It’s the 82nd minute of the match between Hertha Berlin and Köln, Matteo Guendouzi picks out an excellent off-shoulder pass to a teammate, who carries into the box, drawing a defender, passes back to Guendouzi who takes a shot. The ball caroms off the post but the commentators are ohhing over what has been quite a performance by the Arsenal loanee.
I’ve watched two Hertha matches with Guendouzi so far this season. In general, he’s much the same player he was at Arsenal: active, good passing range, likes to collect deep and get the game started, petulant, divey, and moans at the referees. But Hertha have played him in two distinct roles which might point to a future development.
The main role he plays (which is backed up by the data) is as a deep-lying connector between the forwards and the defense. He leads Hertha in final third passes but not in touches in the final third; instead he gets some of the fewest touches there among his teammates, almost no passes in the box, and virtually no key passes or expected assists. But he leads Hertha’s midfield in progressive passing and carries. Statistically, he’s the guy who brings the ball to the guy who dominates the final third and creates.
This is similar to the role he was asked to play at Arsenal and the one which suits his abilities. But Hertha has also offered him chances to get forward. He’s not a CM who is camping in the final third, like a 10, or even one who spends a lot of time “arriving in the box”, like Ramsey. Instead, Hertha has him going forward in what looks like a more controlled way: a few minutes at a time, occasionally allowed to park in the box on corners (while other times asked to play last defender), and sometimes allowed to play in a 2nd #10-type role.
I am hesitant to say “box-to-box” because defensively, he’s a mess. He doesn’t pressure, he doesn’t tackle, he doesn’t step in front of passes, and he’s often out of position when the opponent’s attack. I say that knowing that fbref says he’s made 10/10 tackles this season. But that’s just it: 10 tackles in 10 games. He’s almost never in a good defensive position, though when he is, the outcome is often positive.
It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with him in his career. The signs are there that he could be an incredible box-to-box MFer and with 2 goals in the last 6 games and several of the best chances in the game today, Hertha seems to be keen to develop his attacking side.
I watch most Atalanta matches and have done for several years. Italian football provides a foil to English football and helps me broaden my perspective on the game. The biggest takeaway that I have is that I’d be wary of taking any player from Atalanta to Arsenal.
Papu Gomez is a perfect example. On paper, he’s the exact player that Arsenal need: a final third maestro, pulling the strings on a team that looks to attack constantly, which counters well, and which even finds ways to get over the ramparts when teams castle up. His stats are great, most of the players on Atalanta have great data, so again, nothing there should put me off. And when I watch him play, he’s brilliant, passing the so-called eye test easily with silky-smooth touch, incredible vision, and an uncanny ability to keep possession under pressure.
So, why not Arsenal? And why wouldn’t I want Luis Muriel or Duvan Zapata or Josep Ilicic? Well, first off they are all too old but that’s not my real issue. The issue I have is that, aside from Papu Gomez, they seem to be more a product of their system and the league that they play in than anything else. That’s not to say they aren’t special players: it’s more just that I don’t think they would fit in the Premier League and at Arsenal.
Also Ilicic is a special case: I get what he does (mercurial creator) and that he’s injured all the time (2145 minutes the most he’s played in a season since 2014) but even if I set aside his age, injury record, and the system he plays in, he’s just a frustrating player to watch. 79% of the time he’s bad, like turnovers, bad shots, silly mistakes, and so on. But what I think he does well is exploit weaknesses in the Italian game, which don’t exist very often in the Premier League. I would say this: he would be better than Willian. Low bar, I know.
And finally (which I mean both as “this is my last thought” and also as “we are finally released from this earthly burden”), Mesut Özil and Arsenal have reportedly agreed to terminate his absurd contract so he can go to Turkey and play with Fener. I’m excited for the incoming hagiographies and for folks in 6-8 months to let their hair down a bit and finally admit: he was a good player, he was a big reason why Arsenal won three FA Cups, it wasn’t his fault that Arsenal decided to throw £60m at him in salary, and also he was frustrating. Apart from a few great performances it will always feel like he could have done more at Arsenal.
But the relief is real. I’m just happy that this is all over. Now, three years to go on the deals we’ve signed for Willian and Xhaka and four years to go for Pepe.
Ozil and Arsenal parting ways, although not pretty, is the best for all parties.
In terms of the other huge salary signings without proportionate impact on the filed, given that Willian was signed by the current management, I can’t be sure it will be last one. There have been a few low cost ones whose performances have been very questionable like Rúnarsson, could even include Cedric in that list.
The current management has chosen to weaken themselves by about 50 scouts. So, for every Martinelli, I think we are going to have a Rúnarsson for the next few windows, till we sort it out using technology i.e. AI scouts 🙂 😃
If we could get a Martinelli caliber player for every second youth player we sign… wow! The real proportion is more like 1:10, maybe less, I don’t know.
the problem is that martinelli was discovered by an arsenal scout.
I became aware of Ozil at the 2009 U21s European championship. Wish Arsene had signed him then. Enjoyed his performances at the 2010 World Cup. He had plenty of magic moments when Ronaldo was in his pomp.
Remember the mischievous grin from dear Arsene when he nearly told the press he’d signed Ozil? It was a watershed moment for the club. After years of austerity we were spending big and had attracted an all-star.
It took him a further year to really produce, courtesy of Alexis Sanchez. What a wonderful season 2014/15 was. We finished 3rd and it felt like we were close to being contenders (HUGE sigh)…..
A sublime talent but one who chose to follow rather than lead, and chose to stay true to his own convictions of how the game should be played rather than embrace change.
In an alternative universe – in the Summer of 2017 Arsene decided not to be held to ransom and sold Ozil and Alexis. In their place came Mo Salah and Bernardo Silva. Guess what? I’ll save how that panned out for another time.
If we had gotten Silva and Salah at that time, they might never have blossomed the way they did elsewhere. Any attacking player needs a dominant team around them to consistently put them into positions where they can maximize their talents. Conversely, if Nicolas Pepe ended up at Man City, he might be having a very different experience right now.
Quick google search on Papu Gomez: 5’5″ and 32 years of age. Yeah, not an option.
On the other hand, the qualities you described with Guendouzi sound like precisely the sort of thing we are missing right now: Entry passes from center and a midfield ball carrier. Hopefully Partey can provide that for us.
Guendo is still a bit hit or miss. I think the idea was for him to replace Xhaka and that’s for sure what he should do but I feel like he’s not going to get that chance at Arsenal.. All I know is that the Hertha fans/pundits love him.
Another excellent post Tim. My take on Guendouzi’s time for Arsenal is he played with a lot of energy and had great hair which was eye catching but he was never very effective. If at all possible you don’t want a player who is a defensive mess playing in central midfield or you increase your susectiblility to counterattacks. If you do regularly play a defensive mess in central midfield he as to bing some incredible attacking quality that no one else can bring and it compensates for the defensive deficiencies. At least in his time with Arsenal I think Guendouzi scored zero goals and had 1 assist in over 2500 minutes. IMO Potentially leading the team in one statistical catergory is not enough to compensate for the defensive liability or justify taking up one of the 2 or 3 central midfield slots in the regular lineup.
This is about the way I felt relative to Guendouzi. Plus he was terrible in the air. Almost never won headers. Assuming Partey works out, I’m not sure where Guend would fit. He’s not good enough defensively to be the main CDM and he’s not good enough offensively to do the job ESR is doing. As a backup to Partey, maybe.
As far as Ozil goes, if the move happens, seems a good thing for all parties at this point. Unfortunate that it had to end this way. As stated, his signing did have the effect of showing that we could/would try to get top-level players. And he provided a pretty good return and a fair number of highlights before the new contract. That’s what really seems to have bollixed things. I wonder if it had been for a little less if the outcome would have been different.
My take was he had great hair and promise but Maupay and Arteta ruined his Gunners stint! In with Rainieri, out with Mikel Arteta!👊
I know there are lots of conspiracy theories out there regarding what happened to Mesut Ozil. I obviously do not have any inside info however, if you start with the premise that the manager and the clubs leadership both want to put the best possible team on the pitch and give the team its best chance to win then the conspiracy theories seem unlikely. My own belief is Arteta watched thousands of hours of film and spent countless hours on conference calls with his assistant coaches during the Covid break and he and the staff came to the conclusion that Ozil’s defensive liabilities and potential for the team to concede more goals outweighed whatever ability Mesut had to improve the teams chances of scoring more goals. That sort of math is the single biggest reason Guendouzi lost his playing time.IMO.
I the end none of that really matters now that its hopefully all over. Thanks to Mesut for some really good times and great football. He certainly deserves as much credit as any player for 3 FA cups and helping to continue of run of top 4 finishes. The day we signed him was one of the more exciting days in the last decade of Arsenal football and I hope he can revive his career in Turkey.
I’m excited for the incoming hagiographies and for folks in 6-8 months to let their hair down a bit and finally admit: he was a good player, he was a big reason why Arsenal won three FA Cups, it wasn’t his fault that Arsenal decided to throw £60m at him in salary, and also he was frustrating. Apart from a few great performances it will always feel like he could have done more at Arsenal.
Fair assessment.
Thing about Ozil is that you often get black and white, so fair do to you, Tim. Tim Stillman had a twitter poll, asking along the lines of whether the Ozil transfer was a net positive or net negative. He seemed surprised that a big majority of respondents said net positive.
Someone will write a book and it’ll all come out, but there are things that we can assess for ourselves. Anyone who thinks that Ozil going from starting every game under Arteta up to March to be frozen out of all matchday and competition-registered squads since June is all football related, should check their brains at the door. No I dont believe that Ozil got so bad in 3 months, that he wasn’t even worth a place on the bench for the Community Shield. I dont believe that, and neither should you, because if you hang out here, the most thoughtful blog on Arsenal FC, you have a good, functional brain.
On his end-of-contract manoeuvering, Ozil played Arsenal negotiators like a fiddle. There was a lot of background noise around Arsenal losing its best players, and he used that and his leverage to the max, to get his eye-watering pay packet. But his very success on that front was his eventual downfall. Of late, the club has barely hidden the fact that the size of his pay packet was a problem. He also, very publicly, rejected the board request to all the players for a pay cut.
Turkey, Fener in particular, is a natural home for a Turkish German who is revered in his ancestral homeland. I wish him well, and hope that fans (when they come back) and the club hierarchy both show him some love. He was a player I both liked and criticised; criticised when I did, his defensive effort. So therefore my enduring memory — the single thing I best remember him for — isn’t some delicious pass, or demonstration of his incredible technique, or vision. It is of him, in late May 2017, flattening Eden Hazard in a sliding tackle in the FA Cup final. Arsenal showed exceptional commitment on the day, hounding Chelsea to death. And Mesut did his fair share of hounding. You didn’t see that often.
Oh, fun fact. The first of the 3 FA Cup wins to which Ozil contributed significantly, was with Arteta as captain. Even as a non-playing sub in a squad of 18, it should have been four.
For me Claude the biggest frustration regarding Ozil isn’t his strengths and weaknesses, it’s that we didn’t build a team around him to win the league.
What we should have done back in Summer 2015 was buy a striker (either Suarez or Aubameyang) and Kante. Those two additions – and we win the league.
“Turkey, Fener in particular, is a natural home for a Turkish German who is revered in his ancestral homeland.”
Not just in Turkey Claude.
The indoor soccer joint I play has all kinds of nationalities – this being Chicago – and out of a group of 12- 15 Turks during their weekly pick up sessions half are regularly wearing Ozil RM and Arsenal jerseys, and none are RM or Arsenal supporters.
That’s why I predicted he’d end up playing in Turkey some time ago and even got a bit of stick from Tim for mentioning Erdogan as one of the many reasons.
Let’s just say no one’s gonna fu#k with Ozil or try to jack his ride there unless they have a death wish lol.
I’m pretty much in total agreement with your entire take there Claude, but let me just add that Man City David Silva’s ( a better all around player) new bumper deal went from £135kpw to £220kpw after his and Ozil performance numbers being virtually identical in the context of goals and assists for the 2014-18 period ,which was just before the Ozil’s new deal that saw his wages go from £140 to £350 kpw.
It’s safe to say Ozil’s agent got an extra £120 kpw out of Arsenal due to the club’s face saving attempts due to the circumstances of the Sanchez fiasco.
It’s safe to say Ozil’s agent got an extra £120 kpw out of Arsenal due to the club’s face saving attempts due to the circumstances of the Sanchez fiasco
Good call. In those negotiations he played his hand and the situation really, really smartly. In hindsight, the club should have sold him and everyone else with +1 years on their contracts. Im going to argue that Josh and co never really forgave him for pulling down their pants like that.
On Fenerbahce, being able to say that “the strongman president (Erdogan) is my buddy” is quite the brag, but it happens to be true. I’d love to see the details of his contract. It will probably have more tie-ins and benefits and less straight-up salary cash than his Arsenal one. He’s Muslim, is a pinup in the entire Muslim world, has one of the biggest social media followings among sportsmen (9th out of 10, just ahead of 2021 Michael Jordan; Cristiano is top of the pile), and has been creating a commercial brand MÖ10. Turkey is the perfect place and circumstance to hatch the details of his retirement.
He’ll probably have the last laugh too. He will likely be playing Champions League football next season… Arteta’s Arsenal won’t. The Champions League final in May is in Istanbul. I wont bet against the Turkish state and UEFA offering him a prominent, non-playing role in the ceremonial proceedings.
It is a step-down in league strength. The squad right now is unexceptional, but theyre second in the table, level on points with Besiktas. Their marketing people are going to milk Ozil’s arrival, and their Dick lawyer people are going to recruit heavily. It would not surprise me if their much lauded son of the diaspora gets unprecedented player power, and the ability to suggest players that he’d like to play with. What are the odds on Kolasinac eventually joining him at Fener?
So all this is what he has to play with, him and Fener. The cautionary tale is that when he signed his bumper contract in London and got the shirt he coveted from Jack Wilshere, the field then also looked rosy.
“even got a bit of stick from Tim for mentioning Erdogan as one of the many reasons.”
You’re saying he’s going to Turkey … because he loves Erdogan?
And I gave you “stick”? In what way?
And what here is proving your point?
No, I said he’s going to Turkey because the country as a whole loves him and Ozil thrives on adulation and positive vibe.
I said having Erdogan’s support would hardly be a negative and I got some blowback on that front from you for whatever reason.
lol, just searched back through the comments. You’re really misremembering that conversation. I was peeved that you took Kroenke’s side against Ozil and “had a go at you” on that basis. For the record, I will never take the billionaire’s side in any argument.
The Erdogan thing was speculation on my part that he would much rather live in a northern European country than in Turkey: which I was basing off the fact that he’d been attacked in the UK and seemed to have developed quite a fearful attitude.
I guess I was wrong about that!
An extremely good business decision on Mesut’s part. Is it a lazy stereotype, but do Turks drink quite a bit of coffee? Perfect for one of his “39 Steps Coffee Haus”.
“There are 39 steps from bean on the bush to the cup in your hand and we guide every one – we source only the best beans, grind fresh for each cup and brew with artisan precision. This is coffee by obsessives, for obsessives – life’s too short for anything less.”
I bet his Istanbul fan boys can’t wait.
Now there was I thinking that “The 39 Steps” was a Hitchcock film from the 1930s.
All he needs is a 39 squad number and he is ready to go!
Great that he has spent his downtime building up a business empire. I can quite see why Burnley away on a wet Monday night might not have much of an appeal.
Let’s say he ends up with the number 10 shirt. No problem, he’s covered that base as well.
Welcome to “M10 Esports”!
M10 ESPORTS The Professional eSports Team by Mesut Özil.
“Out of his own passion for gaming and esports, Mesut decided to give young and dedicated players a home where they could evolve to be the next esport stars from tomorrow. While supporting high class players and teams, Mesut wants to give players the opportunity to learn from his experience as one of the biggest professional football athletes in the world. He wants to share his values and inspirations which got him where he is today.”
Inspiring stuff! There is an online shop where you can buy a baseball cap and other merchandise for 40 bucks.
Want some jewellery for the lady supporter?
Try the “Glamira Finest Selection”.
“Knowing of the high standards of Glamira, Mesut Ozil, world famous footballer of the German National Team made his choice and chose the finest adornments for you to enjoy as well. Dive into the world of unfailing style and innovative quality with Ozil’s choice!”
Mesut has 25,749,519 followers online. That’s right 25 million! That’s roughly the same as the entire population of Australia. Just imagine all those game playing, coffee drinkers buying necklaces for their girlfriends.
Sheffield United (A)?
“Sorry, I’ve got a bad back carrying my wallet around. Here’s the sick note from my mum.”
mark, that’s the tackiest thing you’ve ever said.
Maybe, but it is funny. I am glad someone is taking a piss out of this!
It never fails to amaze me how so many people can take that guy seriously. He laughs all the way to the bank. Those “mission statements” are real. Look them up on the web.
I know. The thing is, these are “facts”, not “opinions”. The words come out of Mesut’s mouth, not mine. Football is a tacky old business, don’t you think?
Claude..
I believe the decision to stop using Ozil on a regular basis was completely a football decision. Ozil was never going to be in the long term plan but once that decision was made that Ozil was not a regular part of the short term plan either, I suspect there was some “pissing contests” and behind the scenes posturing from both sides and I agree that completely dropping him from the registered roster seems like over kill. I suspect that decision was mainly motivated by the desire to try to convince Mesut that his best option was to agree to leave as soon as we could find someone willing to take him.
“I suspect that decision was mainly motivated by the desire to try to convince Mesut that his best option was to agree to leave as soon as we could find someone willing to take him.”
I agree with this however, I don’t want to speak for anyone else here but benching a guy to force him out isn’t what I would call “football reasons.”
Dropping a guy for football reasons means that he’s not performing at the level required and there’s no evidence that’s what happened with Ozil. Ozil’s numbers look OK and the team was doing well with him playing.
Arteta had to change his system entirely – playing truly bad attacking football and hurting results – in order to drop Ozil. It’s a system which he reverted back to once ESR was healthy.
He didn’t drop Ozil for football reasons.
I believe the decision to stop using Ozil on a regular basis was completely a football decision
“on a regular basis” is doing a lot of work there, Bill 🙂
And do you realise how often you say “I suspect” by way of conjecture? A lot. Nearly every comment.
Nearly everything we say on this blog is conjecture and a matter of our own opinions. Anyone who suggests they know anything with certainty is probably misguided. The whole point of a comment section in a blog is debate our opinions. No?
Hey Bill, fair points. And Im not having a go at you… every argument here (including mine) is contestable.
We didn’t “stop using Ozil on a regular basis“, something you know full well.
So why do you understate the club’s action? Because it is easier to argue that it is “completely a footballing decision”. Im not being a linguistic hall monitor. Im just making a pretty important distinction between a player falling out of favour (as Willian did last game), and the club’s totalmente treatment of its Number 10 three months after playing him for 10 games on the trot. The reason that it is clearly NOT a footballing decision, is that the club’s treatment of the player went far beyond “losing his spot”, an argument you make below.
A machete is not meant to inflict a little nick.
I do think that you state boldly something you want to be true, and ignore all statistical and other evidence. And (this is a quality I admire), youre pretty relentless 🙂
Be well, bro. And let’s see if the great Tom Brady has another comeback in him (if youre watching).
just watched koscielny play against saliba…ugh. saliba is at a not so nice team, pun intended. nice are awful! they have NO players…a bunch of young guys with no leadership trying to figure it out. morgan schneiderlin is there but ugh! their team defending is completely random with a midfield that provides no protection. it’s amazing that vieira got that team into europe last year. i’m almost thinking it’s better for saliba to return from his loan to prevent him becoming contaminated. i’m wiling to bet my house that he won’t improve playing there…and their owner is a clown!
we have to remember guendouzi was only 19 when he got to arsenal. he was a great signing by emery, at £7 million. however, i don’t agree with the idea that he was brought in to replace xhaka. i feel he was brought in to replace ramsey. in fact, he did replace ramsey. i would be cautious about dismissing this kid, especially when he’s so young. i like the fact that he got in neal maupay’s face, standing up for his team mate.
you have to understand the nature of some people may be different from yours and be okay with that. if guendouzi didn’t have that fire, he wouldn’t be special. i heard vieira say the same thing about a young wayne rooney…that his cutting edge is what made him great. guendouzi will learn emotional balance in time. we ALL did stupid things when we were young. i’m sure if we were rich back then, like matteo, we would have done some even stupider things. he did the baby goal celebration the other day. that’s gonna change his life in a major way. arsenal would be foolish to sell this kid right now.
claude, i agree with you that mesut simply wasn’t a punk when arsenal asked the team to take a pay cut. the hierarchy didn’t deal with that well; josh kronke is a boss, running his dad’s company. he’s never had to learn how to manage people. in short, i guess i’m saying that both guendouzi and ozil are gifted players who were poorly dealt with by inexperienced managers.
Agreed on Ramsey, I was going to say the same, except that Guendo wasn’t bought to replace anyone, he was always one for the future.
I don’t dismiss Guendouzi’s talent but on current trajectory he will likely fail to reach his potential and have an up and down career, unless he finds the right manager who he will listen to. He needs coaching and I’m not sure he’s ready to be coached.
yeah, i agree that he was one for the future but, at £7 million, he was meant for the first team, not the academy. my post was a reply to someone higher up the thread who mentioned he was intended to replace xhaka.
He is, indeed. Wonderful analysis. Even I, as an author, did some stupid things. And I’m only 12.
Anyways, on he and his wife’s new arrival, why don’t we think of some baby names?
Actually, I still don’t get why Guen was frozen from the team? Was it related to him standing up to Maupay? I thought the manager should have quietly patted him on the back for sticking up for Leno. Maybe publicly Arteta could make all the PR talk. But that action for me was more valuable than what Xhaka did. So I assume there were other issues brewing between Arteta and Guen. Maybe he was too hot headed with Arteta. But ultimately, Arteta will need to learn to manage big egos if he wishes to get the best out of his squad. He can just make a call to Wenger and ask him for advice. Wenger had Adams, Viera, Henry, Bergkamp, Petite, Anelka, Adebayour over the years and kept the cutting edge in the squad. I hope Arteta also learns from this episode.
You can have a big ego if you’re good enough.
Guendouzi is a prime example of a raw talent who needs to be coached, and if he’s not going to listen then IMO he’s a waste of time.
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away”
Maya Angelou had a point to me with that quote and coming from a place where you have been and have seen struggle on a daily basis, I have learned that most people without have a different view of value.
When I was a kid at school, I used to sell bunny chows, biscuits and chips (plus other undesirable things that I am not proud of). I did this to make enough money to travel to and from school. The remaining money that I had, I saved. When other kids where eating sweets and stuff during break at school, I was selling what I had. I never really ended up saving too much, but I was able to afford one day of spoiling myself in a year. That day was a match day which I also took advantage of by buying 10 extra tickets and selling them for extortionate prices at the stadium, which I sadly did at the World Cup in 2010 as well. The World cup tickets paid for all of my outstanding University fees so good right? Kind of? Whatever.
I knew I would make serious money because everyone I knew wanted to be at that game, and it was around for only two seasons. During the 02/03 season, the local side had won promotion to the Premier Soccer league, which meant big time football in our area for the 03/04 season, but the team was sold three seasons later. So only three games and these games were when Kaizer Chiefs FC (like Juventus in Italy) would come around.
The team is huge in South Africa and I grew up an Orlando Pirates supporter, the arch rivals of Kaizer Chiefs. But I can assure you that I didn’t go to a single game by Orlando Pirates in that time. I went to the Kaizer chiefs games because they had a certain player that made me and countless others love the game. He was the late Emmanuel Asanda “The Black Jesus” Ngobese, but mostly known as “Scara”. He wore the number 11 and was tall, thin, left footed, skilful, elegant and played at his own pace (sound familiar?).
I remember the second time I went to the game and the teams were coming out to warm up. The local side was cheered loudly, but a weird thing happened when the Kaizer Chiefs team came out to warm up. The rest of the team came out first, without Scara. There was a moment of silence as fans perused the group of players about to warm up. I looked up at some chiefs fans and asked them why they were silent, and one old man looked down at me and calmly said “Kaizer Chiefs hasn’t come out to warm up yet”. I was confused and thought this old man must have dementia, but it was the entire stadium that was silent, and then boos rang down from the terraces. People started swearing and throwing missiles. The stadium was more of an athletics type stadium, and nobody was hit by anything, but the anger was there for all to see.
This went on for about 2 to 3 minutes, which is long around angry people, but it suddenly stopped. There was a short silence, followed by a loud cheer which was accompanied by music. I looked at the pitch and Scara had finally made it out to warm up. The old man looked at me once more and then said “Kaizer Chiefs has now arrived”.
The game itself was a dire goalless draw, but I learned a lot about myself that night. The result was shit, but I was happy, just like everyone. Not because Chiefs dropped points, Not because it was the first day that I tasted McDonalds food (Told you I was spoiling myself, lol), not because I took a private taxi (Mercedes Benz C180K) to the game (again spoiling myself). That day, as the fans smiled throughout the 90 minutes in anticipation for Scara to do the basics of football in his elegant way, told me who I am and it’s that experience which led me to Arsenal. What I learned was something Arsene had said a few months prior to that, on the 6th of February 2004, in an interview. Arsene said “My job is to give people who work hard all week something to enjoy on Saturdays and Wednesdays.” That is what football has been for me ever since that day. Something that brings joy, not in the results, but how you go about trying to attain those results.
Scara made a draw bearable with a few moments and touches in a game. These may not have led to a goal, but he played in such a way that walking and jogging the 30kms to school on occasions in the following months was worth it. During the 03/04 and 04/05 season, he was mesmerising. He was a calm, slow, left footed Ronaldinho. He never really dominated games, but what he did was keep the team ticking in attack. He would drop and increase the tempo of games in a team that had high tempo players. He was an amazing passer and crossed very well. He would seem in trouble one moment and be breaking away the next. He had a handful of incredible performances over those two seasons, but his influence went beyond goals and assists (Sound familiar?). He was key in winning those two titles and some other trophies. He even took the time completely bamboozle Scholes and Man United’s midfield when they came around for pre-season. Nutmegging Scholes and just embarrassing him all game until Scholes started kicking him. He ended the 04/05 season in a similar way to how Ljungberg ended the 01/02 Arsenal title winning campaign.
At the start of the 05/06 season the coach, Ted Dumitru, who led them to all that success and played a huge role in Scara’s performances left for Europe. In came German coach Ernst Middendorp arrived at Chiefs and immediately spoke about making the team more solid, energetic and aggressive (Sound familiar?). I knew little about tactics and football in general compared to now, so I didn’t know what to expect. But as the season began, Scara was out of the picture. People asked why and Middendorp alleged that Scara was confusing professional soccer for street football and the team wouldn’t win anything with a player like that in the side. The media went on a crusade to teach everyone about where football was going and how such players do not contribute anything to modern football (Sound familiar?). Divisions started to rise about how one side supported backwards football and how the future had no place for such players. It even became a class thing where the urban crowed was on one side whilst the township and rural fans were on the other. Debates still go on even now. Even if Scara’s trophy cabinet says he can win, debates about the future didn’t care. In the end, Scara was frozen out of the team (Sound familiar?).
As the seasons wore on though, questions started coming up about how Chiefs couldn’t dictate the tempo of games anymore, used counter attacks a lot more, conceded more shots/goals, scored less and drops points (Sound familiar?). But most importantly, they were not winning trophies or hearts anymore.
Scara’s story ended sadly because when he finally got his move away, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and would later pass away from it in May 2010. A month away from the 2010 World Cup on home soil. An event he should’ve and would’ve partaking in if it weren’t for his sudden ailment, forced retirement and untimely death.
Years later he is remembered fondly for his 2 seasons at Chiefs. He broke no records, he didn’t win anything single handed and he didn’t fight. He was just a talented young man who went out and put on a show. So simple in everything that he did, he seemed to be playing a different game to everyone else. We learned to just enjoy everything that he does instead of relying on him. He was our equivalent to Mané Garrincha, he was also the joy of the people.
There are only a handful of players that I will forever love and adore because of how much joy they gave to people who just wanted to leave their worries at the door and enjoy football. Players who get you to go “Oooohhh”, “Aaaahhhh” and “Oh my goodness, I can’t believe what I just saw”. Players who get you to scream loudly and lift up your kids while celebrating the siplest of things, and seeing their happy faces that are also trying to hide the fact that they have no idea what you are happy about, but they just love seeing their father happy.
The Portuguese Rui Costa, the Argentinian Juan Román Riquelme, the Egyptian Mohamed Aboutrika, the Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha (Iwobi’s uncle), the French man Zinedine Zidane, the Brazilian Ronaldinho and lastly, our very own German #10, Mesut Ozil.
Thanks for the memories and good luck at Fenerbahçe.
Great story.
Did Scara have a fans’ song?
(at Arsenal, Ozil and Freddie had two of the better ones, and Vieira, my favourite gunner of all time, a truly terrible one)
Vuvuzelas would never allow any song to be heard.
But there are songs which have been made about him since then.
I believe that Arteta and our front office have enough understanding of football to know if a player like Ozil can really make a difference for the team and I also believe their first priority is giving the football team its best possible chance to win as many games as possible. They have a large staff of assistant coaches and they watch the team every day in training and watched thousands of hours of film so it makes sense to believe they are in better position then we are to know if Ozil could have been have been a difference making player and they would have found a way to get around the other issues and used Ozil if they believed that using he could have improved the teams chances of winning. From that standpoint the bottom line is dropping Ozil was a football decision. IMO
Once that football decision is made to no longer give him regular minutes then all of the other factors start to take center stage. I am reasonably certain there were plenty of double barrel middle finger salutes from both sides of the fence and there were plenty of annoying tweets. Once that starts to happen, finding a way to move a player who is a sideshow, a major media focus and overall distraction and whose wages are a significant financial impediment become more important.
I believe the reason Ozil lost his spot is he stopped producing. He had hardly any assists or goals after he signed the big contract. Just like we talked about with Xhaka the other day, the advanced stats can often be misleading in terms of how much positive influence a player really brings to the team. The thing you really want from a player with Ozil’s skill set is to make the final passes that lead directly to goals being scored and scoring occasional goals himself and he basically stopped doing that. Both Emery and Arteta came to the same conclusion probably for the exact same reason. Even at his best most would agree that Ozil is defensive liability and if he is not contributing what we need on the attacking end then why would a manager use him?
Not sure what/who you read to form your opinions but this is a nice and simple piece with some Ozil stats
At his best he was The Best in the league. Maybe because he achieved those standards you find it difficult to accept that he couldn’t maintain those standards indefinitely? No doubt his standards diminished but even so they were still much better than 90% of his colleagues.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12182473/mesut-ozil-transfer-arsenal-midfielder-leaves-complex-legacy-after-years-of-ups-and-downs
Matt.
The article basically says the same thing I have been saying. Mesut was a great player with his best time at the club in the first 1/2 of the 15/16 season. However his production began to fade after that and goals and assists almost completely stopped after he signed the new contract 3 years ago. IMO None of the off field stuff would have mattered and he never would have lost his place in the lineup if he had continued to produce assists and occasional goals
Ozil was a great player in his prime and arguably one of the best creative midfielders of the previous decade. He was always be remembered for his incredible technical skill and panache. He deserves as much credit as any Arsenal player for the FA cups and helping the Arsene lead teams to maintain the top 4 streak. I hope he can finish his career in a positive way in Turkey.
If you just take the headline yes it does.
But what it also does is talk about chance creation (not just goals and assists). Ozil’s lowest rating is still good enough for just about every manager to bite his hand off.
Additionally the article makes two points I don’t recall you ever making. That Ozil’s drive and motivation was affected after the saga of the 2018 WC German campaign. And that after Wenger left, subsequent managers have chosen to play either without a traditional 10 or focus on chance creation via the wings and a greater emphasis on defensive formations when we lose the ball. I think most commentators would agree that since 2018 Arsenal managers have not made the most of Ozil’s skillset.
I know it’s been mentioned numerous times here but the joy of this discussion group is sharing insights. Saying an elite sportsperson got older and therefore wasn’t as productive as they were in their peak.., well let’s be frank, it doesn’t need saying.
Bill, who’s arguing that 2021 Ozil is as good as 2016 Ozil? Nobody. It isn’t really the point.
Willian 2021 isnt Willian 2016. But if another coach comes in and and gives him the totalmente treatment (which IS the point at issue regarding the club’s treatment of the player) I’d object just as strenuously.
In fact — and let’s stay on Willian — Arteta’s whole handling of the Chelsea reject makes a mockery of footballing decision claims. You know those career downslopes that you like to quote? If you look at Arsenal games, Willian is further down than Mesut Ozil the last time we saw Ozil play. Ive never seen Ozil, in his worst game under Arteta, look as if he was running in treacle. Backwards.
To me the past two years/seasons tell us us little about Mesut’s current level. In that time the player went through.
(1) a total blanking by Emery (who brought him back only to save his job)
(2) a total blanking by Arteta, which a reasonable read of the facts and the coach own shifting, vague and muddled explanations can lead one to conclude that it was a decision made above his pay grade
Those are 2 totally disruptive episodes. We will only know Ozil’s current level when he suits up for his new club in meaningful competition (Europe), and that is half a year away. You cannot give road test results of a car that has been parked for ages. That said, such long inactivity on a professional athlete is not a good thing.
an aside, i’ve heard a lot of people complain about dani ceballos. i’ve assessed his play, thinking i’ll see what so many others have that i simply missed. sorry, folks, but i still don’t see it. i like ceballos a lot and i hope arsenal can sign him for < £20 million.
sure, he needs to add a sandwich to his daily diet but he’s intelligent, hard-working, and plays within himself. i could care less about how many goals/assists he gets. he contributes positively to arsenal’s overall play. at his best, he’s a mighty fine footballer.
Question for you Josh. What is Dani? He’s not great on defence, he’s not a box-to-box transition guy, his chance creation, assist and goals metrics are appalling for a RM guy. What does he bring aside from he’s tidy technically?
He’s actually Arsenal’s most progressive MFer. He gets the ball forward a lot through a combination of passing and carrying. I’d like to see him play with Partey but Arteta keeps picking Xhaka.
That said, the big problem is that he’s an atrocious defender and kind of exceptionally slow defensively as well. He had a great game defensively against WBA but that was mostly down to the fact that the pitch was insanely waterlogged and West Brom suck. But in that game, he also progressed the ball 705 total yards, which is just nutso. Shows what he can do against Championship level opponents.
He’s not even remotely at the level that we need in a MFer but when you see him against the backdrop of Xhaka and some of the duds we have it’s easy to see why he’s so highly rated by some folks.
For 20m I’d take Buendia, who does everything that Ceballos does plus scores and assists.
I hope that we make that deal this summer.
Seems like a confidence player but also one with a chip on his shoulder. I like the latter quite a bit about him. For a player with such little natural athleticism and size, he’s not easy to dispossess and he can fight like crazy. It’s just that his technique and feel for the game is not so good as to supersede his physical limitations, at least not at this level. That’s why he’s not wanted at Madrid, the club that knows him best. He’s going to have a nice career somewhere, just not with them or with us.
That pass from Thomas to Auba for 1-0 !!! One or two more like him please
Athleticism and incision through the middle.
I’d add awareness too Doc. Good football brain
…buendia for 20 million? that’s cute.
Not to get too counterfactual again but wouldn’t Dani Ceballos look outstanding playing for Norwich in the championship? Conversely I’m not so sure Buendia would be so productive for Arsenal. Just a thought.
Buendia looked great playing in the Premier League last season, just FYI. He was one of the top shot creators.
Of course, so was Willian but Buendia is kicking on and he’s 24 so, he’s just coming into his potential.
That was the price they quoted this summer.
“Progressing the ball”? As football stats go, I’m not sure that tells you a lot.
Rugby? Yes. NFL? Yes. Football? No.
Here’s a stat for you.
“Emile Smith Rowe has assisted three of Bukayo Saka’s Premier League goals – they are the first English duo to combine for as many as three Premier League goals before either player has turned the age of 21.“
I much prefer this one.
Well, it’s one that I’m a bit jaundiced on. For example, Xhaka made 500yrds progressive passing yesterday. But when I watched the game, he was diabolical. He’s just so slow moving the ball that even if he’s finding people in front of him, they aren’t in good positions and typically have to pass the ball back. Also, a lot of progressive passing for him is actually sideways but slightly forward.
I think what they are trying to do is make forward passing more meaningful.
A journeyman footballer, Josh. Flatters to deceive. A poor athlete, who wants too many touches. Zero goals. Zero assists (?) Partey’s arrival means he’s now 4th choice at best, that’s always assuming Arsenal don’t pick up someone in the transfer window. Was he even on the bench last night? I assume he is not injured. He’ll go back to Madrid at the end of the season. I’d be surprised if he makes it there either.
Apart from anything else, he picks fights with his own team mates! I watched that little altercation he had with Nketiah in the warm up before the Fulham match. He literally just ran over to him and kicked him during the keep ball exercise. I have watched Arsenal for a good many years, but have never seen anything like that. Ever. I couldn’t believe my own eyes.The PR machine went into overdrive and smoothed thing over, but what does that tell you about his temperament?
Nice ingredients on show today and an enjoyable second half of football. That’s more like it. I came away most impressed with…. Bukayo Saka! I love the way the ball sticks to him, the way he competes, the way it looks like he’s been in the team forever when he covers for his teammates or shows for the ball. He’s 19. It’s incredible.
Smith-Rowe had a solid all around game and stole poor Covid stricken Lascelle’s lunch money on that second goal. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a PL defender turned inside out like that. The pass after that was the best part though. Pure caviar.
Thomas, Xhaka, Luiz and Holding shut this top flight team down to zero chances. It was a team effort of course, but those four guys were the bedrock. Sure, it’s just Newcastle, but I’ve seldom seen a top flight team create less than they did today. Set plays, transitions, duels, they came out on top for all of it. I particularly enjoyed Holding winning the tackle cleanly in the penalty box after being isolated in space against Callum Wilson.
PS, it was adorable that Steve Bruce tried to fix their goal drought by starting more strikers.
“Smith-Rowe had a solid alround game”. I think you’re understating things, my good doctor.
Bukayo Saka is an outstanding football player. Intelligent, technically sound, great stamina, sees the whole game, makes the right play/pass or move nearly always. We are lucky to have him.
19 He is 19. ESR is 20. Hard to believe. We are finally getting a squad that’s the right age for our club. Now we have to be smart about our next few sales and purchases.
Seemed like (maybe it was just me) everyone felt a big sigh of relief that the Ozil saga was over and we can move on as a club.
The thing about both of them is that they know what they are going to do with the ball even before they actually receive it. Crucial. Shades of Dennis and Pires. Compare and contrast Pepe!
On Sky TV, they did a slo mo of ESR running with the ball. He was basically sprinting, but at the crucial moment, he looked up sideways to weigh up his options, without breaking stride. Didn’t just hoof it across the box, which is what normally happens with Arsenal, but instead picked out Saka with an inch perfect pass. Exceptional from a kid in only his 6th game. The only bad news is that almost every top club in Europe will have watched that. It was the same when Liam Brady broke into the side in the 1970s. Ended up at Juventus.
They interviewed him after the game.
Question: any player who has helped you? “Lacazatte playing up top, he has helped me so much on and off the pitch, he gives me so much confidence. He talks to me so much.”
Surprised me a bit, but there you are. A partnership made in heaven.
Laca has gotten so much flak over the last year or so and I’ve never thought it was fair. He works really hard, even tracking back to our box to help build up back in the pre-ESR dark ages. Laca likes interplay and quick ball movement. He’s been a trooper, even when we signed a striker right after signing him. He’s got plenty of limitations, but he’s been a big part of ESR’s emergence and I’m glad he’s getting a bit more credit.
That was encouraging. Auba scoring twice. We are a much more dangerous team if he gets back on track. A run into the top 6 or 7 in the league is not out of the question and given the strong team defense a deep run in the FA cup and Europa league also possible if Auba has rediscovered his shooting boots.
Another clean sheet. The defense went thru a 5 game run of bad form where we struggled with mistakes and red cards. That can happen to any team. I know the higher level stats do not always look the way we like but the thing that directly impacts results is the number of goals you concede and we have done an excellent job of preventing the opposition from scoring since Arteta arrived.