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Is Carragher right about Ozil?

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Ozil-muMesut Ozil has come under some heavy criticism since his arrival from Real Madrid last summer.

The German playmaker has not settled at the Emirates as the majority of the Arsenal fans would’ve liked.

However, since joining the Gunners, the 25-year-old has been deployed out wide by Arsene Wenger – a position Ozil is clearly not comfortable in, nor can make an impact.

Ozil shows what he is truly capable of when he plays in the hole behind the striker. He played in this position against Aston Villa and Tottenham last weekend and simply pulled the strings in both games.

But for some strange reason, Wenger opts to play him out wide.

I don’t know why the Frenchman chooses to play our best playmaker out of position and not get the best out of him, but Jamie Carragher believes it’s because Wenger doesn’t trust him to play in the hole against the big sides.

And Carragher believes he must do a lot more to justify his hefty price-tag.

The Sky Sports pundit tweeted after the Chelsea game:

‘Any Ozil apologists who talk about him playing wide remember he played central last season and was poor.’

This sparked a massive debate amongst Arsenal fans, with one Gooner defending the German by saying he must play centrally. To which Carragher replied:

‘Everyone knows he’s better there but last season wasn’t good in there. Obvious Wenger doesn’t trust him central in big games.’

I honestly haven’t got a clue why Wenger deploys him on the wing, but the Frenchman has played many playmakers out of position in the past. He did it with Andrey Arshavin, has done it with Lukas Podolski since the German arrived and is now doing it with Ozil.

What I do know is that he needs to start playing him more centrally and get the best out of him.

Ozil looks a shadow of himself when he was at Real Madrid and it’s a real shame that Wenger is making one of the best creative players in the world look very, very average.

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6 comments

  • a says:

    Forget this scouse prat.

    Ozil is needs 10 good players round him.

    In big games he shouldn’t play unless we have the complete team and a strong dm.

    Carragher is a fool

  • kev says:

    All I will say is that I will never be satisfied by mediocrity. Finishing 4th isn’t really doing anything for me anymore. The FA cup just about saved AW’s bacon. But his mistakes are now beginning to out weigh his results. His records that set the premier league standards are now being broken and surpassed. Yes he gave us the invincibles and two doubles, which were a long time ago now. Just lately he has been setting records every Arsenal fan would rather not have 8-2 to Man Utd and 6-0 to Chelsea. On paper we have a fantastic squad which includes 3 world cup winner’s but you don’t see that on the pitch. Arsenal had pin point accuracy passing we had flow and movement, and above all end product and every forward could bomb forward and rely on the back four to do their job, our stats are getting worse not better Everton out played and out passed us Leicester out passed us. We play like 11 individuals not a team, no cohesion no formation, no plan, no fighting spirit, no belief. I am starting to think if AW does have a plan it could only be “lets hope they don’t score and we do” well in sorry Arsene it isn’t working. The list of our short comings is far to long to list. Is it the players fault? Well its AW’s team its his tactics it’s his plan he brings the players in and he rings the changes. If it was just this season you might say well we are only 7 games but this has been going on season after season, as for making Arteta captain and a contract extension? Beggars’ belief he wouldn’t make captain of Palace or Hull or even QPR. There isn’t any method in AW’s madness, there is only madness. Should have just wrote Wenger out.

  • ebere sam says:

    carragher is a cunt he doesn’t see wilshere performance in our matches he only sees ozil, it wilshere that has been poor throughout he is not better than cazorla ozil or rosicky in d hole he is just a brittish overhyped cunt…..

  • MUHAMMAD says:

    well gentlemen the fans of arsenal we try to understand that Ozil is a player from real madrid to arsenal everyone of us believe that before he was bought the from his former club love him to remain but the management did not allow him to continue, therefore they gunner in need of him but for me ozil really show he’s capability in the field and we fans also show quality about him respect, if someone try to keep ball floor let us credit the person please.

  • lutak says:

    We definitely have a very serious problem at Arsenal. Our Manager, AW, is the problem. Several seasons ago I would never have thought of even thinking like this about AW! Such is the high esteem I held him in. Not any more. He is completely out of touch with the reality that stares him directly in the face. Same worn out system year in, year out. It is really very frustrating I must say. Why he can’t just address the midfield and backline issue remains a mystery to me. You cannot keep faith in players who are just not up to the standard. Arteta for instance, is a relatively good player, but he does not meet the kind of standard that we truly need in the squad. He is miles away from the midfielders of the other big clubs. He’s also just too slow. Compared to the likes of Fabregas, Coutinho, Tiote, the man’s bottom of the bunch. Flamini has slowed down considerably over the years to an extent that he is more of a liability than anything else. It is long overdue for AW to get rid of the deadwood in our team and think about the future or else, he (AW) should pack his bags and leave the club before he covers himself in more shame and embarrassment.

  • lutak says:

    The question begs to be asked,”will AW EVER change his philosophy?”.

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