TheLegendaryDB10

Marc

The diarrhoea we would have to endure …..

Jamie

Graham gets it.

Na me ooo

Bayern is such a clinical team. They can have 8 shots on target and score 5. How do they keep doing this year after year with different players and in different eras ?

Na me ooo

Are they the most successful club in Europe in the last decade ? At least in the UCL.

TheLegendaryDB10

Dissenter

Well why not. He needs to be upfront to be scoring. I am sure he can handle being upfront tomorrow night and on Sunday. What hungry CF wouldn’t?

Pierre

Marc thinks i have issues, not so sure anout that..a selection of his comments.from today makes me think it’s not me who has the issues. This is entitled ” the rants of a piss head”” “Pierre clearly has issues –” “He’d spend hours posting on the “amazing” football being played at the the toilet seat all whilst denying he was referring to Ozil” “The funny thing is Pierre’s the guy so angry he’ll fight anyone then everyone – of course he’s a joke so everyone just laughs at him. When he does throw a punch he misses slips over and… Read more »

salparadisenyc

Indeed Bayern just ruthless, everything done with purpose angling up the pitch. Goretzka has to be in top two or three Central Mids in Europe at moment, dudes so effective. Insane weaponry from the flanks, defensively mobile.

Most complete side in Europe.

rollen

Congrats Luteo. I have 11 months old girl. No sleep or free time bit its great new lifestyle.

Ishola70

Always associated Ozil and Xhaka together.

Not in respects of their attitudes because clearly Xhaka has a much better attitude than Ozil but because they can both be defined as “specialist” players.

Yes don’t laugh at the term “specialist” in terms of Xhaka. It just means they are in the side for a very few certain attributes Xhaka supposedly for his essential passing and left foot.

You are better off with good all rounders rather than “specialists”

One down hopefully the other to be phased out as well.

IQ

Ozil had a baby on the 30th March. That’s probably what triggered a change in his behaviour and changed Arteta’s mind during the lockdown. Prior to that he was being played and Arteta said in his press conference that the decision was 100% his.

Fair play to him. He’s not hiding and he will live or die (metaphorically) by his own decisions. I don’t agree with it but I wish him all the best. If he can get us playing with more creativity then we can stop talking about this stuff.

Pierre

Graham “Pierre is a compulsive liar imo.” Graham, You really need to move on from wenger and Ozil .. The quality of the football we are playing isn’t good and if I’m honest, it’s getting worse. It makes Wenger’s worse days look like peak Barcelona. You know it , I know it , and most of the others on here know it ( except pedro, charlie and Jamie the snide) even Marko knows it…the football is pretty turgid. Something needs to happen pretty soon or Arteta will lose the fans and more importantly, the players. Arteta could have been a… Read more »

Kay

Hearty Wishes on the baby gooner Luteo.!!

Calypso

Pierre

What do you call success.

Ishola70

Pierre

“Arteta could have been a good manager , he really started like a house on fire with his early performances against United and Chelsea, the Emirates was buzzing.”

Man United were pathetic in that period and quite poor in that match as well.

One half of good football against Chelsea is hardly any houses on fire. Has to be more than one half. We saw Arsenal die before our eyes in that match in the second half.

Ishola70

Arteta’s best two performances under Arteta have been the two FA Cup matches against Man City and Chelsea and they were both very pragmatic but they were also executed with intelligence regarding the game plan.

Not counting the Liverpool home league win because even if that was a backs to the wall win there was no great intelligence carried out in that win. Just huge dollops of luck and ridiculously outplayed in that game.

Ishola70

*Arsenal’s best two performances under Arteta*

Pierre

Calypso This season is all about finding a system of play that suits the players and to show progress in what Arteta is trying to achieve with our style of football . To me, it will be a success if we can achieve this , top 4 or a trophy is a bonus . At this present time , unless Arteta changes things , mid table is a distinct possibility….i just can’t see how we are going to create enough chances with the football we are presently playing to reach top 4 or even top 6.. Hopefully Partey will provide… Read more »

Dissenter

There’s some crazily funny gene in you Brits.
FFS are there more crazy people like Sacha Baron Cohen [Borat] in your midst.
That man just defanged Rudy Giuliani in spectacular fashion. He will forever be known as a pedo.

Pierre

Ishola “One half of good football against Chelsea is hardly any houses on fire. Has to be more than one half. We saw Arsenal die before our eyes in that match in the second half.” We played well up until the Leno mistake in the 80th .minute….we did tire towards the end which was the reason we allowed chelsea back into the game. The football was on the front foot, as it was against united . Not taking anytjing away frpm the excellent performances in the FA cup v city and Chelsea , but our earlt season play under Arteta… Read more »

Nelson

Pierre ” i know he is supposed to be building the foundation”

But he has sold the base of the foundation. I seriously doubt that without Martinez, he could have won the FA Cup.

Pierre

Nelson
True , that decision could come back to haunt Arteta .

Ishola70

Pierre

The game changed much earlier against Chelsea.

Lampard made changes to his midfield and brought in Jorginho.

Arsenal were being wore down before Leno’s error.

Tee

” I seriously doubt that without Martinez, he could have won the FA Cup”

Another bullshit comment.

Yeah, it’s all about Martinez. All the players played their parts well in the fa cup success. Tell me the number of save Martinez made in the final to keep us in the game.

Freddie Ljungberg

https://www.arsenal.com/news/arteta-mesut-ozils-squad-omission

Arteta on why Ozil isn’t in the squad. Footballing reasons, like it should be since he’s wank. End of story.

My man Szoboszlai thundered in another free kick from 20 yards tonight in the CL, he has to be up there as one of the best free kick takers in the world already at 19 years old, unreal talent.
69 games for Salzburg at his age and 51 goal involvements. Get it done Edu.

Emiratesstroller

I have had some interesting feedback today on the Saliba situation, which should perhaps be of some concern. Someone who monitors closely matters at Arsenal watched the recent U23 game against Man Utd in which Saliba played and by all accounts his performance and personal attitude was poor. He showed zero interest in playing well. According to his viewpoint the problem with Saliba originates from the decision made by Arsenal not to agree an extension of the player’s loan contract to St Etienne so that he could play in French Cup Final. He is apparently since then in a strop… Read more »

Leftside

“Another bullshit comment.”

You haven’t seen nothing yet with him, another knee jerk over reactionary type on here

Nelson

Tee

With Martinez, the whole defense was calmer and played with confident. Martinez is a leader in defense. He communicates with his defenders. The play out from the back and also his passes were better. Also, we just lost to both MC and the Pool.

Pierre

Tee “Yeah, it’s all about Martinez. All the players played their parts well in the fa cup success v Chelsea. Tell me the number of saves Martinez made in the final to keep us in the game.” To look at it a different way, You could ask ” how many mistakes did Martinez make in the game” And the answer would be none …and we won the game. You could then ask, ” how many mistakes did Leno make in the home game v chelsea ” …the answer would be one( at least ) and it lost us the game… Read more »

Aussie+Gooner

Dissenter “There’s some crazily funny gene in you Brits. FFS are there more crazy people like Sacha Baron Cohen [Borat] in your midst. That man just defanged Rudy Giuliani in spectacular fashion. He will forever be known as a pedo.” You are correct. Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedic genius, has been for years. Check out his Ali G character from 1998 which is now banned in the UK due to PC issues. The Brits indeed are a funny lot, able to create comic gems throughout the years. My personal favourite comedy TV series from the UK is the very… Read more »

FRANK FUBY

Mesut Ozil STARTED in 13 of the first 14 matches of Arteta’s reign before lockdown…..with the exception being against Olympiacos away which we won…..and in 13 games his stats were 1 goal and 2 assists (1 goal and one assist against Newcastle at the Emirates….a game we won 4-0) and the for the last game before Lockdown Westham……….

So I don’t see what the fuss is all about…..1 goal and 2 assists in 13 games isn’t “top of the roof” creativity I’d say

Tony

Congrats Luteo hope mother and baby are doing well.

Sleep will be a distant memory for a while as will sex.

A cranky Luteo should be an interesting read; those in his sights (Bamford) should dig out their flak jackets and tin helmets.

ALL
Poor me club hierarchy:
CEO – Ozil
MD – Pierre

Watching Ozil troll The Arsenal one can see who Pierre learnt from.

Pierre bringing new levels of hate & vitriol to LG. All to be expected from the very sad and pathetic old man we know as Pierre.

Tony

Pierre with more bluster than Boris I wonder if Pierre will bring back his ‘Mr.Angry’ moniker.

Tony

Not being obsessive re Pierre; Ozil is gone from the squad, so I’m done with Pierre here.

Same as Arsenal are done with Ozil. Shame it took so long.

Tony

ES hope you’re wrong about Saliba’s Douzesque strop or another £27+ million down the drain along with the other wasters still conning a living from us.

Pierre

Stroller
“Clearly something has gone wrong in the current relationship between club and player. The
question is whether it can or will be resolved.”

Add him to the ever increasing list that is costing the club fortunes.

Its becoming increasingly obvious that man management isnt really Arteta’s forte is it.

Pierre

Tony’
“ES hope you’re wrong about Saliba’s Douzesque strop or another £27+ million down the drain along with the other wasters still conning a living from us.”

Of course, blame the player
maybe it’s just another personality clash.

Guendouzi
Ozil
Sokratis
Torreira
Martinez
Saliba..

Luckily we have brought in an Icelandic goalkeeper, plus mari , Elneny and Cedric as cover so that’s all ok…

I’m sure they will keep in line and not breach the non negotiables.
The fact that they are inferior players is of little relevance.

Tony

Just reading about the shocking Lagos shootings and police brutality issues.

Hope the trouble subsides quickly and that Nigerian Gooners stay out of harms way.

Pierre

I think it is best if I ignore your childish insults Tony.

Tony

Feel it was far more important to talk Emi into staying than AMN who is a decent squad player at best whereas Emi was essential to be kept as our first choice keeper. Arteta’s messiah halo has been slipping recently and could face much bigger issues if he doesn’t get back to his winning ways with the squad tonight and more importantly in the PL. Arteta and Edu have to improve their decision making both in-game and regarding the squad. Hopefully leaving out Ozil is the first of many right decisions moving forward by Edu and Arteta.. Time will tell.… Read more »

@pierre

Yet we seem happy to waste wages on those pile of shit you mentioned

Peckobill

Saliba , sounds like another player who’s broke these pathetic non negotiables, be excluded from squads and worth by devalued to zero .
Arteta needs to up man management skills

Emiratesstroller

Pierre You have absolutely no evidence that Arteta has made his decisions on offloading players or non registration on account of “personality clash” with Ozil, Sokratis, Martinez or Torreira. Ozil has not been registered for football reasons and size of our squad. Sokratis is and has been surplus to requirements because of number of CBs on our books. Martinez wanted a guarantee that he would be first string goalkeeper, which Arteta was unable to give and Torreira did not secure a regular starting place under both Emery and Arteta and was not happy in England The situation regarding Guendouzi has… Read more »

My dogs hugely respected, doesn’t make him a fucking football manager though does it. Happy to save money on Ozil then waste wages on luiz, Mari,el neny, soares Willian etc. All piss poor average players as much use to the team as ozil

And now Saliba is pissed off with the club before even playing for them. Comical coming and goings on at the emirates. We should turn it into a soap opera, after all they’re boring to watch play football so they can’t be any worse acting

Dream10

Both Özil and Sokratis featured regularly under Arteta before lockdown. Then lockdown hits. Kroenkes want the players to take mandatory pay cuts, the only PL club to do this.. Players aren’t convinced. Then the owners use Arteta to do their bidding and convince players to take the cuts “to save jobs”. The rumor is three players said no. They wanted guarantees to see if staff were retained. We know Mesut is one because club specifically briefed Arsenal covering journalists to single him out. Both Özil and Sokratis haven’t played a minute of PL football since. Sounds like Arteta is covering… Read more »

I’m hoping for another Arteta master class in tactics tonight, auba in the left, Pepe on the right, Leno upfront with Willian in goal

Dream10

Expecting Partey to start later on. Hope Nketiah starts at #9 so he can be among the goals. We’ve been low on creativity, so a player who takes risks to often get into goalscoring areas is needed

Nketiah the great hope 😂😂😂 be playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 2 years time

Only good thing I can say about nketiah is that he’s a it better, not much, but a bit better than sanago

Freddie Ljungberg

Ozil and Sok are both not playing because they’re wank, Sok a decent defender in his day but useless with the ball. Ozil is retired. Had high hopes for Torreira and Guen but one wasn’t suited physically and couldn’t adapt to life in England and the other apparently has attitude problems. Mari and Soares are cheap cover, nothing else. We get rid of Sok and Mustafi, probably Luiz next season, that’s 300k off the wagebill just in CBs, Maris 50-60k isn’t much to cry about then if he’s at least decent, no one is expecting him to be a starter.… Read more »

Gonsterous

Martinez and saliba situation has been handled poorly. I understand it was martinez decision to leave but we should have tried to hang on to him, wish leno was injured a bit longer, so emi would have kept his no.1 spot. Willian and partey didn’t join for the project or manager, but for the $$$. They have come in and automatically become the highest paid players at the club. Willian need to up his game and partey needs to have an instant impact. Top 4 still there for the taking. At least we seem to be heading in the right… Read more »

Jamie

Pierre is still absolutely livid this morning that his boyfriend has been dropped from the squad.

Funny.

Tee

“To look at it a different way, You could ask ” how many mistakes did Martinez make in the game” Caballero had much to deal with than Martinez all through the match and We were astute defensively. “And the answer would be none …and we won the game.You could then ask, ” how many mistakes did Leno make in the home game v chelsea ” …the answer would be one( at least ) and it lost us the game” You are boring as hell for picking the Chelsea defeat and ignoring other matches were leno was the hero of the… Read more »

Na me ooo

What I love about this Szoboszlai kid is that he’s the anti-Ozil. Does all the things that Ozil don’t do or can’t do well. And he’s only 19. Aggressive, Initiative taker and technical. Another player that fits the profile of players we are currently seeking.

redbro14

Leno. He will cost us big time. This evening he has had a calamitous game. Not a complete article. Big flaws exposed once more. When you see a miracle you better believe it, but Emi is gone now. A big mistake. We all know it….

1 3 4 5