Happy Sunday to you all. We’re right in the thick of the Interlull, and yesterday I watched Ireland play Georgia for a bit. I did not realise that Georgia were actually Brazil. At least I think that’s what happened, because they were doing this crazy thing with the football.
What they did was, and this might be hard to get your head around, was pass it to one another repeatedly. Over and over again. They kept possession, they moved around the pitch creating space for another pass, and at one point they opened up the packed Irish defence beautifully and scored an equaliser (I missed the Irish goal).
This was in stark contrast to the Irish players who must have been told that being in the vicinity of the ball for any longer than 2 seconds would give them a bell’s palsy and make their mickeys fall off. So, every time they got it they would look worried for a couple of seconds then hoof the ball as far up the field as they could, at which point the Georgians would do that mean trick of passing it around and looking like competent professional footballers.
I found myself actually getting a bit angry that Ireland were so incapable of the basics before I realised that I already have enough football things to get worried and unhappy about, so I turned it off. Then a bit later I turned it back on again (glutton for punishment) to watch James McClean miss a great chance to win it either side of him clumping into the opposition with one of his trademark ‘hard but fair but probably not that fair because he knows what he’s doing’ challenges.
Then I went out and drank quite a lot of beer. And here we are. So, what’s going on? Well, Mesut Ozil has marked the fourth anniversary of his signing for the club by taking a pop at former players over criticism aimed at him and the team. He says:
Too expensive, too greedy, bad body language, and lacking fight – this is what people have said about me. Some of these comments are made by those who do not know me, some are made by former players – both successful and unsuccessful during their time here at the club.
Although criticism is something that all football players have to deal with, I nevertheless expected legends to behave like legends – my advice to these former Gunners is stop talking and start supporting.
I think criticism of Ozil this season has been a bit over the top, especially when it’s so clear how fundamental the issues of this team are and how deep they lie. To single him out when he’s far from the root cause of our problems has been strange to me, but then he’s an easy target. A slighty fey foreign player whose style lends itself to criticism because he’s not as rough and tumble as people would like.
At this point anyone with expectations of Ozil being a hustler, a tackler, and getting stuck in is always going to be disappointed. That’s not to say he couldn’t do a bit more but then he’s far from alone in that when you look at how this team has played this season. For me the main issue is our willful refusal to bring in the kind of player who can offset some of Ozil’s weaknesses, and who could enable him to become more effective (this is a central midfield player by the way, the one we should have signed this summer but couldn’t be arsed).
Basically, I think criticism of individuals at this point is more or less redundant. It’s systemic, it’s how we’re coached, how the team is set up, and how the team is selected that are the main issues. That said, I don’t think it’s incumbent on former players whose job it is to analyse the team to ignore the problems just because they once played for us.
Have a soft spot, by all means, everyone can understand that, but they have to address the issues that are so patently obvious to everyone. They are paid to be pundits, not cheerleaders. I don’t always/often agree with what they say, and sometimes how they say it, but it’s their job to do it. I’m not sure what exactly Ozil hoped to achieve with this message, but I suspect it might well be counter-productive as he’s well and truly turned the spotlight on himself.
I guess the best answer to any criticism is to deliver on the pitch, create those chances, hope that one of our feckless eejits up front can put them away, and people will have a lot less to say about him. He also had some nice to things to say about his time at the club too, but said his future remains unclear as he heads into the final year of his contract.
Again there are wider issues, but when you’re in this situation people will question your commitment at every opportunity, so let’s hope Ozil can back up what’s he’s said on social media when we see him back out there on the pitch, in what’s almost certainly his last season at the club.
It’s a miserable day here, so I’m going to spend it cooking and eating. Have a nice Sunday.
