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.

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DM

Hey all

DM

2

DM

3

DM

Tr4phy

Santan

tr4phy

Pierre

“What is clear is this: Arteta has to crack creativity. ”

He’s had 9/10 months and the creativity is sadly zero.

SuperRob

I rated Ozil and think he was an excellent player for us and appreciated what he brought to the party but its finished. Sad how its ended but it’s actually impressive from the club leaving the player in no doubt where they see him.

Leaving him out of the squad isnt something we’d have ever done to any player previously. This gives us options now. He’ll either leave in Jan or accept payoff in Jan. There’s no chance he doesnt move after sitting on his arse until then.

SuperRob

Pierre come on you know what he’s trying to do with the team. Got the foundations right first then build from there.
Our problems were never going to be solved in one window.

Mee

Arteta needs to go. If Auba plays another one-two with Tierney on the wing hoping to cross the ball to William one more time, we won’t get top six.

Hector Gonzalez

Arsene Wenger got the best possible out of this club. Arsenal supporters must accept that we have had our time, just accept what this club is now…mid table club with the odd F.A Cup every 3-4 years.

Sredni Vashtar

Felt I had to join to defend the honour of Crouch Enders.

There’s a noble Arsenal history there. Best day of my 11 year life was when Charlie Nicholas turned up at Mass at St Peter in Chains. Audible gasps, and for good reason. Extravagant mullet, leather blouson and leather strides. On a Sunday! Plus white shirt buttoned right up, gold rope on the outside. And was he wearing a brooch? I rather think he was.

Plus you could see DO’L in Dunn’s bakers most weekdays.

SuperRob

Arteta needs to go? Mee the troll

Leftfootcurler

Internally nothing much can be done. There isn’t much talk on here actually on how bad the transfer window was. Should have got either one of Sancho/grealish/Coutinho/Maddison/buendia/Brandt. A BTL creator. It was an essential signing to make. There are 2 things preventing us from getting top 4: 1) lack of above mentioned players. 2) either one of Saka/Pepe to hit 15 NPG in the league. A top 4 team is basically a team which gets 70-75 points. Scoring about 70 goals and conceding about 40 goals. We are just not capable of scoring 70 goals with this team. Arteta’s main… Read more »

Mee

Arteta needs to account for his decisions. Most of them are shocking. I think we can do a lot better with a managerial appointment

Pierre

LFC
“Should have got either one of Sancho/grealish/Coutinho/Maddison/buendia/Brandt. A BTL creator.”

Absolutely.

Mee

A creator to play in front of Auba.We are playing the footballing equivalent of Voldermort

TheProdigy

Such a shame to see a mega-talent just fizzle out like this.

Let’s hope Arteta can crack the creativity problem. It’s something we need to do if we are going to get back into the top 4. I fear we’re too goal shy as things stand to have a shot at top 4, particularly as playing in empty stadiums may erode home advantage and give away teams more license to have a go.

David L

Is it not clear that the Ozil omission is nothing but a cost saving exercise. Ozil was putting in solid performances pre-lockdown. Arteta has always maintained that everyone is training at a high level , and you can see that Ozil trains as hard as others from the videos put out by the Arsenal media team. Post-lockdown , Arteta always said (on Ozil omission) “The situation remains the same. And players know what they need to do to change the situation”. For me thats essentially saying Ozil knows to be selected he needs to accept the pay cut to play.… Read more »

andy1886

Pretty much spot on today Pedro. I do feel sorry for the guy to an extent, the position and game he played is redundant, no-one can afford a luxury player much less one that doesn’t perform. That said I think that it says something about his character that a 32-year old with his life experiences still wants to sit at home and play video games rather than work hard or look to his future after football.

Nelson

It looks like “ non-negotiable ” is a popular word these days. The UEFA president:” The principles of solidarity, of promotion, relegation and open leagues are non-negotiable.”

GunnerDNA

Pedro, All you’re saying might be true but if I can remember clearly you wasn’t saying this when it was obvious that Ozil was finished as a footballer and he was left out the team 2 season ago. You use it to attack people at the Club you didn’t like for him not playing. I wanted him out of Arsenal for 4 yrs now but what was the point of Mikel telling everyone it’s a new season and every player has a fresh start (Ozil and MG) only for one to be loaned out and the one who stay doesn’t… Read more »

Ashwin Gunner

https://www.thefocus.news/football/arsene-wenger-shares-what-hes-heard-about-ozil-in-arsenal-training/

Guess Ozil is doing everything which has to be done in training. So looks like its because of a personal geud between him and Arteta

Pierre

Of course Arteta doesn’t need to go , he has addressed a lot of our weaknesses and made the team more tactically aware.

Arteta needs to get the team playing the type football when he first arrived .
Our performances v united and chelsea at home were top draw , we dominated both games , we were creative and the football was exciting to watch…

andy1886

Ashwin, as Wenger is the one who initially indulged Ozil I would take any comments from him with a pinch of salt. He has a (boring) book to plug so stirring up a little controversy here and there isn’t going to do that any harm. Anyway, would you expect him to say that he was a mug to agree Mesut’s new contract because he’s a lazy waste of space?

Danny+S

8 more months and we lose Mustafi, Luiz, Papa and that bug eyed little cretin.

In my mind that will be one of our best summers for those exits alone. Best part of 3/4 of a million a week off the wage bill and a good cleansing of the squad.

Graham62

Leftfootcurler

You’re absolutely right, there’s no chance we’re going to see this team score 70 goals this season. At the back we may be a bit better, although now Leno is back in goal, I’m not so sure.

I like Arteta but there are.certain things that still concern me, namely his insistence of sticking rigidly to our attacking systems.

I would love to see Auba, Willian, Pepe, Lacazette and Nketiah play in a more expansive and flexible set up.

Hopefully this will start to happen.

SuperRob

Mee as a grown man using Harry potter references I wont take anything you say seriously.

A better managerial appointment? Aye come on then which wizard have you got in mind?

andy1886

Pierre, I think to a large extent our transfer dealings last summer handicapped us which meant that we weren’t able to fully address our midfield issue this time around. Of the names mentioned Buendia is the only one we might have been able to sign but then only if we could sell some of our unwanted players which we couldn’t.

I wouldn’t bet on us spending in January either so it’s a case of having to make do with what we have, for example maybe moving Saka to a more central role flanked by Partey and one of Ceballos/Xhaka/Elneny.

Mee

Our attacking play is extinct. We rely on our main striker on the wings to score every one of the two chances he gets per game. It doesn’t matter whether we play Sheffield or City. I do not expect Arteta to learn new stuff we need a new brain at the helm

Pierre

Ornstein said the club save millions by not playing Ozil.

Claude Puel said the reason Saliba didn’t go back to st. Etienne on loan was financial

Its a sad state of affairs considering the fortunes we have lost in potential transfers and paying nearly 2 million pound a month for sokratis and Ozil to never kick a ball all season ..

4 goalkeepers in the europa squad and no room for Saliba, Sokratis or Ozil…and people actually believe the bullshit .

Ishola70

The 10 is still popular in many South American countries and Central American

Just only last night two midget 10s just over 5 foot were on display in the Copa Libertadores and Central American equivalent.

So now quite defunct worldwide.

Ishola70

Not quite defunct.

Nelson

I would love to have a life like Ozil. Making £350k per week. Doesn’t risk being kicked by some crazy EPL defenders. In January, I could start talking to some MLS clubs and continue my good life.

Jamie

Pierre’s stage of grief this morning: anger. Just as I predicted yesterday.

Poor kid. A couple more stages until ‘acceptance’. Won’t be a smooth ride, though, such is the extent of his obsession.

Tom

Pierre, no, some don’t believe the bullshit, but since Arteta has seen his job title upgraded there shouldn’t be any ambiguity about who’s making decisions re the players when results come in.

Valentin

Left foot curler, “In every system that Arteta has implemented so far, he has the CF drop deep to help the midfield progress play and has the two wide forwards make blind side runs in behind. … There is actually no player in the squad who can play that role to the required level.” Correct, so the solution is to change system to take into account our current squad rather than trying to shoehorn players in a system that does not work attacking wise. Also there is very few CFs who have all the characteristics that Arteta is looking for.… Read more »

Barnsbury

Yes spot on. It’s true also to say that when you get paid what Mesut Ozil gets paid, by any employer to do any job, then I think it’s fair for the employer to expect that the standards they set will be adhered to. By that rationale, however good darling Mesut may have been in the past, he is an abject failure now. He wastes our time presenting himself as a good guy who loves Arsenal, but really he is taking the Mickey out of the fans, particularly those right-on ones who will side with him against our manager. Arteta… Read more »

Emiratesstroller

Arsenal’s current form suggests that we are defensively difficult to beat and I think that it is realistic to suppose that we will concede probably an average of 1 goal per game with the defence at our disposal. I do not disagree with the comments that our team’s attack and firepower is performing less well than might be expected but if you discount the two difficult away results against Liverpool and Man City as well as playing also Sheffield United who despite their current poor results are conceding few goals I still think that we can score 70+ goals this… Read more »

andy1886

@ Val, Harry Kane seems to be performing that role rather well, just saying…..

Tom

So Ozil missed the team’s Zoom meeting but at least he didn’t get caught masturbating ,or showering, or whatever other crazy shit guys get caught doing during those meetings while thinking they’ve disabled their devices.

Tom

@ Val, Harry Kane seems to be performing that role rather well, just saying…..

Yep

Leftfootcurler

Valentin “Correct, so the solution is to change system to take into account our current squad rather than trying to shoehorn players in a system that does not work attacking wise.” Yes, I have said the same in that same comment if you have read it fully. I disagree that only Richardlison,firmino and Giroud can play like that. The best example for that player in pl is Harry Kane. Tammy Abraham is of the same profile too,as is Martial. I suggested alternatives like Raul Jimenez and Sebastien Haller in the same comment. Both are good enough. This kind of profile… Read more »

Marc

Pedro

Always appreciate the time and effort you put into running the blog but If I’m honest todays post could’ve just been a post / email to Pierre. Anyone who’s surprised that Ozil’s career is over at Arsenal needs to wake up.

I’ll be honest I’m surprised that you didn’t touch on the European Super League story that could have implications that are far more long lasting and important than some washed up ex footballer who’s still drawing a salary.

Biggles

Back in June 2019 I said (https://le-grove.co.uk/2019/06/02/the-world-did-not-end/comment-page-4/#comment-2403393) that the six massive issues in the squad were: 1) Ozil, 2) Mkhitaryan, 3=) Mustafi, 3=) Xhaka, 4=) Koscielny, 4=) Monreal. At this point, Mkhitaryan, Koscielny and Monreal are all gone. Ozil effectively is as well. I’m just hoping the club can agree some kind of pay-off to make him a free agent now, rather than wait until January or whatever. Mustafi has actually – I’m scared to say it out loud – improved a bit. If we can get shot of Xhaka, that’s us taken the errors and toxicity out of the… Read more »

Peckobill

Andy That’s actually not true we couldn’t shift players more poor judgment by arteta by the needs of his squad and sacrifices he needed to make for the betterment of his side . Posters say we haven’t got the midfield to implement a dynamic midfield but :- Arteta turns down a 30 mill offer for xhaka in January so arteta believes xhaka is that player to take us forward , seems bonkers I know but xhaka is a carbon copy of arteta was as a player so perhaps he believes in that bland way of playing . Arteta turns down… Read more »

peanuts&monkeys

Having Ozil and not making him play , not getting the best out of him is Mikel Arteta’s failure. Accept That.

Marc

I’ve got to agree with Peckobill’s comments on AMN. I asked Pedro a couple of weeks ago about AMN and the answer was “he’s a first team player” sorry but taking risky pens in 4th rate competitions isn’t enough.

Karsa

We’ve won the games we were expected to win, and lost the games we were expected to lose so far this season.

Leftfootcurler

Graham
Rigidiy is fine. Pep does the exact same thing. His team’s are one of the highest scoring teams in Europe.

There are 3 issues:
1) Personnel

2) Arteta making sub optimal use of the attackers he has.

3) we basically play only on the left. We just ignore the right. It’s pretty weird. Football is a low scoring game,if you attack only on half the pitch,you make things much easier for the opposition.

Karsa

A European Super League designed to further line the pockets of the same few clubs must be opposed at every step of the process.

peanuts&monkeys

The celebratory note of the post is demeaning to Ozil. Its the club’s fault that we do not have a creative MF this year. What a shame, Arsenal! Its a shame that Arsenal did not try hard enough to get Ozil counseled and make him get back to his best.

Karsa

Ozil?

Past caring a long time ago.

Marc

Leftfoot

” we basically play only on the left. ”

Agree 100% when we go down the left you see support to the attackers on the odd occasions Pepe gets the ball there’s no one else in sight. Why isn’t Bellerin overlapping in a similar way that you see Saka, Tierney and / or Auba combining?

peanuts&monkeys

We cannot attack from the right because of this waste half baked winger , a complete overrated chap called Pepe. Oh! What a waste he has been.

Time and again it was pointed our 15 of his 20 goals at his former club cane from penalties. Even then this club bought that shitbag.

peanuts&monkeys

Coman could have come far cheaper than Pepe. Wouldn’t he?

Valentin

Andy, Tom,

You are right.
I don’t know why I keep blocking anything positive about Spurs… 😉
I don’t think that 1) we could afford him and 2) he would want to join us.

andy1886

Peckobill, I agree that we could have been more effective in the market. I’m not sure that Xhaka really would have left in January, reportedly Hertha wanted him on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy clause worth £25.6million which due to COVID I very much doubt they would have been able to exercise. Guendouzi was a player that was highly rated by some Gooners but I’m not sure that was the case outside the club. Again in the COVID market regardless of Arteta’s actions I doubt he’d have raised big money (Auba was supposed… Read more »

peanuts&monkeys

Willian has been so poor that he can’t support Pepe. Willian is another shit buy. Complete waste. He was poor at Chelsea since 2018-end. Arsenal bought an expired product Z

Erdogan is as much a human rights abuser as the rest of them are, or is it because he’s Muslim it somehow makes him worse than the Christian leaders doing the same thing

And before anyone asks no, I’m not a Muslim, don’t believe in religion but I am a proud Turkish Cypriot.

Leftfootcurler

I would rather shift Saka to RW and play AMN LWB.

In possession he would be LCM and use him as a b2b.
Basically how AMN was used in the FA Cup final and the game against Fulham.

Marc

andy

You’re wrong, Xhaka wanted to leave after being boo’d off the pitch – his agent found a club willing to pay a fee and Arteta talked him out of it.

A simply negligent piece of management.

andy1886

Val – Wenger let Kane go!

From Wiki: (Kane) joined the Arsenal youth academy when he was eight years old. He was released after one season for being “a bit chubby” and not “very athletic”, according to Liam Brady who was then in charge of Arsenal’s academy.[20] Manager Arsène Wenger stated in November 2015 that he was disappointed that Arsenal chose to release Kane.

I’m not seriously blaming Wenger of course but the idea that Wenger couldn’t have overruled Brady is nonsense. More of Wenger’s famous hindsight…..

Tom

Peckobill, agreed.
Arteta has made enough personnel decisions to become accountable for team’s results now.
None of that he needs two more windows to make the team into his image nonsense.

Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham hired new coaches right about the same time in somewhat similar circumstances.
We went for what Pedro called a “moon shot”, the other two for a proven quantity.
I happened to think Everton squad was weaker than ours, and Tottenham’s stronger…..we’ll see where the three finish in May.

Dissenter

Pedro
Ozil is not a traditional number 10 like a Baggio, Laudrop or Eusebio.
Traditional number 10s are central operators playing behind the center forward(s). Ozil is a coward who always drifts to the wings, clogging up the space of another player.

andy1886

As I said even if we did get £45m for the pair that would have been the money for Partey or Aouar, and the Kronekes wouldn’t have dipped their hand into their pockets for the second player.

Valentin

Left Foot Curler, As I wrote earlier, I blanked Harry Kane. But yes, he does that role very well. Martial can’t play the link man role. He is a pure speed merchant, who does not have in his locker. France have been trying to find a replacement for Giroud. Whenever Martial plays that role, his final ball is so poor, movement broke down because of him. Sebastian Haller is not of the right quality overall. Not clinical, poor off the ball movement. Michael Antonio has a poor first touch, yet he is still better than him. I rate Haller higher… Read more »

raptora

Leftfoot: “When we build up, in general,we are 433 in possession.As we advance the ball to 2nd phase and the final phase The system becomes 2-3-5. It’s not a defensive system at all. We have sufficient numbers in attack.” “In every system that Arteta has implemented so far,he has the CF drop deep to help the midfield progress play and has the two wide forwards make blind side runs in behind.” Plenty of stuff I disagree with. First, you say we’re playing 4-3-3? Where did you see the 3 midfielders in our team? Vs Fulham – Xhaka and Elneny, vs… Read more »

Tee

“Having Ozil and not making him play , not getting the best out of him is Mikel Arteta’s failure. Accept That” What’s this? I don’t even understand this trash – get the best out of him. Like baby-sitting him while the likes of Saka is giving it his all? “Arsenal! Its a shame that Arsenal did not try hard enough to get Ozil counseled and make him get back to his best” I’m sorry but you reason like terrorists who give irrational reasons for their actions. What best are you talking about? His best is long behind him and all… Read more »

raptora

It’s about time we ditch the 3-4-3 or 5-2-3.

Give me a 4-3-3 all day long. We have the players for it.

Bellerin Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Ceballos Partey
Willian
Pepe Auba Saka

Will Arteta even try it? Close to 0% chance.

Mee

Whoever signed off on the Martinez deal needs to go too. To believe we turned down a comparable bid for AMN who I agree is good 1 v 1 but will soon enough head to a mid table club.

Tom

“As I said even if we did get £45m for the pair that would have been the money for Partey or Aouar, and the Kronekes wouldn’t have dipped their hand into their pockets for the second player.“

Andy, we don’t know that. Arteta has shown good improvements and just by virtue of these and the FA cup , Stan might’ve given him the extra cash to make both deals happen.

Dissenter

Tee ‘ If Sanchez could terminate his contract for more play time then I see no reason why Ozil can’t do likewise to show his level of ambition.’ Exactly Alexis too signed a mega deal but in the end he proved that he’s a decent human being who wants to play. He wasn’t tweeting against United while he 3as their highest income earner. He took the first chance he got to go out on loan. Ozil deserves everything he gets. At least now his tweets about Arsenal will be viewed in the proper context ; he’s Just just like an… Read more »

Mee

Whoever signed off on the Martinez deal needs to go too. To believe we turned down a comparable bid for AMN whose cross field passes end up being knock down passes for opposition strikers.

Tee

Gabriel”s deal was on installment basis. Read we paid 5M for Lille.

This gives clearer picture of our current financial status.

Even Kroenkes financed the partey deal.

Guns of Hackney

I’m obviously not Ozil’s biggest fan. Even back when we signed him, I never got ‘it’. The man was always talented but never saw out a full 90…he’d be lucky to get to 60. Always a bizarre decision based in vanity. Here we are probably the best part of £150m down and counting. However, Ozil is the real winner. Let’s not beat around the bush here. Arsenal have been skanked by him and his agent and nothing says more about arsenals current incumbent board and ceo team than this hideous signing and subsequent resigning. We got what we deserve. And… Read more »

Marc

Hackney

Ozil’s contract is purely down to Gazidis and he’s no longer at the club. Blaming the current CEO is just plain daft.

Marc

Dissenter

It’s got nothing to do with being a decent human being – Sanchez wants to play football end of.

Ozil’s already retired.

englandsbest

Good stuff, Pedro, agree with every word.

But I will add this. There are only three certainties in life: death, taxes and blame the manager.

Leftfootcurler

Marc Right now it’s different because Saka likes to take a wider role almost as an LM in possession. But what Arteta wants is the DM to go wide and push the FB high and wide. Basically what he did in the games early in his managerial reign with xhaka in LCB/LB ish role and Saka pushing up high and wide. If the DM is wide,you need 2 players central to protect against defensive transitions. So the other CM and the inverted FB play central in that phase. If the FB is inverted, the winger has to hold width and… Read more »

Guns of Hackney

Marc

I would assume that Arsenal and the current board could use their fucking brain and terminate Ozil’s contract on the basis he is a fucking prat.

Whatever, Arsenal are going to experience this all over again with Willan and Auba.

Rich

Ozil’s new statement is that of a guy who’s been dumped, but refuses to accept that his ex has moved on, in spite of the restraining order.

Marc

Leftfoot

I do think a lot of this is down to instructions – much the same as the playing out from the back is.

If neither are what Arteta wants why the hell isn’t he doing something about it?

Pierre

Maybe if Arteta had been honest and said that Ozil , Guendouzi or Sokratis have no chance of playing instead of repeating that all players have an equal chance, then they may have been able to make plans to leave.. By leaving it until now , he has basically made it impossible for sokratis and Ozil to move on. Martinez got it exactly right , Arteta said he had a 95% chance of starting whilst at the same time intimating to Leno that he was no.1, .. Martinez read between the lines and basically said fuck you , I’m off… Read more »

Marc

Rich

Sorry are you talking about Ozil or Pierre?

Guns of Hackney

Think of Ozil just doing a furlough. I assume most of you on here know what that is. Although he gets 100% of his salary.

Karsa

I’m sure there are quite a few thinking , shit i could be next to be put out to grass without any warning.

They had plenty of warnings.

Havyn

I like the point that last season, Andy Carrol assisted more than him. So where is this noise about Ozil being creative. The guy stopped playing football long ago.

The next step is for Arteta to order him to train with under 23, so he doesn’t create distraction

Good riddance. Since its all about the money, he should take it and run.

Marc

Hackney

If there was a reasonable way for the club to terminate Ozil’s contract they would have done it.

Guns of Hackney

Karsa

Yes, the multi millionaires on long contracts are definitely shitting themselves. How will they survive?

Guns of Hackney

Marc

I totally disagree. At some point, Ozil may have breached his terms.

Arsenal are lazy and embarrassed, ergo, they just kept him on a £1m a month.

Graham62

peanuts&monkeys

Counselled!

Ozil was never going to be the answer to our problems.

We knew this several years back.

Unfortunately, our then powers that be didn’t see it.

Pierre

Leicester at the weekend followed by united away…

I wouldn’t expect anything too expansive v leicester, it’s a win at all costs.
Artera knows a defeat at the weekend leading into united away could set alarm bells ringing.

Maybe Arteta just likes making life harder for himself with the questionable decisions of the last few months.

Useroz

“ 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. … 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.” Some observations: • We definitely need a high performance culture AND high performance delivery. As it is, we have quite a fee weak cogs that couldn’t be readily rid of. Hopefully, “a coach that can so that’ will indeed walk the talk…… Read more »

Mee

Perhaps the players will turn on the manager. The defenders must be pissed at Leno, Leno is playing more passes per game than Pepe, 32 yr old Willian just played as the striker for the first time in his life and Auba is crossing the ball to far inferior finishers.

Freddie Ljungberg

Cute that Pierre thinks all Artetas communication to the players are done through the media or by official squad lists.

Did I say cute? I meant mental. Ozil has had plenty forewarning we’ve been trying to put him in orbit for 18 months ffs. Maybe he’ll get the message this time the thick fuck.

Plenty of reports that he’s changed his mind about leaving and is thinking about fucking off in January, hope that’s true. The sooner the better.

Rich

Guns of Hackney It’s a game of poker. I suspect Ozil wants to be paid out the full value of his contract, but it’s cheaper for the club to just not play him, meaning they avoid paying his bonuses. Paying Ozil out the remainder of his contract sets a dangerous precedent, because what’s to stop another overly pampered, disinterested, mercenary, from downing tools in future, and then hoping for the same deal? Think he’ll end up at Inter Miami in January, unless the club play him at his own game, and leave him sit out his contract until the end… Read more »

Useroz

look forward to *element* of

DivineSherlock

This is my fear , call it irrational but whats stopping Aubameyang to do the same ? Granted he does not look like a person who would do an Ozil but very worrisome . Too much player power these days.

Marc

Hackney

The only thing that got close was the comments about China and the Uighurs but that was someone the club could not go near for obvious reasons.

Everything else doesn’t do it for example late for training – if another player has been late for training and didn’t have his contract terminated it’d be seen as victimisation. The club now has a lawyer from one of the magic circle firms on the board – if it could be done they’d do it even now as it would save circa £12 million.

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