Such little mention of Cazorla hurts me
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It’s difficult. Santi was a wonderful footballer, but what was he? He played wide a lot at Villa; for Malaga attacking mid before ending up as a DLP for us (eventually) then Spain.
Unbelievable player. Genuine thought he was every bit as good as Modric, but too many injuries and nowhere near the sample size. Even for us, I loved the guy, but he only really had one solid season before inconsistency and injuries.
Best thing about Cazorla was good close ball control. Could dribble his way out of traffic in New Delhi.
Perfect two footed footballer.
Still has nothing on Fabregas and Ozil. He’s close to Odegaard though.
I absolutely loved Cazorla, such a fantastic little magician!
I get why so many put Ozil ahead of Odegaard, but Ozil signed when he was 24. Odegaard is 25. I think Odegaard has more levels of go. Debatable which one is more skillful (to an extent, but accept Ozil wins out), but there is no debate in respect of Odegaard’s contribution to the team and his workrate, both of which are outstanding. Agree with others that he is the better all round player.
It’s amazing we had Bergkamp, Henry, Pires and Ljungberg in the same attacking line in.
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Until Ødergaard becomes an HR manager’s worst nightmare and develops back issues for away trips to the likes of Newcastle, or he Iscariot’s his way out of the club after Haaland forces him to put on a Man City shirt, he’s the best of the three for me.
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Can I ask why? This reeks of recency bias. Cesc pretty much carried us on his back for 5 of his 8 years here whilst being part of a World Cup winning squad - he was up against Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets (later(, Silva, Senna, Mata and Santi and most saw Cesc as the one who could really unlock defences.
I disagree heavily, but Odegaard being better than Ozil could have (very weak) legs, but Cesc?
I have to ask why?!
Not in the same bracket as them lot. Good player but definitely overrated by Arsenal fans.
Enjoyable player to watch but not quite in the Ozil and Cesc bracket.
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Depends which Ozil we’re talking about. Because if we’re talking prime Ozil at Real Madrid, then very few players in the world could surpass how good he was.
But we got a shadow of that player at Arsenal, and I think Odegaard is better.
A ‘shadow of that player’ but he got 1 off Henry’s assist record while falling asleep the second half of 15/16.
Ozil was class for his first 2-3 years here, only fell off after that and people act like he was terrible the whole time.
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The media also played a huge role in the ‘Ozil is a lazy bastard’ narrative, mainly because of what his resting bitch face looks like.
His distance per game was actually pretty good.
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Come on, Ozil was pretty lazy.
I have seen him duck over and refrain from competing for aerial balls so many times, and I remember them because they infuriated me a lot. He didn’t need to jump and compete. He would have won a few of them if he had just nudged the opponent a bit.
I have seen opponents run past him while he stood there being an inspiration for Rashford.
The stats about distance per game is meaningless because I have seen him just go up & down without adding anything to the game.
He just never played with any intensity and when things are not going you way, you got to have that intensity to make up for it.
That’s where Odegaard excels. Even when Odegaards has a bad game, he does his part so others don’t get impacted by his performance.
Would have smashed the assists records if Giroud wasn’t such a donkey that season
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Just like Podolski, Ozil ran when it was needed to.
You can call this “lazy”, some call this “reservation of energy” or “being effective”.
Depends what kind of coach you get, Mourinho made him worked his socks off at Real, Wenger let him be himself. I did not see people calling him lazy when playing for Germany.
No doubt Ode has world class work rate at Arsenal, but like @SuperArsenal1886 said, Ozil’s distance per game at Arsenal was actually not bad at all.
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the Laziness criticism was not just about running.
in what part of his game then?
Duels?
Aerial Duels, defensive duties, pressing, being a non-entity in a lot of games…
We have seen Ozil play. When he plays well, Arsenal were incredible no doubt; but when things were not going our way, it was almost like we played with 10 men.
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Not completely true but I won’t disagree.
He is a typical, traditional #10, if things were not going our way, definitely he would have less touches and then not able to create much.
When things were not going Argentina’s way, Messi was pretty much non-existent as well.
Key point is, things not going our way.
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Vision / Creativity: Özil
Final ball: Özil
Passing range: Cesc
Dribbling: Cazorla
First touch: Özil (Cazorla damn close)
Off the ball movement: Özil
Skill / agility 1v1: Özil
Set pieces: Cazorla
Athleticism: Ødegaard
Natural football IQ: Özil / Cesc
Tactical IQ: Ødegaard
Leadership: Cesc but Ødegaard is close now
Fair to say I regard Özil as overall the most gifted player of the lot.
But none of these players would succeed as much as Ødegaard in an Arteta side. He is absolutely the perfect Arteta player.
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Think Ozil should be compared to Bergkamp really. Fabregas is a closer comparison for Odegaard.
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