Arsenal Banter Archive March 02 2015

02 Mar 2015 22:10:34
Question.

A) All out attack at Monaco to save our CL skin?

B) write it off as a lost cause, thus conserving energy and probably injuries, and put all our efforts in PL and FA Cup?

B for me.

{Ed025's Note - A first half...then B if it goes tits up..

02 Mar 2015 22:48:48
Fair point Ed.

04 Mar 2015 00:50:29
A for me.

But why can't we try in both games?

02 Mar 2015 21:26:38
Here's my take on Ozil.

I'm not his biggest fan, you all know that.

That said, I love the fact he's a Gooner.

Would rather he played poorly in an Arsenal shirt, than brilliantly against us in a Chelsea shirt.

Do I rate him?
Yes of course.

Is he World Class?
No, not in my opinion.

Messi, Ronaldo, Neuer and Robert are WC because they do it week in week out, not as and when it suits.

£42m?
Not in my book. But, that's not his fault, he didn't set the price tag.

Is he worth that?
Well, market forces says yes. His performances say no.

And I judge him on performances and not his market value.

I don't think he is overly suited to Prem League football.
Being World Class in La Liga doesn't make him World Class in English Prem League.

Horses for courses as they say.

Is it his fault?
Well, let's be honest.
He had a better class of player to pass to at Madrid than he has at Arsenal.

The Hood posted earlier he ran 11KM against Everton.

I'm not overly impressed.
When I use to play footie, we had a bloke on the left wing.
Could run up and down the touchline all day long, but would never/hardly touch the ball.
We use to call him "The Linesman", for obvious reasons.

The reason I still reserve judgement is he is played out of position.
He should be a number 10, his best position, ala Bergkamp, who by the way, had a much better work rate than Ozil.

Would I sell him and bank the money?
No.

Would I sell him and buy Schneiderlin and Coutinho with the money?
Yes, in a heartbeat.

If I bought a £1000 Cortina that broke down every other week I would accept it.

But, if I had a £100,000 Bentley, I would expect it to run like a dream every time I drove it.

Ozil, cost of a Bentley but sometimes drives like a Cortina.

Yes, I'm a fan, but he hasn't convinced me just yet, like Sanchez has.

But, whilst he puts on an Arsenal shirt, he will get my full support.

I just wish he gives me more to shout about.

02 Mar 2015 21:55:32
Absolutely great post dags. Funny too.why say ten words when you can explain it by writing a book.

{Ed025's Note - love it steve..

02 Mar 2015 21:57:31
Brilliant post Dags, balanced fair and well written but!
Just three questions!
1 are you pro or anti Mesut?
2 was his assist for goal 1 a scuffed corner or brilliant vision?
3 was his assist for goal 2 a wild swing or again brilliant vision?
Which side does Mr Dagala really dress on Mesut Ozil :-)

02 Mar 2015 22:06:49
Thank you Steve.

G62.

1) I'm sitting on fence.
2) I'm sitting on fence.
3) I'm sitting on fence.

No of-fence lol.

{Ed025's Note - mind them splinters in your arse mate.. :)

02 Mar 2015 22:18:46
Why did no one pass it to the linesman?

02 Mar 2015 22:25:13
Dags class post. Steve your reply killed me

02 Mar 2015 22:34:12
Should you work harder or smarter?

The person still on the shop floor or office way after closing time appears to be the hardest worker and appears to be the role model

But - is he the best worker? Does the person clocking off on time but doing what's he's asked to do even get a mention? Is he appreciated?

Fans want the former and get angry at the later yet don't all good bosses want you to work smarter!

Should we have an Ozil banter page😏

{Ed025's Note - seeing as your relating it to work SY...im an ex-roadworker, and when a lorry load of tarmac was delivered the gang all mucked in to get the job done, but sometimes there would be a guy who never actually pulled his weight, he was the guy who wanted to sit on the roller or brush up, always moving but never really producing much, we called them shirkers in my day....now they are known as ozils.. :)

02 Mar 2015 22:36:29
So Dags in chapter 17 of your version of much ado about nothing either way, where you say that if it doesn't rain sleet or snow on Thursday week your fairly confident of a good day for indoor bowls, was you referring to am or pm :-)

{Ed025's Note - love it G62..

02 Mar 2015 22:47:14
RIP Derby

You will be sorely missed :(

Lol

02 Mar 2015 22:47:36
Eden,

He wasn't really a linesman.
He was one of our players, but use to run up and down on the left wing.
Could run all day, but he wasn't very good, we never use to pass to him, he never touched the ball.

So, I use to call him "The Linesman" lol.

02 Mar 2015 23:12:09
Ed,

My Dad use to be a road worker.

They sacked him for stealing at work.

I refused to believe my dad would do such a thing.

But, when I got home, all the signs were there.

{Ed025's Note - i did giggle a bit there dags..

02 Mar 2015 23:14:07
Lol, nice one G62.

Your mind works in mysterious ways :-)

03 Mar 2015 00:06:17
That was one of the better ones dags :-)

02 Mar 2015 19:53:01
Ramsey should be back for QPR and Coquelin may be able to play, despite his broken nose,
Competition for the top four is hotting up and we deserately need to win on Wednesday.

{Ed025's Note - it is robbie..

02 Mar 2015 19:29:52
Ed025 £10 to comic relief if you say 5 really complimentary things about Mesut tomorrow :-)

{Ed025's Note - 5?????....i cant find one G62...but i will make 5 up seeing as its for charity mate.. :)

02 Mar 2015 19:58:27
Ed a complimentary lie beats an honest insult any day of the week, my missus told me she read recently 2 inches and 30 seconds is twice the what the average man has to offer a woman which makes me 50% better than average.

{Ed025's Note - that sounds like a complimentary lie to me G62..

02 Mar 2015 20:25:43
What about 5 nice things about me Ed?

Actually, stick to the Ozil one, might be easier lol

{Ed025's Note - far easier dags.. :)

02 Mar 2015 22:25:12
I seriously tried to post 5 nice things about both you dags and ozil, I've struggled so I'm going to ask my nine year old tmrw, he says lots of nice things about people, most of them made up in his head but nice never less

02 Mar 2015 19:09:39
Guys we can get 2nd place now

Make no mistake its all up for grabs this topsy turvy season

Yes Chelski have won prem but we can go for 2nd now NOT just 3rd Man city are on the wane!

Keep The Faith!

{Ed025's Note - reality check...arsenal will have a hell of a fight for 3rd or 4th spot..

02 Mar 2015 20:09:31
City will have a fight on there hands for second if they keep up their current level of performance

02 Mar 2015 20:10:06
i agree ed, but it does look like city are starting to have a fair wobble 2nd-7th could end up as anything

{Ed025's Note - fair point eden..

02 Mar 2015 20:19:05
If we clinch 4th with games to go then we go for 3rd if that happens and city haven't sealed 2nd then go for it but I think as we stand 2nd is about as likely as us winning all our remaining games and making the champions league last 8, its a very long shot IMO

{Ed025's Note - im with you mate..

03 Mar 2015 06:10:10
To say that Chelsea have already won the league is not accurate gents. So much can happen between now and the end of the season

{Ed025's Note - the sun may not rise tomorrow either rue...but its highly likely..

03 Mar 2015 08:44:07
Lool. Gave me a good laugh there ED

{Ed001's Note - please don't encourage him Rue!!}

02 Mar 2015 18:56:41
Di maria second top assists in prem. he's been been a shadow of his former self

02 Mar 2015 20:57:26
Theres a theme there.

02 Mar 2015 09:43:04
Here is something for the ozil haters

Mesut Ozil ran further than any other player in this game (11.6km) & has 5 assists in 12 lge games this season

02 Mar 2015 10:23:31
Brilliant player, criminally under rated, because he's an introvert and he took england to pieces a few years back everyone over here hates him

02 Mar 2015 10:23:54
The running stat surprised me but is good to see, I tried to watch him as closely as possible yesterday and although there are times he walks like he doesn't give a blue peter badge there's loads of good bits he does that you wouldn't normally notice if you was doing the sane thing and keeping up with the game you paid to see!

02 Mar 2015 11:48:21
its actually quite a wierd stat, it doesn't show that much when you look at the game live, and this has been reminiscent, of how ozil plays, that a lot of his work goes unnoticed.

02 Mar 2015 12:13:20
Out of all stats there is in football this is the worst. End of the day no excuse for not tracking. He does many slow runs to add to his miles and has to go over to take corners :). ox or alexis run fast then rest.

02 Mar 2015 12:38:59
Forest gump then. He could run an run and run.

02 Mar 2015 12:44:02
Im not sure we are ozil haters, it just that he's one of the most expensive footballwrs in the prem and to some extent europe and its like half of him is missing. he's like lewis hamilton without a car or jonathan ross without his mouth. Weve only got half the player. Do we get the other half when we pay all the instalments.

02 Mar 2015 13:12:16
Posted this on the rumour site yesterday

Mesut Özil has the third best minutes per assist rate in Premier League history (min. 10 assists). 

Thats impressive and that's what we paid the money for - notto track back

02 Mar 2015 13:51:26
And reyes is in top spot for assists with 214 mins per assist, fabregas is second with 221 mins and ozil third on 224.

02 Mar 2015 13:52:13
Derby you are spot on. When he gets assists for a corner and a midfield passback to a player who scores a 20 yard deflected goal firing past 3 or 4 players his assists could and will be higher. To give him any credit for yesterdays actual goals is pushing it. When someone takes a penalty hits the post and another player puts the rebound away, is that an assist. All I can say is the guy isn't getting nany plaudits from media and pundits and he won't win any awards this year for his contribution. Please will the real mesut ozil turn up, he's not doibg what I have seen him do in the past.

02 Mar 2015 14:12:36
So as per your analogy explain to me this, Giroud has reached 50 goals for the club faster than RVP without penalty's, so how does that logic apply here of yours.

02 Mar 2015 14:23:05
Love the avatar SY4 lol :)

02 Mar 2015 14:47:33
The problem is he is passing balls to a mid-table type of striker. If Giroud could score, his stats would be so much better. Lewis Hamilton can not win a race while driving a Ford Ranger pick up truck

02 Mar 2015 14:52:02
Hood that just show how stats distort the reality.

02 Mar 2015 15:01:13
Reyes top, well that answers every question then doesn't it, end of debate. Lol

02 Mar 2015 15:28:28
Well everyone goes by stats, what's on paper facts and figures simple. I am not sure what you do for a living but if you are a manger running a company with X amount of employees, you only go by figures and output. There was a similar stat when we lost to Dortmund in the play offs, where the teams avg itself was around 10 or so, while BR was much higher up.

I am sorry but stats do count for something.

02 Mar 2015 16:09:08
Reyes did play with the invincibls though

Could you imagine mesut playing with them....
The figures would be unreal :)

02 Mar 2015 16:34:05
Yea imagine henry banging them in for fun, 40 goals a season you reckon xD

02 Mar 2015 17:29:22
I think arteta runs more that any other player on our team. Have we missed him? No not really. U think a lot of time ozil runs around to make it look like he's doing something. He has no interest in doing the donkey work.

02 Mar 2015 17:56:10
Talking of stats it was interesting to see the world class Coutinho has 4 goals and 4 assists along with 80% pass completion whilst the excellent Santi Cazorla only has 7 goals and 6 assists with a poor 88% pass completion.

It's amazing when you can see what you want to see. ;-)

{Ed025's Note - your right there red dog..

02 Mar 2015 18:51:00
Cazorla does love his penos red dog. If u had a choice to swap him for coutinho would you? Liverpool have finally got over suarez and found a formation to suit them . Don't forget they had Mario to try set up lol. Theyv gave up on him now and are better for it . Sturridge back is key. Fully fit for me best team to watch in the league

02 Mar 2015 18:55:05
On Ozils corner being an assist, it wasn't exactly a long hopeful ball into the box that was headed in through a crowded area.
Reds right people see what they chose to see, anti Ozil see a lucky assist but pro Mesut fans see a very clever skilful corner that was very well executed by Olly.
You pays ya money and makes ya chioce I guess

{Ed025's Note - lets get one thing straight G62...it was a very poor corner, and the assist for the second was a hit and hope cross mate...honestly...

02 Mar 2015 19:10:37
Like Red said Edward you see what you wish to see mate :-)
Did you see Orville keep dropping his pen and having to get under the seats every time the ball went anywhere near the bench to find it?

{Ed025's Note - you could be right G62....your not..but you could be..

02 Mar 2015 19:43:48
No Derby, I'd swap Cazorla for a much better player than Coutinho. :-)

02 Mar 2015 22:28:51
So you would keep cazorla and say no to coutinho. Fair play mate.

02 Mar 2015 08:51:15
I don't understand the criticism of Ozil after yesterdays game, despite not playing particularly well, he still managed to grab two assists. isn't that exactly what you want from your big players? To produce, even when they aren't at the top of their game. I mean, Ozils vision for second goal was sublime, it seemed like a simple pull back, but it was timed, disguised and weighted perfectly. Only 3 or so players in the league can make those passes on a regular basis.

Ozil will have days where it all opens up for him, and he creates a tonne of chances and maybe grabs a goal himself. But on games that are more closely contestes, like Everton yesterday, he might only create one or two, and if you have the players to finish them that's all you need. Why did we beat Everton? Not just because we were solid at the back, but also our No.10 produced.. Everton struggled to create clear cut chances.

Also, what's happened to Sanchez? He's really lost that spark? He's stopped taking players on and seems to be getting less shots in, don't get me wrong, its great Cazorla and Ozil have stepped up in the absence of Ox and Sanchez, but wouldn't it be great if all of them were on fire.

02 Mar 2015 09:03:22
Sanchez is burned out a bit and wengers subs show that.

ozil is not match fit, and still gets brushed off the ball easily. keeps possesion and plays the simple passes and if given the chance can make the cutting pass. just a defensive liability, although i do agree that he positions himself well on the pitch. but everton were poor he should have had a better game and he did not.

5/10 for me on ozil...did good but what we paid for him he needs to be brilliant.

02 Mar 2015 09:03:35
Ozil was fantastic. 2 assists. What more would you want? Maybe he should start saving penalties just to win some fans over.

If you have been a fan of Ozil for a long time, know that he is no the type to track back 50 yards and defend. We can keep wishing for it, but it will never happen. We know it, Wenger knows it... So let's del with it

02 Mar 2015 09:20:39
Rue I'm a very big Mesut fan but I think we have to understand why other's are frustrated by him too, as larks rightly points out we did pay a lot of money for him.
Like Giroud his contribution is less obvious than that of Sanchez Kos Gabriel Le Coq but we wouldn't have won yesterday if Welbeck had played in eithers place IMO.
Hey ho its all about opinions and I'd play Mesut and Olly in every PL game they were available for

02 Mar 2015 09:24:09
Nice posts gentlemen :)

02 Mar 2015 13:13:49
I think Mesut is massively underrated, yes we paid a lot of money for him but he does what he was brought into the side to do, create chances and bring the midfield play together with the attack. by some people logics Messi should be dropped as i have not seen him make many defensive clearances! that's not what he is in the side to do. He actually covers a lot of ground, yes his tracking could be better, but if we are honest he is not that quick and not great in the air or in the tackle so why would we want him anywhere near our own box, accident waiting to happen.
He was brought in to create chances and raise the belief and profile of the team further and he has done both of these, 3rd highest assist per min ratio.
Its easy to target him as the press are all over him and his demeanor is the opposite to alexs who is always running but a different player.
at times yesterday ozil was furthest up the pitch and it gave us that outlet when giroud was defending corners as he is good in the air, he really does balance our team well.

Obvs i am pro mesut so i am a bit biased but sometimes its does seem that people are just jumping on the bandwagon with him.

i am not ranting, and everyone is entitled to their opinion that what make this site great, but this guy to a lot of stick from the press before he went out injured and i think since he has come back he has been so much better yet still getting the same stick

02 Mar 2015 14:58:21
Would rather have messi or ozil, not even a contest, one actually works for his art the other doesnt.

02 Mar 2015 18:52:32
Nani is top 5 for assists hahaha. Brilliant.

02 Mar 2015 07:34:50
There's been a lot of chat on here regarding Giroud. I find it hard to criticise without seeming to be a hater, which I'm absolutely not. However. I honestly don't see us winning much without an upgrade up front. That's not to say he's no good but, a worldie would make a world of difference, pun intended. Honestly, I think Jackson Martinez would score for fun in our lineup but, any of the players suggested/linked would work, Higuain, Cavani etc. Giroud wouldn't be cast aside in that scenario, he could play in a strike partnership, provide relief after the hour and deputise in cup games and such. With the class of Giroud on the bench, we look a proper contender.
On to the other player mentioned constantly, Ozil. When he was signed, I literally jumped for joy. Who can honestly say they didn't? Fact is, he's had more than a season and a half, it isn't working out. Time to cut our losses. We can play 3 guys behind the striker in Ox, Alexis and Theo. If selling Ozil can help make that Striker a Cavani, Higuain or Martinez, that'd have the rest of the premiership packing their jocks.

02 Mar 2015 08:27:43
I like both Giroud and Ozil Outback mate but understand your point on both, I'm not sure we wouldn't lose more than we gain by signing a out and out goal scorer who did little more than that and Mesut? Well I think we all thought he would rip teams to bits every week but I watched him closely yesterday and I was surprised the amount of times he held back to cover Belerins position when Hector bombed forward but you do have to look harder to find what he contributes in our shirt than you do in a German or did in a Real one I admit

02 Mar 2015 09:24:56
Fair points there, Gunner62. Honestly, I'd love to see Giroud and Ozil prove me wrong long term but, I get the feeling, what you see is what you get. I've talked up Martinez before on here, in fact, I tried to start a new cult when Dag's Remy one fell through but, couldn't get the following. I reckon he'd suit the Prem, despite the step up from the Portuguese league. He's a class finisher with Power and decent pace, scores every kind of goal. Also, Sanchez in the #10 role with Theo and Ox all working both ways would be a scary proposition, behind a bloke who scores whenever he gets a sniff. Yes please!

02 Mar 2015 10:03:11
Whats the point of signing a top striker if we are going to sell Ozil.. Like selling your TV to buy an Xbox

02 Mar 2015 10:17:42
I like that Detroit :-) very true and also very very funny :-)

03 Mar 2015 07:35:26
Pretty sure Alexis is an ok passer though, Detroit.

02 Mar 2015 00:01:39
Sancez the legend please come back, where have you gone. You still put in a shift, but its missing a spark.

02 Mar 2015 08:17:17
I don't want to say "I told you so " but several weeks ago I was saying rest him as others were saying if he wants to play then play him...............wrong. He has lost his edge/spark.

He looks jaded, which is what Wenger was saying a few weeks ago but carried on playing him.