A club record 50 million Euros buying for Arsenal and selling by Madrid brings a German beauty to grace the pitch at the Ashburton Grove. The euphoria that comes with Mesut Özil is unexplainable. When news broke that Real Madrid were seriously in for Welsh star Gareth Bale, my buddies and I discussed the implications on Madrid's XI. The arrival and pre-season form of erstwhile Malaga boy Isco didn't help matters. All in all, it was agreed, Özil was untouchable. di Maria seemed the dark horse. Well Arsenal left it late as is the norm, and pulled an unexpected, as is the norm. I'm so ecstatic.
Alot of useless and baseless opinion from goal.com lovers (mostly from some bridge in London) have already started flying in to the effect that Özil will be sold in a year or so. I'm actually amused at the bitterness in people because Arsenal has proved their asses wrong. Inside, people are still to come to terms as to how a player of Özil's caliber could join Arsenal.
Some claim Arsenal didn't really need a playmaking maestro as we already had Midget quick feet Saint Carzola. Oh the goal 'coaches' even accessed and concluded we needed a goalkeeper, defender, defensive midfielder and striker more. I chuckled.
If anyone genuinely watched Arsenal last season and the previous, you'd know how much we struggled to create chances. You'd know how our 1st halves were a boring contest, you'd know that if Carzola was tightly marked, we stood no chance. Heck we even played a full game with no shot on target registered. Arsenal's game was based on chance after chance after chance. Last season was dismal, pathetic. It really hurt to see the club that graced among EPL's greatest playmakers struggle in such a fashion.
The previous season, an artistic dutchman salvaged our season. I'm grateful for his contribution to Arsenal FC.
Defensively we are improving. The pair of Koscielny and Per is a very good partnership. Per's composure compliments Koza's soldier play. Not to mention the blessing that is Bacary Sagna's ability to play at CB. At the middle of the park, Arsene no longer needs a destroyer kind of defensive midfielder. If anything, Arsene always says he needs his midfielder to be all round, contributing to all phases of play. With Arteta, the ever improving Aaron Ramsey and now Marseille money boy Flamini, I think Arsene can really work out how he needs the team to set up defensively. I'm not against a more specialized defensive midfielder but I like how Arteta aids to the team. He's grown into that role, a good passer, good tackler, some creativity and composure, what Arsene really requires of a midfielder in front of the back four. If only he was 24. Arteta's biggest and only weakness is pace.
I know Özil's signing doesn't assure us of silver ware but its good to note that when the silverware was missing, we really enjoyed the football Arsenal played. Everyone did, till Cesc and Nasri decided to become more ambitious than Arsene, till a small boy in a dutch man found his voice. We really enjoyed the football. But now with Özil, this is a statement, or so I hope. We have stepped into the new era. We are starting to reap the fruits of moving to the big Ashburton Grove grounds.
It is because of the Emirates that we've been making do for the past many seasons. Its why we sold players at 28-29. Arsene says, at that age, with limited funds, he thought it wise to sell big because really at that age, a footballer was headed for a decline. He would sell, get a promising player and invest the rest in the stadium project. It made sense from an economic point, Arsene is a masters degree holder in Economics. Unfortunately, it hurt our competitiveness.
The promising young players were to grow together and challenge for honours but Arsenal's ambition became blurred. Players started moving away. The big short term plan crumbled. #WengerOut replaced "In Arsene We Trust".
I'm quite optimistic. I've grown to dislike Arsene because he's played a part to the decline of the club. He is accountable. With Özil's statement, its back to beautiful football. It may not win silverware but it will be interesting to watch. That is the Arsenal way, beautiful sleek football. The O to the zeal in Arsenal will have the whole stadium scream "ÖZIL".
Ps : I remember Fergie, oh my manners, I meant Sir Alexander Fergusson, trolling Arsene's multi lingual ability, claiming he knew a boy in Africa who could speak 7 languages. Funny thing, Özil claimed Arsene's fluency in German played a part to his move. It's time Moyes mastered some Spanish or got that African boy to his coaching staff, the spanish boys won't come easy David.
