ozil

17th August 2015: Wenger hails fluency and fight plus crucial Cazorla

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome to a brand new week on TremendArse. There is plenty of post-match reaction to look at following our win at Crystal Palace yesterday, so I’ll get stuck straight in like Alexis Sanchez returning from his summer break.

And first up, it’s the boss Arsene Wenger, who expressed his pleasure at seeing his side display a number of different qualities in beating Palace to claim our first three points of the season. Speaking at his post match press conference, he said:

We have shown our strong response and we have shown different aspects in our game that are vital in the Premier League. We had a good, fluent game in the first half and when they came back to 1-1 it was a mental test to see how we could respond. We managed to find a second goal and after that in the second half of the game we just had to dig in, fight, and we did it as well. I’m pleased because we have shown many different aspects that will be very important in the season.

‘Fight’ aside, the most pleasing thing about yesterday’s performance for me, was the rediscovery of our fluid, attacking football which was so glaringly absent against West Ham. Against the Hammers, we lacked accuracy in our passing and shape in our formation, with our forward six often taking up similar positions, too often abandoning their designated roles in the team and failing to find any collective rhythm whatsoever.

Yet against Alan Pardew’s men a week later, all those problems appeared hugely improved and I think there is one obvious contributory factor for that  – Santi Cazorla’s return to central midfield. And Arsene hinted after the game that he’s over his nonsensical, temporary tinkering and the Spaniard is back in the middle to stay:

Cazorla is important for the start of the game when the ball comes from our defenders, because he can pass from deep midfield to high midfield better than everybody and get out of pressure. That’s why I positioned him more central. He is not any more a player on the flanks who can overlap and cross the ball.

I actually remember Arsene being asked whether Cazorla was now a permanent pick in the centre after a game last season and his response was to utter the most emphatic ‘certainly, yes’, I’ve ever heard him say. So to see Cazorla moved to the left flank on the opening day confused me like hearing Jose Mourinho plead poverty. I mean, how? And why?

Giroud and Cazorla

Anyway, as long as our double, Double-winning, unbeaten season overseeing, six-times FA Cup lifting, stadium-building, world class player developing manager has learnt his lesson, I think I’ll let this one slide. Any more Cazorla kerfuffle though, and I’ll be forced to demand he’s replaced by Owen Coyle.

Next in line for praise from the boss was the majestic Mesut Ozil, who provided the assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener at Selhurst Park and generally played very well, passing with typical poise and precision and also displaying quite a turn of pace out wide on a number of occasions:

He had a very good performance. He was important getting out from the back, getting out of tight areas. It is a pleasure to watch the quality of his passing and the intelligence of his passing. What I told you is what I want from him more is a few more goals this season. For the rest of the build-up in the game he was magnificent. He works harder than people thinks he does. He is not spectacular in his defending but he wants to do the job, he wants to help the team. What I liked in his game today was he made many runs without the ball behind the defenders, which is a bit new as he likes to come with the ball. Today he mixed up his game better.

Mesut mixes it up then. Now we just need for Giroud to start producing finishes like yesterday every week and we can save the money for his replacement and instead spend it on a competitor for Francis Coquelin or research into cloning Cazorlas. But speaking of Giroud, Arsene said he felt the striker ‘needed’ a goal and described his current striking options as ‘strong’, saying:

He needed that [goal]. We have good strikers. Walcott was not used today and he’s an exceptional striker, Welbeck is coming back, we have Alexis. We have a strong striking force. What is important is that we show the team performance we have shown [against Palace].

Indeed. Team play is key to success and key to team play, is a central Cazorla. Now we have that established, we should go on to win every remaining game he plays this season. The Septuple is in sight.

Back on Tuesday.

12th August 2015: Ozil adapts + deep-fried shake

Posted on by TremendArse

Welcome all. The briefest of posts today, mainly because there is nothing to talk about and I’m feeling about as creative as James Milner.

In fact, I’ll start with a few bits of actual, real, hot off the press, ‘news’ to kick things off:

  • A month’s worth of rain is to fall on the UK over the next two days, according to reports

From a life perspective, that’s pretty sh*t. But on the bright side, those clubs and managers who purposely instruct groundsmen not to water their pitches when Arsenal are in town will be gutted and slick passing shall prevail. Unlucky Alan.

  • A chip shop in Lancashire has started serving a deep-fried battered milkshake

I don’t even know what that means. But Wayne Rooney and Luke Shaw will be drooling and delighted in equal measure.

  • The launch of London’s night tube service will be delayed, it has been announced

Not really an inconvenience for me I must say, given how infrequently I use the network but I’m sure the news will come as a huge disappointment for millions. Get a car or go to sleep would be my advice.

  • A man trying to impress women on a nightclub dance floor in Cardiff poos himself

That’s rather unfortunate and also pretty gross. It does however provide a lot of reputable outlets with a truly newsworthy story to share with the masses. And no, I didn’t link to it, your eyes will thank me.

Moving swiftly on and Mesut Ozil says Germany are a shining example to wider society of how people from different cultures can integrate and co-exist in a positive manner. Speaking to Arsenal Player, he said:

Integration is a difficult topic. The best example is the German national team because lots of people from other cultures come together and play with respect. That’s how it should be in general life. You should be open with one another, you should treat each other with respect. If that happened, things would look different, also in general.

And the 26 year old master passer also discussed his own ability to easily adapt to new countries and cultures, saying:

I’m the sort of person who can integrate quickly. I’m a normal person and people who know me know that I’m quite quiet and just like doing my thing. That was the case here, with the German national team and in my youth. For example, when I experienced things changing, like if I changed class at school, it wasn’t the case that I would worry about how I would cope not knowing anyone, it was the opposite. I was and still am very open when I meet people. It was like that at Arsenal too. When I joined the club, I knew some players from playing alongside them in the national team or at Werder Bremen. But in general, I enjoy being able to meet new people and experience new cultures. I lived in Spain and got to know the wonderful culture and people there. Now I’m in England, where I’m learning the language and the culture. I love what I do and I’m thankful that football helps me develop myself by learning new languages and different cultures. I’m proud of that.

Mesut’s words again bring to my mind at least, the issue of our domestically born players and, in 99.99 percent of cases, their unwillingness to experience foreign leagues and foreign living.

It’s a real shame because one solution to the supposed problem of a lack of opportunity for young British players because of the influx of overseas players to the Premier League, is staring them in the face, if only the’d be brave enough to get on a flight, perhaps forego some money in the short-term and enhance their game through international experience.

Til Thursday.

5th August 2015: Ozil’s in awe, Cech’s hungry and some guy on Twitter says something

Posted on by TremendArse

Evening all.

I’m steaming straight into today’s post like Ramires does challenges on opponents – with reckless abandon and the minimum of fuss.

First up it’s our peerless, midfield visionary Mesut Ozil, who says he sees a lot of things – which is obviously no surprise given he could spot a throughball to a team-mate from the dressing room – to admire about compatriot and Arsenal team-mate Per Mertesacker. Speaking to Arsenal Player, he said:

I always see Per as a role model. He always gives everything for the team, you can see that he’s determined and wants to be successful. You can sense that on the pitch. He’s very focused, very professional. He does his job 100 per cent – he’s not the sort of person who does things by half measures. He’s rather the sort of person who, if he has something in his head, wants to see it through. He looks after himself and his diet, and before matches he does his exercises to make sure that he stays fit and doesn’t pick up any injuries. You can see on the pitch that he’s fresh and is always there for everyone. We’re just really pleased to have him and you can sense on the pitch that he gives everything for the team.

And I’m really pleased to have him in our side too. Along with Francis Coquelin and Olivier Giroud, I think he anchors this Arsenal team, allowing Ozil et al to play their liquid football around them.

Per Mertesacker

So what if he can’t run very fast, because he reads the game like the best of them, his passing’s always clean and crisp, aerially, in open-play at least, he’s dominant, and he also isn’t afraid to dish out the odd rollicking or two to team-mates, which is always healthy for any team. And Ozil can certainly vouch for that last one, with memories of the end of the league game away to Man City the season before last, still relatively fresh.

Someone else who’s determined, professional and wants to be successful is our new signing Petr Cech, who when speaking at a Q&A on Members’ Day earlier this week, revealed his appetite for silverware is as insatiable as ever, despite his trophy-laden spell at Chelsea. He said:

A lot of times, people say that if you win a major trophy you get satisfied and stop working. I think it’s the other way around. Once you win a big trophy, it’s such an amazing feeling of achievement and accomplishment that you want to live it again. This group now knows how to win trophies and they enjoy it very much. You can see the celebration every time we win trophies, and everybody speaks about it. I’m sure that everybody wants to at least repeat that this year.

Well the do say that success breeds success and that was certainly true of our season last time around, as we secured a second, successive FA Cup with consummate ease against Aston Villa in May, having stuttered over the line 12 months earlier against Hull City.

Although we also had a certain Alexis Sanchez to produce a goal from nowhere and better players of course always help, the experience of that first taste of success undeniably played a big part in our overall confidence as a club in successfully defending the competition.

The next step is obviously the Premier League title or a first Champions League win in the club’s history, so we’ll only really know if the domestic cups were indeed a stepping stone if and when we reach those promised lands. Make it happen lads!

Elsewhere, an Italian journalist who has written for several well-known publications caused turmoil on Twitter this afternoon after tweeting that not only would Karim Benzema be joining Arsenal in the near future, but that he would on a four year deal for £120,000 a week.

I suppose if I wanted to make up a story, I’d include fictitious, finer details because it might stop people from instantly dismissing the claim as bullshit – ‘why would he know the salary if he was lying’ etc – but then this guy has previous with his reports of new Arsenal signings being wide of the mark, as was quickly pointed out by irate fans on Twitter today.

That said, something just feels wrong about the denials from both sides saying it won’t happen. I mean, and this is obviously pure conjecture, but if we look at the story so far, we’ve had a series of conflicting reports rumbling on for far too long now for there not to be something more to it than an off chance of a deal providing Real Madrid can find a suitable replacement.

On the one hand, we’ve had one of our own directors reveal a striker was on our shopping list and that the player wanted to come, reports of telephone conversations between Arsene Wenger and the player himself, Benzema left out of recent Real Madrid friendlies through alleged injury, Gareth Bale talking up his preference for a central role at Madrid and more stuff to suggest a deal could be on.

Then to counter-balance, we’ve had Real deny it, Arsene deny it, his agent say his client would stay one benzillion percent and Sky’s Spanish expert Guillem Balague rule it out completely, yet some of the language has been ambiguous here, like Rafa Benitez saying ‘he thinks’ the player wants to stay in Spain.

Maybe I’m reading far too much into all this and just need to close my Newsnow tab for a while, but I’m not completely buying that the deal is impossible as some have suggested. Which I suppose puts me in the same boat as a lot of other people.

It’s late and I fear I’m making as much sense as David James talking about football. I better turn in.

Back tomorrow.