Tag Archives: She Wore

Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal career is over…but it is going to be a long and painful departure

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Mesut Ozil will not play for Arsenal again.

He knew his time was up months ago when he fell out of favour with Mikel Arteta as football returned from its suspension.

We might never know the true story of what happened prior to the Manchester City game.

Ozil was in the squad, travelling to Manchester, and then pulled out at late notice. He has not been seen in a match day squad since.

Whatever happened prior to that Manchester City game led Arteta to decide that Ozil’s time at Arsenal was up.

There is a conspiracy theory that Ozil was being forced out due to his reluctance to take a wage cut. This is not true.

There is also a conspiracy theory that Ozil was being forced out as Arsenal wanted to get him off the wage bill. This is not true.

Think logically for a moment.

Ozil is set to cost Arsenal around £20million in wages in the last year of his contract. Failing to make the Europa League would cost Arsenal £40million. The Champions League over £70million.

The cost of not making Europe is more than the cost of Ozil’s last year of his contract. It makes zero sense for Arsenal to damage their chances of making Europe just because they did not want to pay Ozil’s £350k a week.

Arteta is under no pressure to pick players. Ozil’s exclusion is down to the manager.

He sees Ozil for what he is.

A player who has no interest in playing football anymore.

Ozil knew months ago that he had played his last game for Arsenal. That he was welcome to go out on loan to another club.

A loan deal would have still seen Ozil earn his £350k a week, and would have seen Ozil playing regular football again.

Instead, Ozil failed to push for a loan deal, and reportedly turned down a couple of enquiries. He made the decision that he would rather earn his £350k a week, live in London and not play.

The other option would have been go out on loan, earn his £350k a week and play.

It is the decision to not play that justifies Arteta’s decision not to play him.

Ozil clearly has no drive, no desire to play football anymore.I

If he did have the drive to still play at the highest level, he would either be showing that desire by developing his game to fit in with Arteta’s plans, or would have seeked a move elsewhere.

For those that say “he is 32, he has won a World Cup, he doesn’t need to develop his game to fit in with Arteta’s game plan” shows exactly why he does not have the mentality for top level sport.

From LeBron James to Roger Federer, Tiger Woods to Michael Jordan, sport is littered with legendary athletes who developed their game at a late age to continue winning.

Look at a Cristiano Ronaldo. Still performing at 35. Still developing his game to ensure he not only remains a starter for Juventus, but their most important player.

Ozil has shown in public that that he does not have the mentality to continue playing at the highest level.

But Ozil still has his ego. His fan base.

Ozil knows that if he came out and said “I do not really want to play football anymore”; he would become irrelevant overnight.

He needs to appear the victim so that his support remains intact. So that it boasts his very fragile ego.

Ozil knows he is a divisive character. He does not act in the best interests of Arsenal. He does not love the club. All he is interested in is promoting his own fan base. He knows his actions will create division, but he still acts.

He knows he will not play for Arsenal this season, but has decided to stay at the club.

This weak mentality is exactly why Arteta is justified in not selecting him.

Keenos

Arsenal right to demand answers of SFA

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The big news from yesterday was that Kieran Tierney was to enter a period of isolation following a teammate giving a positive corcoronavirus test.

Whilst Tierney has tested negative, the Lothian Health Protection Team (LHPT) have decided that he had been in close contact with teammate Stuart Armstrong.

Tierney has stated his frustration at the situation, saying “I have adhered to all regulations and made sure I was socially distancing from my teammates in the hotel”.

Arsenal are right to demand answers from the Scottish Football Association.

Reports are that Tierney was playing a computer game in a hotel room, but had remained socially distanced.

A further test has also shown that Tierney has Coronavirus anti-bodies, indicating that he has probably already previously had the virus.

Arsenal are demanding to know why he has to isolate when he has produced a negative test and anti-bodies.

When you consider 3 Liverpool players have tested positive in recent weeks, but not a single player has had to isolate, you have to question the motive.

You have to wonder why international football is going on under current circumstances.

Domestically, football teams are within their own bubble in accordance to the country they play in. They play against sides in similar bubbles, playing under similar rules.

And then we have international football.

It brings together multiple different players, playing for multiple different teams, in multiple different countries with multiple different rules.

For all intents and purposes, a 25 man international squad could be made up of 25 different players playing in 25 different countries. Some tested every few days, others never tested.

If the message is “stop the spread”, how does international football fit in?

In England we have the Rule of 6 – where you can only have 6 people socialise together.

Up on Scotland it has just been announced that bars, pubs and cafes will have to shut at 6pm.

There are also quarantine periods that people coming from abroad have to undertake if they arrive to the UK, depending on which country they are coming in from.

We are all having to sacrifice our lives to ensure we limit the spread of COVID19.

But then we have international football which brings many different people together, living in many different countries.

It will be a breeding ground for COVID19, similar to what we are seeing at universities. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a spike in positive tests in footballers following the international break.

Keenos

Arsenal show ruthless streak to capture Thomas Partey

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Atletico Madrid had made their position clear. If anyone wanted to sign Thomas Partey, his release clause would have to be triggered. They were not going to negotiate.

Even when they showed interest in Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira, their stance on Partey did not change.

Arsenal tried to negotiate. To try and push that fee lower, to try and include Torreira in the deal. But Atletico would not be moved.

Than at 11.28pm Central European Time, with just 32 minutes of the transfer window remaining, Atletico got the call.

The call was from the La Liga offices informing them that Arsenal has paid the money. The release clause had been triggered and Partey was no longer their player.

Arsenal had shown a ruthlessness not seen before.

After weeks of unanswered call’s, and months of being told “we will not talk, we will not negotiate”, Arsenal had played Atletico at their own game.

If Atletico did not want to talk, did not want to negotiate, then fair enough. They were perfectly entitled to that position.

Likewise Arsenal did not have to communicate their intention to trigger the clause to Atletico. They did not need to let them know. A courtesy call might have been nice. But no. We decided to match fire with fire.

Arsenal followed Atletico’s advice, and triggered the clause without even attempting to contact Atletico.

Had Atletico sat down with Arsenal, had they negotiated, the deal would have been done weeks ago.

Atletico would have had £30m+ to reinvest in this transfer window. Instead, they got the money they wanted, but do not have the time to spend it.

It is behaviour that will reverberate around Europe. Arsenal are not a club to play games with.

Keenos