Tag Archives: Mesut Özil

7 OUT for Arsenal’s trip to Watford

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Arsenal could be without seven first team players for their trip to Watford in the Premier League this weekend following the international break

Prior to the final round of World Cup qualifiers, Arsenal were already without Laurent Koscielny, who had been sidelined for the Gunners over the past few weeks. The French centre back has seen a flair up of a long-term existing injury to his achilles. His chances of being fit for Saturday’s game were 50/50.

Koscielny may well be rushed back into the game with centre back partner Shkodran Mustafi having limped off in Germany’s 5-1 win over Azerbaijan on Sunday. The German international could miss the club’s next seven fixtures having suffered a torn ligament just 36 minutes into the game.

Another who did not travel with his country was Mesut Ozil has played just 17 minutes of Arsenal’s last 6 games as he recovers from a knee injury.

Two with a chance of returning are Francis Coquelin and Danny Welbeck.

Welbeck picked up a groin strain against Chelsea and hopes to be fit for the match, whilst Coquelin has been out since the Bournemouth fixture which took place on the 9th of September.

Calum Chambers on the other hand is not in contention for the clash. He is suffering a knee injury that will keep him out until the end of the month.

While Santi Cazorla will be out until the new year after suffering Achilles problems all the way back in October 2016.

Keenos

 

Mesut Ozil vs The World

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Further to this mornings article about Mesut Ozil, I thought I would run some figures.

A lot of people moan that Ozil does not do enough, and it got me thinking. In terms of goals and assists, how does Mesut Ozil compare to other Premier League number 10’s. So I did a little comparison with Ozil and players who perform a similar role to him (ie the likes of Eden Hazard and Alexis Sanchez were excluded as they are very different players).

I came up with a list of 9 players, including Ozil, that you would probably see as similar players. I am sure at this point some will criticise me, both for excluding certain players and including certain players. I do not really care. If you want to add any players, do your own research, and add the players stats in the figures.

My 9 Number 10’s are:

Cesc Fabregas
Coutinho
Cristian Erickson
David Silva
Dele Alli
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Juan Mata
Kevin de Bruyne
Mesut Ozil

I have used Premier League statistics at their current club only.

An argument about Ozil is that he does not score enough. He is 6th on the list, so it is a justifiable argument, but I do not hear people moaning that Cesc, Mkhitaryan or David Silva do not score enough. And he is not too much behind Kevin de Bruyne. Even Cristian Erickson, a player known for being a goal scoring midfielder, scores his goals exactly one game quicker than Ozil.

To put that into perspective, based on their ratios, Erickson would score 8 goals a season (if he played 38 games), whilst Ozil would score 7. Dele Alli’s games to goals is terrific.

Bit of a surprise that Ozil did not top this one, as he is known as an assist king. I was also surprised about how far ahead Kevin de Bruyne is from the rest.

Two of the 3 above Ozil for assists are below him for goals. In fact, bar Henrikh Mkhitaryan, there is a clear correlation on the list, the more goals you score, the less assists you make, and vice versa. Someone like Coutinho scores a lot, but does not provide too much. He always takes the shot. Whilst someone like Fabregas always makes the pass rather than the shot.

It is perhaps therefore import to combine the two. Goals and assists.

Kevin de Bruyne is clearly the most effective Number 10 around at the moment. He scores goals and gets assists. He is an awesome player. He cost £59.7million.

Thinking out loud here, de Bruyne is 25% more effective than Mesut Ozil when it comes to goals and assists, and he cost 25% more. You get for what you pay for I guess.

I was surprised to see the two Tottenham players, Erickson and Alli, 2nd and third on the list. Both players also cost a lot less than every other player on the list. Have to wonder how long they will stay at Spurs for, winning nothing.

4th on the list is Mesut Ozil. He averages a goal or an assist every 2 games.

Ozil is more effective than the likes of David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, Coutinho and Juan Mata. Often labelled as a waste of money, that he has been a £42.5m flop, what about these players?

Barcelona were willing to spend £100m on Coutinho, yet Ozil outperforms him. Where is the criticism for these players?

So before you get on your high horse and moan about what he delivers and his cost, understand that he performs better than a lot of players, who cost a similar amount. Everything is relative.

As a final thought, if I asked you, who would you prefer: Ozil, Cesc, Silva or Coutinho, I bet Ozil would come bottom, yet he out performs all of these. Time for a poll:

Keenos

Mesut Ozil – “A waste of money and talent”

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Waste of money and talent was one comment when a friend of mine stuck up Karma is a bitch eh Mesut… in a Whatasapp group, The discussion was about Mesut Ozil being set to face a humiliating Arsenal climb down having failed to attract any offers for his services elsewhere.

Lazy, bug eyed c**t was another response. Needless to say, the majority of the Whatsapp group have not been impressed by Mesut Ozil and his performances for Arsenal.

They moan that he is lazy, that he does not put in enough work. Well I am sorry that Mesut Ozil does not run around as much as Francis Coquelin.

“F**cking run around a bit” was what Harry Redknapp once asked one of his strikers to do. The opinion being that showing a bit of enthusiasm and topping the KM’s covered charts is what makes a good footballer.

This is why England have always struggled. Fans champion the likes of Jordan Henderson, Jake Livermore, Lee Catermole, Emile Heskey, Danny Welbeck. Players who have very little technical ability, but put in a shift. Work hard. Run around a little bit.

Whilst this is an important attribute for smaller teams, the likes of Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur, Republic of Ireland and Scotland, at a top side, during a league campaign, you do not want your key attacking players to cover every inch of grass, wasting energy on lost causes.

Mathieu Flamini covered a lot of ground for Arsenal in both spells at the club. He often topped the charts for distance covered. He never stopped running. But who would you prefer in the side? Flamini or Cesc Fabregas? Flamini or Ozil?

But you need balance is what you are crying. You need a Flamini to play with a Fabregas, to cover the ground. Correct. You are right. You are basically agreeing with me. That it is not the job of the likes of Fabregas and Ozil to track back all the time. To cover a big load of KM’s. That is others in the team.

Aaron Ramsey loves to run around a little bit, but is then frustrating when he is asked to be the midfield play maker. I can probably count on one hand how many number 10’s are high energy, covering the ground. In fact, my pal Paul could probably count how many of these players are known for running around and he does not have a hand to count them on.

The Juan Mata’s of this world, Eden Hazard, Kevin de Bruyne, David Silva, James Rodriguez, Mario Gotze, Tomas Muller. Some of the best Number 10’s in world football. None are exactly known for running around a little bit. Mesut Ozil is amongst them.

So my first point with Ozil is simple. Understand his role in the team. He is not there to defend, he is in the side to attack, to create. Leave the defensive side to those behind him. We are not good enough at defending, blame Granit Xhaka, blame Aaron Ramsey, blame Arsene Wenger. Do not blame Mesut Ozil. It would be like blaming Laurent Koscielny that we do not score enough goals.

On the other point, about Mesut Ozil being a waste of money and talent it reminds me of two daily Mail articles that I read on their app. They were next to each other so reading one after another made interesting reading.

The first was about Mesut Ozil. About how he had been a flop at Arsenal. How he had been a horrendous signing. That Arsenal would be good to get shot of him.

Following on from the article was a second one about Tottenham Hotspur. It was the usual BS about how great they were. How great Mauricio Pochettino is. That Harry Kane is the best striker in the world. Dele Alli the best Number 10 (no mention that he is lazy).

Now for a bit of perspective…

So Ozil is a failure, having won more trophies at Arsenal in the 4 years he has been in London than Spurs have won in the last 26 years. That great Spurs team. The brilliant side that they are…

If I wanted to play silly buggers, I could say that Spurs have only won 3 trophies in the last 33 years. That my mates 5 year old has seen Ozil lift more trophies than his 32 year old father has seen Spurs lift.

A final thought on this matter, and I am not making an in depth comparison, just a final thought.

Liam Brady is considered an Arsenal legend. A left footed, classy player who glided over the field. How does Mesut Ozil compare to him?

So whilst Ozil has played half the amount of games, the German has a better scoring ratio – yet some moan that Ozil does not score enough.

And ultimately, Ozil has won more in his Arsenal career than Liam Brady.

Has Ozil been that much of a flop?

Keenos