Sunday’s during an interlude eh, the sweet sound of nothingness, which is just what you need when you’re an Arsenal fan right now.
except there isn’t quite nothingness, there’s the old chestnut of ‘footballer saying things on international duty’ and this time it’s the turn of Mesut Ozil, who has had his say on former players and ‘legends’ laying in to him.
He’s talked about people needing to get behind the team, he’s thanked the fans for his support, he’s talked about winning the FA Cup three times and also about his future. well, sort of. He doesn’t really say anything other than he doesn’t know where his future lies and how he’s looking forward to the new season.
Now, if you read my usual comments about Mesut you know that I actually love him as a footballer. His vision, passing range, the way he glides across the pitch, I find him a joy to watch at times. There are of course other times when…well…not so much, but I try to push those to the back of my mind because I know we have a very gifted footballer playing for us. I’ll also park the fact that we could see even more from him if Arsene built the team around him since he signed and bought players to compliment Ozil, as opposed to the signings the manager has made since the German’s arrival.
But to me I read this latest instagram post and all I could think of was not the man himself, but his PR team frantically bashing away at their Macbook’s on a Friday evening in prep for a Saturday prime time release. I’m half surprised we didn’t see “Under embargo until 00:01 Saturday 2nd September” accidentally added to this latest press release.
Because that’s what this is. This is a bit of PR fluff designed to have people saying “Yeah, Mesut’s right, we love him, he loves Arsenal, he’s great”. I think he is great, but I’m not a fool, and I know he and his ‘people’ are also playing us like a fiddle. We are being wound around his little finger with consummate ease and at a time where everyone is chewing fingernails over Alexis, Mesut is happily going to slide his way through this season and out of Arsenal next summer.
Let’s not forget he was he who was our club record signing. Let’s not forget it was he who was supposed to herald change. Let’s also not forget that whilst on tour in China in the summer it was he who said that when he and the club officials are back in England everyone would sit down and sort out a deal. That was, what, six weeks ago that everyone arrived back. Yet nothing? It’s almost as if he has no intention of signing a new deal, but is just saying all of the right things so there isn’t a fan revolt against him. It’s almost as if he has a half decent PR team who are earning their crust and not shooting the players image into a ball of flames with the fans like Robin van Persie’s ‘team’ did.
Make no bones about it, RvP was a prick, who’s statement was a horrendous attempt at currying favour with fans as he searches for an exit. But what he did, what Ox, Nasri, even Flamini the first time, is to play us because he wants out. Ozil doesn’t “love” Arsenal. If he did the deal would have been done as easy as a Tony Adams meeting with the board with a “where do I sign?” question on it. He may say he does, but he doesn’t, and anybody who doesn’t see through this latest PR guff is fooling themselves.
We have the pleasure of Mesut’s company for this season and then he rides off in to the sunset for one last mega pay deal.
And if that’s the case then fine, we’ve all got to accept it, but I certainly won’t be swooning over this latest attempt ate a rally cry. Perhaps I’m just getting too old and too cantankerous when it comes to football.
Having said that, I do hope he has a blinder of a season with us, one in which he can improve on last season and get back to being the assist master he was before last season, perhaps even with the added benefit of goalscoring like he did in 2016/17. That would be a fitting way for him to say “well, I’m off to find some mega cash abroad somewhere” and at this stage with the club being run as the mess it is I guess that’s the best we can hope for.
The separate issue which I won’t talk on today was how the whole “we don’t sell our players and more” and “we’re going to compete for the big names” after the Alexis and Ozil signings that we got the impression from the club on is clearly about as real as my solid platinum flying tractor that I glide to work on every morning. The club have proven it is a crumbling institution by not keeping hold of the marquee players but, as I say, that’s probably a whole other blog to go through the shambles that is the management and board of this great club.
Right, I’m off to eat some boiled eggs. Yummy.
Another shocking post. acentuating the negatives and ignoring the positives, harking back to old ground and predicting the gloomiest of futures for us all, what is going on in your life???? You are so much better than this constant vitriol and infantile garbage, if you do love the club like you say, might just occaisionally be nice to read an upbeat positive post !!! Its just a guess that if you have been a fan for 30 years you will still be a fan in 30 years time, when managers players,owners,wins and losses will have all come and gone !!!!
I beg to disagree that Ozil love arsenal so much and he really want to stay as he said on the tour of Far East but the club is taking that granted by being complacent on his case thereby focussing on rebels like Sanchez, Chamberlain. I believe that if arsenal had opened a contract talk with Ozil on return from the preseason, he would have signed already.
Ozil have also used that message to make it clear that he is being used out of position on the right instead of his preferred middle role which diminishes his output. So, Wenger should take note of that
To those who perpetually blame Wenger and his boys as if they never had bad patches on their days with arsenal should know that all they need is to queue behind the club and motivate the players instead of tearing them apart at the slightest chance giving the opposition and the referees the room to maltreat them.
I still believe that The Mighty Thiery Henry is a big reason we didn’t win the UEFA Champions league in 2006, if he had scored that one-on-one chance he had with the goal keeper. later he abandoned us to join Barcelona. It’s the Emirates that bears his stature so he should show more respect to the coach that brought him to the club that made him. You hardly hear Gary and Owen tearing at Man U or Liverpool the way he does.
Henry was not the only player that help our opponents to beat us even before he joined them, Fabregas also assisted Messi after Theo had put us ahead. The recent one is Chamberlain who escorted Mane until he put the ball into the net and proved that by rejecting a higher pay from Chelsea to join Liverpool.
Ozil is willing to stay so let’s not vilify him and say we are vindicated when he leaves. Gunners, show love to your players and encourage them to do better
Comment…what if we offer both Alexis and Ozil a 400k per week salary, would they stay another 2 – 4 years? im wondering…
In answer to the first comment is there any positive news coming out of Arsenal at the moment? In answer to the last comment It seems obvious that Sanchez wants out so why bother forking out that kind of money for him and Ozil does not deserve that kind of money( does anyone?) on the basis of most of his last 20 odd appearances for us. Arsene has an enormous job on his hands to get the fan base back onside. He has done wonders for the club over the years but it was time to go at the end of last season. I am still fathoming out why he offered 30 million for Lenard at the beginning of the transfer window and then right at the end offered three times this amount for the same player. No wonder there is little to get excited about when we act like this.
My post should correctly have shown Lemar.