Morning all.
Hector Bellerin is 20 years old today. Happy birthday to him…
You won’t have to scratch your head and search your memory too much to recall the great moments Dennis Bergkamp dished up. Anyone who has read Stillness and Speed will know that as much as Dennis was a world class player, he acknowledged that a lot of what he achieved was down to the players around him.
Ok, there were moments, too many to mention, when his individual quality and brilliance had nothing to do with those around him but he’s renowned for being an ‘assist’ player, more than an out and out goal scorer like Thierry Henry or Ian Wright.
Back then, Dennis had both the above two players around him, and others like Freddie, Bobby, Overmars, Petit, Vieira – the list goes on. Pace, brains, width, brains, width, pace – proper footballers who knew what Dennis could do and were there, just there waiting for one of his sublime passes. A pass which would split a defence or a cross which was just like Dennis. Perfect.
Before Dennis came to Arsenal, he was deemed to be a flop, a total waste of money but he proved that when a great player has the right players around him, everything clicks into place….
Mesut Ozil – our £42 million signing can’t do a thing right can he?
I think he’s too good for his own good.
Watch him on the ball, his eyes are everywhere looking for a team-mate to make a move, to find space in which he can play that inch perfect pass for another to score or certainly threaten the oppositions goal but unlike back in the days of Dennis, that movement off the ball isn’t happening. Similar could be said about Alexis when he’s in possession.
Against West Ham and again Monaco and during other matches, everyone bombs into the penalty area and all that does is congest a small space.
Wingers need to be wingers, draw the opposition defence out and free up the space in the area and then watch Mesut play that clinical ball to Ollie, Welbeck or whoever else has made that timely run into the box..
We have one of the best squads we’ve had for a while but certain individuals need to stick to the role they’ve been given and maybe then, we’ll start to get the best from Mesut….
Sometimes he gets caught on the ball because there is no movement around him…! He doesn’t want to just play the ball anywhere but then gets caught in possession and then moaned about for giving the ball away but the bigger picture is the lack of movement off the ball from his team mates who are not allowing or giving him the options to create and pass…
He is two steps ahead of others and sees things which others don’t. Just like Dennis….
There’s a reason he cost Arsenal £42 million (other than Real Madrid ripping us off) and that’s because he’s a world class player but he’s not a defender, he’ll never chase back for ninety minutes, that’s not his game and I doubt Arsene Wenger expects that from him, not all the time and to fair to the player, he has of late been spotted putting a few tackles in.
But his game is to create stuff, split defences apart and score a few goals along the way but unless other players get on his wavelength, it simply won’t happen enough….
Finally, Frank De Boer wants his Ajax side to play like Arsenal did in Monaco:
The way they played against Monaco is the way we would like to play as well. High pressure, get the ball back very quickly. I really love the way Arsenal play. When I look at their goals, it sometimes looks like futsal. Passing, moving and always at a high tempo.
Maybe he’s the man to make sure Arsenal carry that style of play on after Arsene Wenger decides to get out his pipe and slippers…..
That’s it for Thursday, have a good one all…
Great post.
Perfect description of the Ozil situation, and how anyone can knock him is absolutely beyond me.
Morning a ll.
Thanks Scott.
And I’m not knocking the players we have or suggesting they are not good enough, just think if they could a lot more in order to get more out of Mesut and stop crowding the penalty area all the time…
Great post Rico, Top notch, just like Mesut….! I think people who don’t recognise what a great player he is are very limited in the their football knowledge shall we say… Yes being polite for a change 😉
Morning you lot….
Hope today is the start of a quick recovery Potter.
Morning Wath, thanks…
You being polite is a bit of a shock… 😉
Booom Mr Wath lol.
Nah, Ozil is just sublime.
Maybe our guys are starting to work out how to play off him.
I hope so.
Morning Rico. The thing is with Ozil that he is high quality, but not very overtly dynamic. He is the oil in the engine and likely to be involved, at some level, in most goals we score. But is he going to run past 3 defenders and hit a 30 yard shot into the top corner?
We live in an age of the obvious, a time where subtlety is neither noticed nor valued. The louder you shout, the more attention you will get. Where verbosity makes the point. The Internet and the footballing blogs illustrate this to perfection. Nuance and understanding are considered of little value and this is reflected thought the arts too.
Proper wingers would be a start.
Another midfielder to do the donkey work as well as Coquelin in certain games and a ruthless striker who could do what Henry/Wrighty did for Dennis…
Morning Adam, just need to google a few of those words… 😉
Does Ozil need to be dynamic though? With him it’s about brain and precision, allowing the pace in the rest of the side to do the rest…
Moi…………….
I am always polite…. 😉
I’ll believe you Wath, thousands wouldn’t… 😉
Good post. I can recall fans moaning about Dennis when he first arrived believe it or not. The Turk’s a great player. For my part, better than Cesc.
Adam, well said.
The obvious is all many fans can handle.
Wath, you’re sweet and innocent….of what, I have no idea lol
Good Morning to The Lady of the House.
A very interesting article Rico. I`ll have to pay a little bit more attention to Mesut for the rest of the season. I think a lot of peoples` opinions of him are influenced by the unremitting bile served up by the likes of Paul `I hate Ozil` Scholes. He certainly seems to take Ozil personally. Maybe he wouldn`t swap shirts with him?
I think we will start to see what Mesut and some of our other players can really do once the team stabilizes and we have everyone fit, excepting Diaby of course.
Thanks Jimmy and welcome to HH.
Ozil over Fabregas for me too, any day of the week. Good to see him struggling over in West London…
Morning Cg – thanks…
That day isn’t far away I don’t think. Tomas is back this weekend, Arteta, Jack, OC and Debuchy aren’t far off from returning either…
Quite right on player movement. Also, Özil’s off the ball movement is always top notch and he’s always available to receive the pass, but is sometimes left stranded. When Ramsey is on the field Özil looks a different player because of Ramsey’s superb movement, for that matter, so does Giroud, and when those three combine they can tear any defence apart.
Rico – I think almost everyone on here, barring the occasional slip of the tongue in a momentary lapse of reason, is polite. Although the humour can be a little savage at times.
Rico, Ginge did say 6 months ago that. Fabregas always does off after Xmas.
He was right.
Even Chelski fans are starting to worry about it.
Rico. That was the point of what I wrote.
Not too savage I hope Cg…
Scott, he did and yes, Ts was spot on….
Adam, you know I struggle with big words… 😉
Welcome Virg – throw Alexis and Santi in there too…
I still would have loved Fab in our team. It would have given the team a new dimension. We are easily predictable
Musa, think we not as predictable as previous seasons but we still predictably “narrow” and don’t use the wings anywhere near enough.
Spot on with the centre being all to congested Rico, spread the game use the width and have the wide men not always want to come inside but that also comes from the fact we don’t have natural wingers..!
Think they do a good job of throwing themselves in there all the time Rico! Two players who seem to lack the proverbial handbrake.
Agree Wath – we have right sided midfielders who want to play central and it shows. If Theo is off this summer, a proper winger is a must surely, if he’s not already.. Same with Welbeck, he might be able to play out wide but as the game goes on, we know where he’ll be…
Top notch post…
Wath gave me a first glance of the post in exchange for some bootleg GG. 😉
Listening to Scholes bag Ozil whilst I have heard him defend Di Maria on Yanited TV etc was laughable… still we are Arsenal we roll with the punches…
Same on the left really…
Virg – they certainly do…
Thanks Ts…
Quite funny re Di Maria – most pundits are giving him the benefit of the doubt yet slate Ozil. Maybe that’s because it’s his first season… lol
Ginge – It will be interesting to see what the Ginger Ponce says about Di Maria if, as rumour has it, he leaves ManUre this summer. I`m sure the direction of the the wind will change very very quickly.
Scholes is like all the former Liverpool players who went on to be colour commentators – extremely biased, opinionated and short sighted.
Good afternoon Lovelies and Hunkies.
Well, what superlative for such a post can I add???? all the good ones have been taken away.
well, not all……..bar ONE…….
I REALLY ENJOYED READING THAT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. 😉
The only thing I can think of which is more mouthwatering is chicken stew with a glass of wine 😛
Thanks Devil – re the post…
Talking of chickens, I’m off to clean my lot’s house out….
Laters..
M’lady, if you want to rest I can clean it out properly for you 😉
lol Cg, the Ginger-Knob quipped a few weeks back that Di Maria would have changed the FA cup game if he had not been sent off…
Good post Rico, and explained very eloquently about Ozil’s strengths along with the observed weakness of not tracking back at times. Tracking back is not part of his game, having the great vision and skills in his locker, to prise open a defence with a deft pass or feint is.
But, as you rightly point out, he has to have certain types of players around him to make the move,
and equally read his game before he makes that pass. Much is made of the many miles that he runs during a game, and not enough of his vision and deft skills.
Wenger knew what he was getting when he paid the £42m for him, he would have been watched over a period of time, and like all signings, its always a bit of a gamble that they will settle and adapt to their new surroundings. I for one, hope that he does really well at Arsenal, and achieves
the success of previous great gifted players that have graced the pitch at Highbury and the Emirates.
Thanks Marinello – I too hope he becomes one of our greats, he’s sure got it in his locker to be so….
How rude of me, afternoon anyone…….
Hi Rico.
Marinello, the media will lead us to believe Ozil was a panic buy but it is well documented and known that Bremen accepted a bid from us for Ozil at the same time RM placed a bid for him. what transpired was apparently,it was left with Mesut to choose who he wanted to join; MO11 was keen on us but his dad preferred RM…
Mustapha (spelling) further managed to get RM to cover the PAYE tax on his salry; we couldn’t match it and so Ozil joined RM.
Hi Ts – where did all that about Mesut come from? I didn’t know that… I must read more.. 😉
salary*
Lol Rico.. if you search hard enough…
Will get a link for you later.
I posted a comment from Thomas Schaaf published by Bild when Ozil joined us talking about the bid…
Dailymail quoting Wenger:
Wenger insists Ozil – set to play at his new home for the first time against Stoke on Sunday – should have no reason to defend himself and can soon take his game to another level.
‘I think he is not at the top physically yet, overall we are very pleased to have him with us, but he will demand a bit of time to adjust to the vigorous body challenges he will face here in the Premier league. Once he has done that, he will be even stronger,’ said Wenger, who had tracked the German international since his time at Werder Bremen.
‘Real Madrid made a choice they had to let one player go. In the end it was Ozil, but I think he chose us for many reasons.
‘One of them was he had the choice to come here before he went to Real Madrid (in 2010), and I had a contact with him from that moment, so maybe it was fate. It was between Madrid and us (then), and this time it was us.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2427881/Arsenal-boss-Arsene-Wenger-reacts-claims-Mesut-Ozil-asked-leave-Real-Madrid-pressure.html#ixzz3UqorY07g
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Can’t find the Schaaf quote from 2010; will check my archives when I get home…
Schaaf was explaining why Ozil was sold so cheaply to RM even though fans expected him to go for a higher fee following Ozil’s display in South Africa, especially against England; Schaaf explained Ozil had 1 year to go on his contract and he had refused to extend etc…
I always believed he was a panic signing Ts, and not an AW one either…
I’m with T’s. I remember Wenger “bidding” for Ozil and losing out to RM. He was a long awaited prize. There was nothing panicky about his purchase, it just appeared so as it was left so late in the TW. A bit like Mertascraper! But wanted by the club who had long admired his silky skills!
Glad we got him……eventually?
I’m glad too Wavy, really glad….
Who can blame you Rico with the absolute rubbish in the media about Özil on he’s abilities and how we bought him.
Not just the media Joe, other stuff too….
Well I might aswell say goodnight for the day as its so quiet here..
So.. Night all….
Good night Rico I myself believe nothing in the media about football unless it’s comfirmed by tsgh. 🙂
Cheeky Joe… 😉
Hazard’s brother is looking very assured playing for w’burg.Gustavo and Josuha have made W’burg midfield very strong. 2nd in Bundesliga and beating Inter
Munchini flopping as ever… lol
Top player in his time but…
Bruyne instead… formlly of chelsea
No English team left in Europe…
Very poor indeed…
How is it cheeky it’s the truth and a compliment 🙂
Wolfsburg’s Goalkeeper looks ok ( very good) what do know of him tsgh.
Not much Joe…
Benaglio (spelling) I think plays for the swiss national team
night joe…
Looks to me like he’s having a good game.
I feel that the one playing position that would move Arsenal to the next level is a world class goalkeeper.
If Chelsea want 20m for Cech we should just give it to them.
So Walcott won’t sign his contract because he wants more than his current £90k pw and Sterling won’t sign the contract offered to him by Liverpool……………hmmm!
Yes please!
Lee, 90k for a guy who plays half a dozen games a seasons is fair,surely lol.
Sell him.
He will never be the footballer he could have been.
Morning all.
Totally agree Scott…..he’s a sprinter in football boots imo.
Morning Lee, Scott and all…
Don’t look up… 😉
Good call of Lee lol.
Hiya Rico.
If it’s true Thei is chasing more money, someone should slap him and ask based on what.
It’s a disgrace….if true.
http://shewore.com/2015/03/20/patrick-vieira-set-for-arsenal-return/?
Good Morning Lovelies and Hunkies.
Merson’s birthday today. let’s hope he stays sober so he can enjoy it. 😉
more than 90K? Someone should check his temperature and blood pressure. I would offer him less.
There is an article on NN whether is it time for a rethink about Theo, Jack and Gibbs.
not sure about it. 3 Englishmen. they should be replaced though. I do not see them more than squad members. You might point out that one of my faves TR07 spent a lot of time injured. Yes he did. but he always has an impact in any game he plays. How many times did Theo or Jack impact a game in which they entered as a sub….or even began????
Gibbs I would keep. Especially as he is a winger by trade. He should be re-instated as a winger and get another LB to complement Nacho, imo.
Morning Devil..
I hope someone at the club isn’t left needing to check their blood pressure re Theo….
Morning Dev, Lady Rico, Scott, Lee et a…
Theo is a leg-end… 😉
New post up now…
Sterling is always in South London btw…. 😉
AW nearly poached him 4 years ago…