General Football Thread

[Liam]

Indeed. Fucking fair play to the guy.

[The Lusophone]

The abuse etc obviously isn't acceptable and Grindel is evidently a cock, but can you really complain about being turned into political propaganda when Erdogan used your image to bolster his own standing in Turkey? When the person you posed with has imprisoned tens of thousands and is acting increasingly dictatorial? 

[Liam]

39 minutes ago, MexicoJack said:

The abuse etc obviously isn't acceptable and Grindel is evidently a cock, but can you really complain about being turned into political propaganda when Erdogan used your image to bolster his own standing in Turkey? When the person you posed with has imprisoned tens of thousands and is acting increasingly dictatorial? 

Yes.

Based off of the start of what you said. What has happened to him isn't acceptable.

[FLiam]

I saw that after the they were eliminated, some of the papers had his image with Erdogan and literally linked that to their poor performance.

I also saw a stat that said that Mesut Ozil created more chances per 90 minutes (5.5) than any other player to play at least 90 minutes in the entire tournament. His job is to literally create goalscoring opportunities, and he created more of them than any other player. 

Mesut Ozil frustrates me as a player, but some of the constant criticism he gets in totally unwarranted and in this case they stepped over the mark as it is blatant racism/Islamaphobia, whatever you want to call it. I think it is great that he has taken a stand, because it may happen more in the future as we live in a multi-cultural society no matter how much some people on the right want to stop it. 

[Kaney]

Ozil has been a scapegoat for a long time. I said previously, as an Arsenal fan, I'd much rather keep him than Sanchez if we could only have one. He's a fantastic player and is always harshly scrutinised but the Erdogan thing is really shitty. Especially when you have the likes of Salah and Matthaus etc meeting horrible dictators all over the place.

I'm glad he stood up for himself and hope he can now focus 100% proving them wrong at Arsenal.

[FLiam]

Bayern Munich president seems happy that Ozil has retired.

"He last won a tackle before the 2014 World Cup". 

This is the nonsense I don't understand. It's lucky he isn't a centre-half then.

[FLiam]

Genuinely starting to wonder if he suffered brain damage during his football career. 

Yes, @Lineker, he’s a cunt.

[Lineker]

Cunt.

[Arjen Robben]

I really like Özil, I can’t think of a player as good as he is more relentlessly criticised and constantly having blame out on his shoulders for everything. Glad he’s stuck up for himself over this shit. Hoeness can fuck off too. Daft cunt.

Bundesliga top assist provider: 2009–10
FIFA World Cup top assist provider: 2010
UEFA Champions League top assist provider: 2010–11
Germany national team Player of the Year: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
La Liga top assist provider: 2011–12
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying top assist provider
UEFA European Championship top assist provider: 2012
UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2012
UEFA Team of the Year: 2012, 2013
Premier League top assist provider: 2015–16

[FLiam]

22 minutes ago, Arjen Robben said:

I really like Özil, I can’t think of a player as good as he is more relentlessly criticised and constantly having blame out on his shoulders for everything. Glad he’s stuck up for himself over this shit. Hoeness can fuck off too. Daft cunt.

Bundesliga top assist provider: 2009–10
FIFA World Cup top assist provider: 2010
UEFA Champions League top assist provider: 2010–11
Germany national team Player of the Year: 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016
La Liga top assist provider: 2011–12
UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying top assist provider
UEFA European Championship top assist provider: 2012
UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 2012
UEFA Team of the Year: 2012, 2013
Premier League top assist provider: 2015–16

Yeah, but he doesn't track back or tackle. What sort of number 10 even is he anyway?

[Liam]

7 minutes ago, Liam Mk2 said:

Yeah, but he doesn't track back or tackle. What sort of number 10 even is he anyway?

You forgot to call him a 'stupid fucking Turk' whilst you were at it.

Ozil bashing 101.

[Moses Julep]

He’s been playing like he doesn’t give a shit since 2016 though, maybe playing regularly under another manager will perk him up a bit.

[Arjen Robben]

Change of manager might be what was needed for a lot of those Arsenal players so I’m curious to see how he does under Emery.

[FLiam]

7 minutes ago, Moses Julep said:

He’s been playing like he doesn’t give a shit since 2016 though, maybe playing regularly under another manager will perk him up a bit.

Even this is a myth though. Yes, there have been some games were it looks as if he's going through the motions but there are plenty when you could see full well he was putting everything into his performance. 

I feel like a lot of the time he was constantly being criticised because we had Ozil and Sanchez in the team and Sanchez noticeably runs a lot more, but he runs a lot more than most players. Plus, if you look at the stats for average sprinting / distance covered in a game, you'll be surprised to see how much work Ozil actually does. 

Then, in terms of his creativity, this is going by the end of the 2016/17 season, but he ranked 1st in chances created, big chances created and assists since he joined Arsenal in 2013/14. So, he was doing exactly what we signed him to do. The constant negativity surrounding him just irritates me (clearly), as I watch pretty much all of our games and he's blatantly one of the best players we have and I constantly see him pulling off passes that not many others would even attempt, let alone complete. 

[Moses Julep]

2 minutes ago, Liam Mk2 said:

Even this is a myth though. Yes, there have been some games were it looks as if he's going through the motions but there are plenty when you could see full well he was putting everything into his performance. 

I feel like a lot of the time he was constantly being criticised because we had Ozil and Sanchez in the team and Sanchez noticeably runs a lot more, but he runs a lot more than most players. Plus, if you look at the stats for average sprinting / distance covered in a game, you'll be surprised to see how much work Ozil actually does. 

All I know is having him on my FF team the last two years was a terrible decision and I will not repeat it  

[DavidMarrio]

You can run a lot more than other players and it could mean absolute fuck all if it's bringing nothing of note in terms of productivity with the ball. 

I feel like work rate shouldn't just be measured based on physicality and running around like a headless chicken.

I remember saying back in the January transfer thread that if I was an Arsenal fan and had to pick keeping Ozil or Sanchez it would be Ozil all day. He's a fantastic player...doesn't help that past few seasons Arsenal needed overhauling both in terms of the backroom staff and a fair bit of the squad but he's often been one of the few bright sparks in that team. 

[FLiam]

Well. Mesut Ozil's agent just destroyed the Bayern Munich president in a fairly lengthy statement:

As Mesut said in his statement, he accepts reasonable and fair criticism of his football, and deals with that as part of the job. However, Mr Hoeness cannot even provide any actual evidence to back up his foolish statements that are clearly exaggerated. In this case, the stats are clear. Twenty-three goals, 40 assists - which is a German record - and five-time German player of the year - three of which come after 2014.

He claims that Mesut has been a 'ghost' for years, but what 'ghost' wins all these awards and has this much success? Mesut has created more chances in the 2018 World Cup per 90 minutes than any other player, but, of course, he singles him out for criticism. As the president of Bayern Munich is it not best to focus on the performance of his own players seeing as eight of the Germany team play for the club.

If Mesut is such a bad player, what does this say about his opinion on Joachim Low, Arsene Wegner and Jose Mourinho? These are three elite managers who praise Mesut as one of the best in his position. It is laughable that he thinks he is more qualified to judge footballing abilities than these people, with fabricated statistics.

It is obvious that his comment about Mesut not making any tackles is completely made up and false. But, just so everyone knows, in both the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Euros, Mesut won over 65 per cent of duels per game, moreover he was the most important player in the games against France and Italy in 2016, again making a complete mockery of his ludicrous.

The facts speak for themselves and anyway who is he to speak about Mesut in this way? These lies are cheap, stereotypical and baseless comments - made without any foundations - that allow hurtful news to spread.

Mr Hoeness, we will not waste any more time or energy talking about a subject clearly you know nothing about. Something he does know about though, is the 28.5 million euros in tax he evaded, when he was forced to resign from his role at Bayern Munich and sentenced to prison for his criminal behaviour.

What kind of person does this make him? When he committed this illegal and criminal act, he stole money away from the German society for his own selfish reasons. This money could've helped develop schools and hospitals, but instead went into his own greedy pockets. Not only is he a disgrace to himself, but also and more importantly a shame to German football and the people of Germany.

Hoeness is no better than the people Mesut mentioned in his statement, as he has purposefully ignored this wider point. And has done so on purpose. Hoeness knows what he is doing. Issuing crazy comment about Mesut's football, he thinks, it will create a big reaction and will cover the real issue.

The issue he and many in Germany are scared to confront, an issue he would prefer to sweep under the carpet because he can't face the uncomfortable truth. He shows the depth of his character and his true personality by ignoring this and making idiotic comments about football.

Well, I will not not let succeed. Mesut has given everything for Germany on and off the pitch - contributed more to the country than he could ever dream of.

[The Lusophone]

Is that 'contributed more to the country than he could ever dream of' directed at a 1974 World Cup and Euro 1972 winner? Cos that's almost as amusing as the overall post. Ozil's agent is spot on outside of that though.

[FLiam]

12 minutes ago, MexicoJack said:

Is that 'contributed more to the country than he could ever dream of' directed at a 1974 World Cup and Euro 1972 winner? Cos that's almost as amusing as the overall post. Ozil's agent is spot on outside of that though.

Technically, he only contributed to West Germany though.

[Adam]

2 hours ago, MexicoJack said:

Is that 'contributed more to the country than he could ever dream of' directed at a 1974 World Cup and Euro 1972 winner? Cos that's almost as amusing as the overall post. Ozil's agent is spot on outside of that though.

I read it as referring to Ozil himself. As in, Ozil has contributed more to his country than he himself could ever dream of.

Hoeness has been eviscerated in that statement anyway, bravo.