Tag Archives: ozil

Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott – Partnership made in heaven

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Theo Walcott is set to make his Arsenal return against Southampton for Arsenal this Saturday after being out for 2 months with a stomach injury. Since he picked up his injury, Arsenal have missed his pace and direction. His return from injury will change the way Arsenal perform, and he will add another dimension to our attacking formation. Adding the pace and width to change a game.

Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott have played twice together since the German joined the club. In the 1st game, away to Sunderland, Ozil put Walcott through a couple of times, with the German’s vision and Englishman’s pace combining well. Only some good goal keeping stopped Theo getting a couple of goals. In their second game together, against Marseille, Walcott got his only goal this season.

It was that first game against Sunderland where we really saw what the partnership of Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil could do. With opponent’s being naturally drawn to Mesut Ozil, it gives Walcott bundles of space on the right hand side. With Ozil’s vision and passing ability, he will be able to pick out Walcott for fun. He was put in by Ozil 3 times against Sunderland. He might not have scored, but after 21 goals last season, we know he can finish. It will only be a matter of time until the back of the net starts rippling.

To say the partnership could be similar to the Thierry Henry / Dennis Bergkamp partnership of the early 00s would be ludicrous. It is more similar to that of Nicolas Anelka / Dennis Bergkamp. Bergkamp once said that Anelka was a dream to play with, as his runs were simple and he made it easy for Bergkamp to find. On the other hand, Bergkamp allowed Anelka to play simply. Make the run and the ball will arrive, used to be the mentality.

The Ozil / Walcott partnership will be similar. All Theo has to do is make the run, and the ball will find him. People claim Walcott does not have a football brain. I find this insulting to a professional football. But if it were true, he does not need one with Ozil in the side. All he has to do is run in a straight line, Ozil will do the rest.

Ozil and Walcott have only played twice together. Ozil, Cazorla and Walcott have yet to play together. This becomes even more mouth watering. As now you do not just have Ozil or Cazorla having the ability to find Walcott, you now have Ozil and Cazorla. Arsenal’s play will be very simple. Play around in the middle and on the left, drag the defenders over, then a quick through ball between full back and centre back and Walcott will be away. The 3 behind Giroud gives me exciting thoughts!

How Arsenal line up behind these 3 will be interesting. With Arteta & Flamini battling for 1 spot, and Wilshere and Ramsey the other, it does give us options. And we can play a combination of any 2 of the 4 and we will be strong. To think, with players returning from injury, our bench against Southampton could read: Fabianski, Monreal, Vermalean, Flamini, Wilshere, Rosicky & Bendtner. Who said we had no strength in depth?

It is crazy to think that Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil have only paid twice together this season. It is perhaps testament to how well Arsenal have started that they are still top, despite last seasons second best player (Santi Cazorla being 1st) being out for 2 months. There have been games where Walcott’s pace and width have been missed – WBA away springs to mind – and his return will only make Arsenal stronger.

Whether he starts or is on the bench for the game against Southampton, one thing is for certain, his return makes the Arsenal side better, and the Ozil/Walcott partnership will go from strength to strength.

Keenos

Man Utd 1 The Arsenal 0 – Heads up everyone, We deserved a draw

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Confidence is a funny old thing isn’t it.

There were a lot of Arsenal fans speaking to me yesterday and in the days leading up to the game about how they thought we would win and we finally had the chance to go to Old Trafford and get a result. Don’t get me wrong I love the confidence but we shouldn’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We have had an amazing start to the season, an amazing week with the wins against Liverpool and Dortmund but if this loss brings us all a little closer to earth I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Being a fan that goes to games my opinion always seems to change, if only slightly, after I see the game or highlights back. There is always something else you see, something you wouldn’t have noticed or taking in when at the game. I was at the game yesterday and came away thinking we were poor, we had a go in the second half and should have taken one of our chances to get a point, but ultimately I didn’t think we did enough.

After watching it back on TV I changed my opinion slightly and think we did ok. We had a lot of the ball and restricted them to a few opportunities, it wasn’t the best game but we were not as bad as first thought. The second half was better than the first with chances coming and we moved the ball around better. Although we had possession we struggled to get going in the final third, chances and creativity were lacking, we just wasn’t as fluid as we have been so far. We didn’t drive forward as I would have liked us to. The flu virus that hit the camp meant we lost Per and Rosicky which were 2 big blows. It meant our midfield had Ramsey on the right with Flamini and Mikel holding the line which didn’t help us at all. Ramsey cannot create on the right, he needs to be in the middle and it shows Wenger knows that when he finally switched it later on and put him back in there. Rosicky has been excellent in recent games and we missed him yesterday, he has been doing so well in getting the team forward, the way he gets his head up and drives is a big positive and when he is not playing we miss that. We did so much better when Jack came on, we moved forward and made those chances, he took Ozil’s position in the number 10 role and played it better than the German had. Stories coming out this morning about how Ozil was also hit by the virus are yet to be confirmed but it would explain a lot as I think he was missing a lot of the time. When he was out on the right he got more of the ball and looked better, maybe Jack should have started in front of Ozil if he was ill.

Giroud did well up front working hard for everything, trying to hold it up and bring other players in but when we have no midfielders driving on to join him he is always going to struggle. There were a couple of times when he got the ball and could have looked up to drive on himself but he doesn’t have that pace, he doesn’t have that game in him unlike Suarez for example. He can get the ball anywhere on the pitch get his head up and run forward. We do need another striker and it has to be someone different to Giroud, someone with pace and skill to run at defenders and finish. I think Bendtners time has come to an end, I get the feeling from Wenger that he really doesn’t want to put him on but has no other option. That is his own fault however and should have brought someone in when he had the chance in the summer. Bendtner was ready to go and has released more stupid quotes this week slagging off the club, saying about how he wanted to go, he clearly doesn’t want to be here and we don’t want him here. Get rid ASAP please.

I think the defence look solid and felt comfortable together, they did very well considering the late change and playing against two quality players in Van Persie and Rooney they had to be on top form. We have been accused of not being tight enough at the back recently but you can see the improvement the defence has made. Vermaelen came in and did well alongside Koscielny, Sagna and Gibbs on the widths also impressed and deserve credit.

I don’t think United looked that dangerous at all and we defended against them well especially without Per. That loss was huge for us and the reason we went 0-1 down. Had he been on the pitch there is no way RVP would have got up to that ball to head it in. They didn’t do a lot and it was a pretty even game barring a few instances. We were unlucky and should have taken a draw. We had a few big chances, Sagnas crosses late on were incredibly good and we should have got on the end of one of them, Ozil’s shot which he should have hit across the keeper, Giroud should have pulled the trigger instead of taking another touch and there were a few other occasions, Ozil exchanging passes with Giroud, if only he carried on the run he could have been in.

Overall I’m disappointed as I think we were due a draw but the most important thing is to get our heads up and look to the next game. We have to remember that we were missing Per, Rosicky, Theo, Chamberlain and Jack didn’t even play the first half. This result doesn’t make us a bad side and we will see how we respond next against Southampton at home.

Something I have to mention is how many Manc fans are on the train to and from Euston. It must be embarrassing for United as a club to know that so many fans come up from London on the train for their home games. My train was packed with them and I have seen it before from when we have been up there but it still shocks me every time. There were 2 youngsters at London Bridge who had come from Euston, they obviously live in South London somewhere and travelled the length of the country to watch United. Why they don’t support a London club is beyond me! Tells you everything you need to know about their fans, late comers and glory hunters.

Heads up Gooners, onto the next one
Up The Arsenal!

Matt

manutd

10 Reasons why we will beat Man Utd + starting 11 + today’s Poppy Shirt

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ramsey

1.. Have to say it but Wenger was right to highlight referees and Old Trafford. Young’s dive last week was a disgrace to football and it’s far from the first time a ref has been conned at that ground.

2.. Clean sheets Vs the inform Liverpool strikeforce and away at Dortmund will give our back 5 enough confidence to keep out RVP and Rooney.

3.. Gibbs got another call up to the full England squad, I’m so happy for him. I said at the start of the season if he can keep fit he would be an outside chance to go the World Cup in the summer and he keeps this up it will be hard for Roy not to take him.

4.. Kos and Per are fast becoming the best CB pairing in the country, they have cut out the silly mistakes, hold a higher line than before (Bould’s influence ?) and as important have total faith in the keeper behind them.

5.. I have always believed that every great team has a great spine to it, Eg Seaman,Adams,Vieira,Henry. For the first season in a long time we look like in Chesney,Per,Arteta,Giroud we have a good spine to the side.

6.. Man Utd’s Prem record this season, played 10, won 5, drawn 2 lost 3. They lost at home to WBA, away to Liverpool and got spanked at Man City.

7.. Rio Ferdinand will struggle with Giroud’s strength today and I cant wait to see Ramsey run through him like he’s not there.

8.. Ozil, even when he’s having a quiet game he’s good. If he’s not slipping down the right he is keeping the ball wisely whilst we have possession and as importantly just having him on the pitch gives the opposition something to think about and our other players more space.

9.. Flamini and Wilshere are both in the squad, expect both to start on the bench.

10.. Wenger Knows, the way he has been treated personally at this ground, by fans, staff and the ref’s has been disgusting. Let’s hope today he gets some revenge on the pitch.

Likely starting XI – Chesney, Gibbs, Kos, Per, Sagna, Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, Sanit, Ozil, Giroud

COME ON YOU YELLLLLOWWWWWWSSSSSS