I have long held the view that the litmus test of a person’s understanding of football is their appreciation of Mesut Ozil. It’s the gold standard of tests, if you don’t rate him, you’re an idiot. There is no option B, no mitigation and I accept no arguments otherwise.
So how has he become “lost” and what is lost?
Has he lost his ability to play, his desire to perform or his physical prowess? No, none of these. He has been lost to Arsenal, and the football world, because he has been stopped from playing by Arsenal football club. We will look at the theories why later, but whatever your opinion, he has not lost himself.
For a decade Ozil has been one of the best players in the world, and the best player Arsenal have had in that decade. More than that he is one of the best players in the history of Arsenal F C, exactly where on the list of all time greats is open to debate, but he’s in the debate, like it or not.
In the period where Germany were the best team in the world, and with the best crop of players they had ever had, he was German player of the year in 5 out of 6 seasons. The very definition of top end world class.
I think his Arsenal career should be looked at in two separate and distinct sections, under Arsene Wenger and post Arsene Wenger.
When Wenger left Arsenal, Ozil had a better G/A per PL game record (0.54) than: Pires, Ljungberg, Reyes, Cesc, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Hazard, Eriksen, Nasri, Silva, Santi, Ramsey, Coutinho, Arshavin, Pogba and so on. That, despite his last 18 months being blighted by a chronic back problem and (as Arsene told it) “a big problem with his immune system”. It should also be remembered that despite these physical problems Arsene had to insist that he didn’t play games, while Ozil was insisting he wanted to help and would play.
Now, his G/A contribution has dropped off dramatically under both Emery and Arteta, but we must ask why – not assume that it’s because he has forgotten how to play. The systems and positions he has been required to play have been unsuited to his skill set and he’s been playing in areas of the pitch where goals and assists should not be expected. However, his underlying stats have not diminished, his passing stats are the same and the idea that he has physically dropped off are exposed as lies when you look at the facts. Here is an example of him under Arteta in a deeper lying position, you will note that only one player ran farther and only Aubameyang can run slightly faster:
Ozil is not just an elite playmaker, but he is an elite athlete. Darren Burgess, former Head of Elite Performance said:
“Mesut is much-maligned physically. But there were many games where his running numbers — and I’m talking high-speed numbers, not just distance but high-speed numbers — were among the elite in the competition. So he’s certainly capable of doing it.”
Wherever he plays on the pitch he brings a technical security that is levels above his team mates. He does the job asked of him even when it doesn’t best suit him. He is the very essence of a team player, perhaps the most unselfish and generous player ever to have played the game. The notion that he doesn’t suit the style of play the manager wants is ridiculous, he might be better suited in a different system, but in any system he is still levels above any player in our squad.
So why is he not playing or even registered to play? What madness can explain this stupid situation? People have different opinions and theories, including the idiots who say it’s for “football reasons”, so let me explain my thinking.
I believe it started with the departure of Ivan and Arsene. They had given Ozil a contract worth allegedly £350k per week. The new regime likely felt that this money could be better used elsewhere given the changing nature of the game we were trying to play under Emery. Not unreasonable and new managers do like to get their own players in that suit their style and Raul did like to wheel and deal. Ozil leaving would give the manager and Raul the opportunity to reshape the team. However, Mesut made it clear he didn’t want to leave and instead of accepting, and honouring the agreed contract, they tried to make him unhappy enough that he would choose to leave. He and Ramsey were excluded from the team and briefings against both of them started seeping out. Of course eventually the football got that bad that they both had to be brought back in. But the scene had been set, the powers that be wanted him gone.
Then in December 2019, Ozil spoke out strongly on Instagram against China’s treatment of the Uighur population in the north-western region of Xinjiang, where over a million people have reportedly been held in detention camps over recent years. The club quickly distanced itself from these comments and Ozil was critical of the club for doing so. The club was losing access to the huge merchandising market in China and crucially the PL itself was at risk of losing TV income, and now have a vested interest in Ozil being shut up. It should be noted that China had flexed their muscles against the NBA in the October and the NBA buckled. Another financial reason for Ozil to be pushed out.
It appears that with the arrival of Mikel Arteta, Ozil’s fortunes had changed. Arteta, having played with Ozil would have known what he brings and despite the board wanting Ozil gone, he was in a position to pick him. Which he did. In fact, before Covid hit, Ozil was one of only two players to start every PL game under Arteta. Yes he was playing deeper, but he was playing well and Arteta was full of praise for his contribution and attitude. “His attitude has been incredible.” But during the lock down something dramatically changed.
In my opinion what happened was that Ozil hurt Arteta’s feelings and dented his ego. The club asked all the players to take a 15% pay cut due to Covid and 15 of them said no. At this point Arteta stepped in and asked that the pay cut be accepted. All bar 3 of them agreed to the cut, Ozil was one of the 3. Mesut wanted more information about what the money would be used for, who would benefit and were jobs going to be secure. He indicated he would take the reduction, and more, if jobs were secured. He wasn’t given these assurances and subsequent events proved him right to want them, as 55 long-standing employees were made redundant and then our much beloved mascot. It should be noted that Ozil gives very generously to charities all over the world, is committed to ongoing help and has been paying for free meals for hundreds of school kids since March, long before Rashford spoke up.
Now I believe Arteta got the hump, Ozil didn’t bend the knee when he asked him to take the reduction and he demands obedience on all things. At this point the stars aligned for Josh and the board, Arteta could be convinced to shut Ozil out in the hope he would leave in the summer. But Mesut dug his heels in and refused to be pushed out. I believe the club and Arteta should have accepted that and played Ozil in his final year. That they didn’t, and now can’t, has to be the biggest act of self harm any club has ever done. The football is crap and we desperately need Ozil. It’s a mess and it’s a mess of Arteta’s and the club’s doing.
It’s more than a mess actually, it’s a disgrace.
Pedantic George
P.S. If you want to make a small difference, sign the petition at the end of this tweet and reply. Oh, and stay safe.
Positively Arsenal 
Excellent
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I will repeat Arsenal football club has not picked its strongest 11 in nearly over 2 years because of politics, not footballing reasons. The latest slogan of “trust the process” has nothing to do with football but football politics.
Ozil not picked politics
Ramsey contract withdrawn politics
Carzola contract offer rescinded politics (played for spain after injury)
Denis Suarez – Politics
Willian – Politics
Cedric – Dodgy deals
Pepe – Dodgy Deals
Ornstien leaks – Politics.
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Why don’t you name this blog correctly ‘Positively Ozil’. Save Arsenal fans a lot of wasted time clicking on it because, as stated previously, you’re anything but positive about Arsenal Football Club. Mezut’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen represent Arsenal and it’s a shame he’s not doing so anymore but… He’s not.
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By the same token a lot of these other blogs can call themselves positively Arteta cause all I read without much to back it is he is the 2nd coming of Johan Cruff.
we have been told that this is the best the club can do with the players at the club and it to me this is not accurate at best and number one BS as Khabib would say. We are told to accept this by all the Arteta Fc blogs and all the KSE Fc blogs.
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Thanks, George. I could not have said it better.
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Runarsson; Cedric, David Luiz, Mustafi, Maitland-Niles; Willock, Xhaka; Nelson, Pepe, Nketiah, Lacazette
Subs: Macey, Hein, Bellerin, Tierney, Holding, Cebellos, Smith Rowe, Cottrell, Azeez, Balogun
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Gee don’t forget our chairman stepped down when his attempts to bring in a football man on the board to have some oversight on Edu and Raul was not allowed, he wanted David O’Leary added to the board.
Ken Friar also retired this summer.
There are rumors that Lord Harris is unhappy with the way the board is now and may soon step down too.
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Molde just missed an open goal
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HT: Molde 0-0 Arsenal
not a lot to get excited about so far
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Great article.
Anyone who watched properly could see Mesut cover a lot of ground. And that he covers it intelligently makes him hugely important. He was visibly faster than many players while sprinting too. Even with the ball. The stars clearly back that up though I wish overall stats were used rather than just that one game.
It’s obvious that reasons beyond football are keeping him out and the club is suffering big time.
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No idea why we are playing Laca and Eddie in a front 2. If we are playing 2 up front, Pepe should be 1 of them.
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pepe gives us the lead, a few minutes ago he had a shot form outside the area that hit the underside of the bar and came out, this time he curled it past the keeper, he has been our best attacker so far
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Good goal from Pepe just now after striking the bar minutes earlier. We really need to get him closer to the goal. He is wasted out wide.
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nketiah has a goal rightly ruled out for offside, he was about a foot offside
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nelson puts us 2 up
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Much better in the second half. Moving the ball faster.
Pepe doing good stuff.
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FT: Molde 0-3 Arsenal
Pepe, Nelson and Balogun with our goals. Pepe very good in the second half, probably our man of the match. Balogun with his first senior goal, it might help to get him to sign that new contract.
It was a dull enough first half, but we were much livelier in the second half and fully deserved our win, could have won by more.
We are through to the knockout stages, might need another point to be sure of topping the group, but if Rapid don’t win tonight it would mean we are sure to top the group
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Ed, I couldn’t disagree with you more on Pepe.
Today he was greedy when other players were better placed, he slowed down breakaways, his crossing was awful and apart from one occasion when he skipped past two players he just can’t take players on he gets tackled all the time.
It has been along time now for him to settle in and I just can’t see this magical player appearing.
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Arteta on… the win, Pepe, Nelson, Balogun
Rob Kelly 26 Nov 2020
Arteta
It was a fine night for us in Norway on Thursday as we scored three times, left a clean sheet and sealed our place in the Europa League knockout stages.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta faced the media and discussed the performance, Nicolas Pepe, Reiss Nelson, Folarin Balgun, and more.
This is what he said:
on Nicolas Pepe’s performance…
I am really pleased. After the disappointment of something negative, you want to see a reaction and I could see from the first minute with his body language that he was ready to act. I think he had a great performance, he scored one goal and could have scored another one or two. He created some good moments in the game and worked really hard for the team, so I really like it, I am pleased with that.
on having fans back in the stadium…
I am really happy, the club is working really hard on the final details after the announcement that we had to try to make it possible. We are delighted, the players are delighted and we need to make sure it works and we can increase [the crowds] after.
on whether he will adopt this formation in the Premier League…
It depends on the players that we have available and a few things that we have to make sure that we can control better than we did tonight. There were a lot of positives, we looked a threat all the time but there were some issues there to be resolved. This will take time, and its that we changed the team a lot, we played a lot of young players but I was really pleased with the performance and the personality that they showed on the pitch.
on Pepe always looking a threat…
We all know what his level, and all the time the question is how often he can get to that level and how he contributes to other aspects of the game. Today is the example of the level he needs to hit, and he needs to keep doing it because he is capable of it and you can see that every time he gets in those positions win the final third, he is a real threat and a very difficult player to control because he can go with his feet, he can come inside, he can shoot, he can create crosses and he can go in behind you as well. That is what we can expect from him.
on Folarin Balogun’s goal…
Yes, it was well deserved for the boy. He is working really hard, he had some difficult months with all the speculation around him but he has handled the situation in a really mature way. He wants to stay, we want him to stay, we give him the opportunity and he took it straight away.
on David Luiz’s fitness…
We hope that he is okay. These surfaces bring different challenges to some players that have issues in their bodies, and it is quite aggressive to play on this surface so we wanted to take zero risk on that. It is okay, he should be fine.
on Reiss Nelson…
He’s made some big steps in the last month or so. He’s shown what he can do. Again, he’s another player that wants to take you on all the time, he’s very vertical, he’s a great player when he runs in behind and he’s very unpredictable. I really like these types of players to play in the wide positions. Defensively, there are things that he needs to do better and he will improve in that but he’s a much more mature player. He showed a great attitude, in my opinion, to say that he didn’t want to leave on loan because he belives that he’s got a chance to play for this football club. He’s showing that he wants to take that direction. He’s performing in the right way.
on if he’s spoken to Reiss Nelson on what he needs to do better…
Yes. We’re doing a lot of work with him, obviously. He’s so willing. He’s asking for more all the time. He wants individual meetings. He wants to work on the pitch in certain aspects in which we think he can improve. He’s training really really well, he’s developing as well. He had a click and we needed that click. Now it’s up to him but I must say that his last performances have been really good.
on our young players linking up to score…
I think it was a great combination from Dani, Kieran, Emile and Flo and Emile is a player with an incredible talent. He’s the got ability and the quality. Mentally, it is always a challenge because the demands are so high, the pressure is high to play here and you need to hit those levels to become an Arsenal player. It’s down to him as well. I really like him and he’s a player that if we are a little bit patient [with], we have a great player there.
on if qualifying for the knockout stages early helps give young players more time on the pitch…
Yeah but they have had chances even from the first game. We decided to give them chances because you have to give them real opportunities. For me to play them in friendly games is not a real chance. You have to give them the right competition and you have to surround them with senior players and big players around them. Then you can assess whether they’re at the level, whether they have the personality to play at this club, how they react to good and bad moments and this is what we are trying to do. To play the next game, they have to earn it, just like everybody else in the squad, because we want to finish first. I think we are using our young players well in the competition.
on if more fans could return safely to Emirates Stadium than is planned…
Well, I don’t know how many we can get, 2000 in a big stadium doesn’t sound like a lot but I think we have to go step by step. The club has to put in a lot of work and effort to prepare everything in the best possible way and hopefully next Thursday we can see some fans there, enjoying [the game], supporting the team and being safe.
on if we can bring our high-scoring form in Europe to the Premier League…
This is what we want [to do]. We’ve been more efficient in this competition. It can be down to some of the players that we utilise in certain positions, it can be because of the opposition, there are a few factors there. I must say that if we want to be fighting with the big clubs, obviously the amount of goals that we score has to improve because defensively I think we’ve had four clean sheets in the last six games, which is pretty good, but offensively our numbers have to improve.
Copyright 2020 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
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Heavy D has died at the age fo 43, for those who don’t know who he is, he was one of the attention seeking muppets on aftv and big brother
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Couldn’t watch the match, I’m looking forward to reading thoughts on the game.
Good response from Pepe, which is good to see!
Great to see more youth team players get some minutes. (I’ll not worry about the K’s plan for Hale End into a Wal-mart parking lot today).
I had the strong impression on the weekend that Nelson should be starting in the league ahead of Willian. I hope we’ll see that transition over the next few weeks once Saka and Pepe are back in the league team.
Mustafi, Luiz and Holding all competing for the starting berth alongside Gabriel, it’ll be fun to see how that turns out. Wolves won’t be fun, neither will the ref but I’m going to punt against league form and my own odds on a good performance from the Gunners & a good result.
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Ever the optimist of course but it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that some of these players might cohere into a special team under Arteta who I think may well become one of the greats.
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he became lost after he signed new contract (under Wenger)
and he wasn’t consistent event before that
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https://twitter.com/i/status/1332060975260971008
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Mesut is right, Arsenal is not sincere with him at all. The Ozil saga is a lesson to all. Respect contract and be able to open to all issues. Answers were not provided to basic questions and they should remember that they are dealing with adults not toddlers. I expected Arteta to put his feet down that the player is needed for him to succeed, they may not give him another contract but should be made to contribute while still under contract. Arsenal is paying for Ozil coming for training. Wastage of resources tending to conserve. The board is pennywise but pound foolish.
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Taking Ozil out of our team is not just a disgrace but an abuse of our liberty as fans of this club. The club not just lack creativity but also have missed the beautiful football we are known to be playing in the past. We need our play maker back in the team and now. #play him back#
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Interesting and well written article on one of the great enduring Arsenal mysteries of the era. The smoke and mirrors that have descended over the affair makes it all but impossible to really pick out the truth of the matter, although your theory of Arteta’s hurty feelings is as good as any.
But for a guy who was playing well and regularly pre-Lock Down 1 to then fail to be registered for ANY competition despite his apparent fitness, suggests this is 100% on Arsenal. Whilst I accept Arteta may have been striving for total squad discipline (Guen also came a cropper in this period), throwing the baby out with the bath water rarely comes without significant cost.
I think Ozil is a great footballer and a decent man and it’s a matter of huge regret that AFC were suddenly unable to make use of any of his talents in any way at all. As fans and spectators, we also have been paying a price for the kind of political shenanigans that one would not traditionally associate with this once classy club. It’s all a great pity and one that is unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry.
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Smoke and mirrors indeed – but also strange silences from the key players, not least Ozil and all his mates. All presumably bound by non-disclosure clauses, but still odd that no one has broken ranks with anything other than speculation.
And also odd that no whisper of other clubs moving in for him (normally by now there would be speculation about a star player in the final year of his contract).
I choose to believe that a very heavy word has been dropped in many ears by the Premier League, at the behest of one of their paymasters. And if so Arteta may well be right when he cites footballing reasons – just not footballing reasons with regard to on- field tactics, but footballing reasons in the sense of protecting the whole apple cart.
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arsenal U23’s play derby county U23’s this evening
Mari makes his comeback from injury and joins Chambers and Saliba in our backline
Okonkwo
Chambers, Saliba, Mari, Elebiosu
Akinola, Cottrell, Azeez
Cirjan, Moller, Taylor-Hart
subs: Ejeheri, Ogungbo, Dinzeyi, Norton-Cuffy, Ideho
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kick off is at 7, it can be viewed on the Derby County website – bloody disgrace that AFC are at home and AFC can’t be arsed to broadcast it
https://www.dcfc.co.uk/fixtures/results/2020/11/27/arsenal-v-u23
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is this really the sort of guy that we should be spunking £50M on
Houssem Aouar refused to partake in the post-match warm down as requested because he felt the quality of the Angers pitch was not good enough
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it seems U16 defender Reuell Walters has joined Arsenal from Man Utd, he only joined Man Utd last season from Spurs, I think he is a right back.
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Arsenal and Arteta have a choice, play Ozil and loft the team or shut him out and fight
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penalty to arsenal, Taylor-Hart taken down
Cottrell scores 1-0 to the Arsenal
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okonkwo saved a penalty, but near the end of the half Derby scored to make it 1-1 at half time
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norton-cuffy on for mari for the second half, he will likely go right back with chambers going to cb
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Moller with a calm stroked finish from ten yards out to put us back in front early in the second half
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talyor-hart on his u23 debut makes it 3-1 to Arsenal
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FT: Arsenal U23’s 3-1 Derby U23’s
a very good second half seen AFC worthy winners,
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” just not footballing reasons with regard to on- field tactics, but footballing reasons in the sense of protecting the whole apple cart.”
Tim, I considered and did not dismiss that idea. But it wouldn’t explain the treatment Guendouzi got, so that lade me doubt it more.
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That the club have been trying to force this player out for two seasons and more is self explanatory.
There is no other considerable reason behind this idiocy other then the slight variation to this tale that George describes
I even wrote upon these pages at the time that the lockdown might backfire on Arteta as the owners will use the pause to try and force this player out again. Predictable stupidity.
There are the opposite of strange silences from the players and ozil. Clever PR on social media. The silence from the club regarding the statement from the family of a volunteer who worked for free for the club for fourteen years is what is strange. Because:
It’s not Ozil who is lost.
It is the Arsenal who have lost their way.
And identity.
Under these frauds.
Ask Darren Bent. Troy Deeney. Tony Adams. George Graham. Alan Partridge. Paul Merson. Etc. Any random punter walking down the street.
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Ed, only caught about 20 mins of it at end but what were Derby players so angry about?
Clear 2nd yellow and after it they showed dissent constantly and looked to be fuming.
Rarely watch anyone else’s youth games but feel it’s the case so often with us that if we get ahead, especially up north, the opposition play like they’ve been cheated and are on edge of losing plot, and if ref actually gives decisions he should look fit to explode.
Strongly suspect coaches wind them up beforehand in a way they don’t for other teams.
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Oh Arsenal! What art thou? A form in transit of different ideas endlessly changing? But what aren’t you? Certainly not a democratic system; the lie to humans in the 21st c was: “phone in (give us yer money) and vote them in or out” giving us a strange idea that our opinion is powerful, which of course it can be, but it seems only so we its joined but lots of other voices in agreement, plus the internet gives us all a false idea that we are right. Well thats an impossibility, even if we are for a fleeting moment. But the lure that our opinion will change something is interesting, it might, and all life clings to a possibility. Successes are perhaps stop off points but its failure or the idea of that which drives us? All evolution looks at failure and wants to try another option.
That was the reasoning of the people who were so anti Wenger they felt it was stagnating, and they missed the orgasm of the early dominating Wenger years. Despite technically some of the best football being played after 2005( perhaps 2005 was the end of the first period-the others being 2005 to RVP departure and then the final years” the FAC harvest!”) these fans in the evolutionary dream seemed to not really understand too much about what was going on and why Arsenal weren’t coming first anymore, and they were deprived of feeling no1, as perhaps their own lives were rather empty. It was endlessly explained but their evolutionary dream to grow up ahead of the other plants wasn’t possible as the fertilizer we had wasn’t the best, plus we had to pay for a new shed ( where art though Fred?).
Why did Arsenal think Emery was the man, and then Arteta? Why nobody saw the alarm bells flashing when Emery was released by PSG is worrying, but was that their aim? Was Emery being used to just win the Europa league and get us back into the champions league. We pay you, so that we get paid. Politics= money. That’s all its ever been about. Its not really even about power anymore. Why be so foolish to get yourself in the firing line when you can be anonym? What form of culture or entertainment isn’t now under the heavy foot of money? Art? Theatre? TV? Films?
Arsenal like to have BLM banners up and state that they are for everyone, no matter you choice of life style. But is Mesuts stand up, an elephant in the room? All humans have the possibility of being hypocritical, life’s changes see to that? But it points to a catch 22: we pay you to pay us to pay you to pay us? l Of course it seems very frightening, and out of control but we see that money is the contemporary name of the game. Sports has often been the handmaiden of politics but that was about power and less about money?
There’s not really anything I can do about it. I can write a thousand blogs but the chances of anyone listening to my little voice in a world that makes the 80s greed look like kindergarten games, is small, agreeing is less, changing anything, perhaps minus on the scale of things? So when Arteta offers up the most negative football for years, it loses its entertainment value. What else can football essentially be?
But what would KSE say to me over the situation? That I’m economically a fool, I know nothing of the modern world of football clubs. And they might well be very right. But what do they know about football? Maybe they know lots, Im asking thats all.
The saddest thing to me with Mesut is that football came second to money. To peoples greed. Ok, its normal the bottom line for every is that that feel not good enough. It can be argued that this is a good thing ( who choses what’s good or bad, and based on what scale?), certainly is a major drive for all footballers and football clubs; the rules are very specific, three domestic trophies plus one at international club level. Even if it works as a seething relative mass; all are dependant, there can only be a few winners.
To say Mesuts expulsion is a loss of liberty, its true, but all liberty means a loss of liberty. But whose the loser here? Fans? Well, Mesut seems to be very divisive in opinion. Im with George, I don’t understand why he’s loathed and blamed so much. To me he was easily the most skilled and intelligent in my time. Perhaps those who are so critical of him are looking of replacements to heroes now gone by, but that’s not ever going to happen. Its seems that rather than a single scapegoat which seems to be the prescription at AFC, many things are working against one another?
What do we want from KSE, apart from to spend spend, spend? I don’t know what I want from them. I’m not sure they care about Arsenal too much, is it more of a cash cow in the name of sport? What is working well at AFC? Whose happy? The idea that “dinosaur” (nothing like ageism to sit there as a full prejudice that doesn’t get picked up on!)opinion from the GG days are invalid maybe true to some but others not? Pundits criticise, but so do most bloggers( and they are often unpaid!), all have a valid voices, even those I detest or vehemently disagree with. Trouble is how do we all deal with the fallout of all opinions when actions are taking against them ( positive liberty)?
We live in a time of endless opinion, and they will be trawled out. Who can claim all seeing and knowing. Football clubs might not be democratic( and even if they were they would fail very quickly) and (back to liberty) even democracy means a lack of liberty. The irony to me is many GG teams ‘might’ have done better this season so far. Of course that’s speculation. But my memories of the GG years span many years not just the ups and downs of it. Whether we like it or not, agree or not, it can be argued that everyone is always doing the best they think at the time. Some periods of the GG years were more attacking than others. Some of it was really turgid and endlessly boring and like now many times the fan base was living on the fumes of hope. I still think a solid defence is a good thing. But so is a creative skilful midfield and a dynamic, hungry, attack the best for all and sundry. Anti goals means anti wins, which means anti points which means which means anti silverware orgasm. But why is it such a difficult equation? Wham spent, brought in managers, and the cake didn’t come out right. What was it that Weng, Alex and other have that changes things? When there’s so much pressure on Arteta and opinions and voices calling out “attack attack attack!” why are we set up to kack in our pants and the lowest ebb opposition teams? You can just see it, we get Stanley (don’t get me wrong I like Stanley but its am ok example as they’re already booted out) in the FAC, and we would be set up to defend against them.
Before I get ripped to pieces here, which is what blog spots are increasingly about, I don’t want to go back to the GG years. If I could, it would be the early Wenger years, those doubles, hardness and skill, power and creativity. I think we played more skilful football later but that was the time I liked best. Right or wrong in the large play of life its meaningless. No? Who comes online to tell us now of any games pre 1960? Who recalls the old heroes who played for AFC all forgotten? They are all part of Arsenal. They have no value? Then how does evolution grow? From the leaf litter of the past? The new is always a part of the old. The Wenger years are now old, they are dinosaur according to the thinking of some fans. But the odd thing is that anything extinct would have no opinion, assuming it can express one. Yet how many species are from ages past that have dinosaur DNA or are a relic from those eras? Well some! I just don’t see the GG years as the enemy nor do I see them as the answer to todays problems. Elements maybe.
I don’t like the football that’s being played, its boring, really boring. A race horses being used to plough fields. Backing off against Leeds was sad to see.
Sorry I haven’t any solution, other than Arteta perhaps should go, but whose next? The system that brought in Emery, brought in Arteta how’s that working? Perhaps looking for the ‘new Wenger’ is a wrong idea, as much a hoping to go back to a style we’ve seen already? Can anyone be a secular saviour? Did Wenger even have that power or was he more of a visionary, a helper and someone who brought out the intelligence, and best in others and as a unit? Take a player like Song. RVP leaving was a tough blow but Song going was worse imo. But what did he do without Wengers guiding, liberal supportive hand? He wasn’t to me, the same player. Its a shame as he was one heck of a talent. Wenger knew talent and knew how to bring it out.
Even if Mesut came back, what kind of pressure would he be under? Could be do it? Well he can only be part of it. The 350 a week ( is there any evidence for that?) is being spent on a player not playing but Auba isn’t doing much either,and is on big bucks too why is one more of a waste than the other? Isn’t Auba echoing the criticisms of Mesut-ie going missing? Brady went missing and so did Henry, I saw it happen, but our strangely edited memories tell us something different. History is a strange one to examine as its through perspectives of its recorders.
A question I’ve always thought about is how much is football essentially entertainment? Wenger raised the bar to Oscar wins for great films with great character actors, and its tough to come down the other side of the mountain, especially when we said we didn’t want to go down the mountainside. In fairness the LeGrove people wanted more too. But is all our mistakes in understanding AFC, not looking at the DNA, looking at evolutionary processes of the past, as a view to the future? Wenger was the next step and now we’ve gone not backwards but a wrong evolutionary path, one that inexplicable; and that includes 75 million on Pepe. Players like Guen and Pepe ironically needed a Wenger. Wenger needed cash but didn’t get it. The new boys have had it and don’t seem to know what they are doing, or how to get the team moving as a formidable force, if we see the Wenger system as the blueprint. But what if Arsenal wasn’t always Wenger and once he went jealous greedy hands with sticky fingers grabbed what they couldn’t understand? They cant read the blue print and think it was all easy peasy?
Alright it gets dragged into personal ideas of identity and lifestyle as a fan but boiled down its blokes booting the ball around, and when its done badly is horrible to watch(where we are now). Sport must prevail! No matter how much we argue it maybe the crux of it? Who enjoyed being a Stoke fan( except when the Gunners were in town)? Because the sport was poor.
One thing I’ve seen for at least ten years, with the exceptions of the FA cup wins its not been well at Arsenal. The focus is much less on the team, there was a time when the team and club had more mystery not due to smoke and mirrors but that the relationship was different. Different kinds of commitments; at my most fanatical (12 or 13 years old) even if we lost I could take it, more than the time we live in now. What going on with that!? Now I don’t want to watch, I feel sceptical about everything at AFC, certainly looking up and seeing Tottenham is depressing, then looking down and the relegation pit is even worse. The mind numbing football, frozen players, everyone’s a scapegoat baby (that the truth),the media, social media-but would we have it any other way? If all opinions were only limited to official outlets how would that look like? Democracy is a strange thing but the ability to express ourselves with some liberty even at the loss of liberty isn’t that a decent thing?
The transition failed, and we’re wandering around on the Heath with Lear? If we were Bayern this wouldn’t have failed, they are way to smart. But fans can only take part in so much of a renewal process.
What what is this Arsenal I see before me? Not one I recognise, not even from the past at Arsenal. Do you? No time was ever like this. Its not just the fans not being there,(would we have beaten SheffUnited at heirs if the stadium was full of their fans? I’m not so sure.. )but the team has no collective mind anymore than being a captain means little these days. Whose at fault? Who isn’t at fault? Including ourselves? Why isn’t Arteta playing attacking football? The defence isn’t really sorted out, are we playing football thats defensive or just a bit unintelligent, not particularly creative and certainly not really anything. Other teams are set up defensively as that pretty much the main option but we dont even seem to be doing that? In the end poor results mean managers go until something clicks. Its funny if I said this in a pub I might not get a booting, but if you write it, it seems authoritarian and absolute. Well its not been written that way.
Well Ive written war and peace, so I will peace off.
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Klop out as Kop crisis deepens. Enjoying their slight reversal this week after a Liverpool supporting colleague smugly commiserated with me over the Arsenal’s form dip.
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rich I think the Derby players were sure they were going to win, a win would have seen them top the division, AFC are near the bottom of the table. Also there does seem to be an expectancy from the likes of them that they will be allowed more leeway when playing Arsenal and when they get a guy rightly sent off they whinge and bitch a lot. There was nothing wrong with any of the Arsenal goals, the penalty was a clear penalty, and Derby got a penalty of their own and our keeper saved it, they had their chances and did not take them, Arsenal took theirs.
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I see Arteta saying he will need to sign lots of players in the next few transfer windows if he is to make Arsenal title challengers. Says its the only way to fix the problems that have been at the club for a long time.
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George Lewis and Jason Sraha return to training as Arsenal youngsters take on first-team in practice game
U23s winger George Lewis has returned to training after injury.
Lewis hasn’t featured since early last month but was in action as a group of Arsenal youngsters took on the first-team during a practice match at London Colney yesterday.
Other youngsters who were involved in the session include Charlie Patino, Marcelo Flores, Henry Jeffcott, Joseph Olowu, Khayon Edwards, Alex Kirk and Zane Monlouis as well as Karl Hein and Folarin Balogun, who were both on the bench against Molde.
Another notable inclusion was that of Jason Sraha, with the centre-back having not featured since last February because of injury.
Omari Hutchinson was also present but was part of the first-team side, which was comprised of players who didn’t start against Molde. Willian, Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Elneny were all back in training, while Sokratis and Mesut Ozil also took part in the session. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Gabriel, who didn’t travel to Norway, also featured.
Gabriel Martinelli also took a full part n the session as he stepped up his recovery from injury.
The majority of the aforementioned youngsters also trained with the squad today.
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Eleney was back in training today, as was David Luiz, Saka and Martinelli
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Please find the latest team news update ahead of Sunday’s match against Wolves.
Updates since last match:
Mohamed Elneny
Tested positive for Covid-19 while on international duty with Egypt.
Mo has been cleared to return to full training and is available for selection.
Sead Kolasinac
Tested positive for Covid-19 while on international duty with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Sead is currently asymptomatic and following protocols ahead of returning to training. He is unavailable for Sunday’s match.
Thomas Partey
Left thigh. Sustained strain to left thigh during Aston Villa (h) on November 8.
Thomas is progressing with his rehabilitation ahead of returning to full training.
Nicolas Pepe
Suspended. Serving first of three match Premier League suspension following red card against Leeds United.
Bukayo Saka
Right leg impact. Sustained dead leg during the match at Leeds last Sunday.
Bukayo has returned to full training and is being assessed. Decision to be made on participation ahead of Sunday’s match.
Willian
Left calf. Slight calf issue sustained during the match at Leeds last Sunday.
Willian is fit and available for selection.
Continued status on longer-term injuries:
Pablo Mari
Left ankle. Sustained significant sprain to ankle ligaments during Manchester City (a) on June 17.
Pablo successfully completed 45 minutes for the Under-23s on Friday night in the PL2 against Derby County.
Gabriel Martinelli
Left knee. Sustained injury during training on June 21.
Gabi is now integrating into squad sessions.
Copyright 2020 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source.
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Interesting to watch Everton struggling to score at home against Leeds with 11 men.
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