To expand ever so slightly, Haz I think the term 'assist' is misleading when comparing anyone to the legend that is DB10.

Many of Özil's assist came (past tense, note) from crosses, free kicks and corners. DB10's didn't.

Well if you want to play it that way, I never told you that you COULDN'T say something, did I?

Sure, there's areally strong case to make for Bergkamp on this subject, I've never pretended there isn't. He did a lot of things that Özil could only ever dream of. But on the flip side, there's a reason why Özil throughout his prime was responsible for corners and a certain type of free kicks, while Bergkamp wasn't. And it's not like every player who takes that amount of corners and free kicks rack up assists. His dead ball delivery is part of what made Özil such a good player to begin with.

If everyone voted in America, the Democrats would win the presidency every single time by a comfortable margin. They would dominate the House of Representatives and get near a super majority in the Senate. They don't because 1. They are a far flung, disparate group and getting all the factions and niches to vote in enough numbers each is like herding cats. The policies are not a one size fits all, each group may want things the others don't like.
The Republicans are far, far better at politics because they have no choice. They will be made redundant if they aren't. They fight dirty when they have to which is most times. They could teach Sun Tzu or Machiavelli a thing or two. That said, The Lincoln Project, a group of Republican strategists and advisers to past presidents and high officials and are outraged at what Trump has done to their party, have been making brutal ads against him and any one who supports him. The ads are far better than anything the Democrats have come up with. The Democrats come to a no holds barred pub bust up in Toxteth, Liverpool using Marquis of Queensbury rules.

One of the founders is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, Trump's original campaign chairperson. She had once criticized him. She caught Covid19 because of Trump. Her own daughter has taken shots against her on social media regarding her own illness.

Steve Schmidt is another founder of the The Lincoln Project, named after the greatest Republican president in US history. This is brutal. Again, they know how to get to your core fears, they find out where the bodies are buried. They find out what makes you tick and they go after it with religious zealotry. They have turned this skill onto Trump. They have forsaken their own ideological beliefs for the sake of the country and endorsed Biden. Someone they disagree with politically on just about 90 percent of the time. They are putting country over party. A rarity.

Donald Trump came for Steve Schmidt (founder of Lincoln Project) on Twitter this morning. It did not go well. This is Steve’s reply:
"You’ve never beaten me at anything.
This is our first dance. Did you like, Covita? We are so much better at this than your team of crooks, wife beaters, degenerates, weirdos and losers. You are losing.
We heard you loved Evita. You saw it so many times. Where will you live out your years in disgrace? Will you buy Jeffrey Epstein’s island? One last extra special deal from him? Or will you be drooling on yourself in a suite at Walter Reed? Maybe you will be in prison? I bet you fear that.
The Manhattan District Attorney may not be around to cover for you or your crooked kids anymore. Eliza Orlins doesn’t believe in different sets of rules for the Trumps. What about the State Attorney General? You know what you’ve done.
Oh, Donald. Who do you owe almost $500 million in personally guaranteed loans to? It's all coming down. You think you and your disgusting family are going to be in deal-flow next year? Are you really that delusional?
You are lucky Chris Wallace interrupted you after Joe Biden said you weren’t smart. You started to melt down. That’s the place that hurts the most. Right? Fred Sr., knew it. You’ve spent your whole life proving it. You aren’t very smart. You couldn’t take the SAT on your own. What was the real score? 970? We both know you know.
Are the steroids wearing off? Is the euphoria fading? Do you feel foggy? Tired? Do you ache? How is the breathing? Hmmm. Are you watching TV today? We will have some nice surprises for you. Everyone is laughing at you. You are a joke. A splendid moron turned deadly clown.
Did you watch Martha McSally in her debate against American hero, fighter pilot, test pilot, astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly? She is so embarrassed by you. She is ashamed and full of self-loathing for the choice she made in following you over the cliff. She is in free fall now. She will lose, like most of them, because of you.
We hear from the White House and the campaign everyday. They are betraying you. They are looking to get out alive and salvage careers and their names. It’s Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner vs. Donald Trump Jr., and Kimberly Guilfoyle on the inside. They are at war over scraps and who gets to command what will be the remnants of your rancid cult.
It’s almost over now. You are the greatest failure in American history. You are the worst president in American history. Disgrace will always precede your name. Your grandchildren and great-grandchildren will grow up ashamed of their names.
One day, I suppose there will be some small and not-much-visited library that bears your name. It will be the type of place where a drunk walks by, staring at the wall for a minute, before deciding it is beneath his dignity to piss on. That’s what is waiting for you.
Joe Biden is a better man. He’s smarter. He’s winning. Do you remember when you didn’t want to name Donald Trump Jr., Donald because you were worried about him being a loser named Donald? You were right about that. He is. But it is you who will be remembered as America’s greatest loser. You will be crushed in the election.
Shhhhhhhh."

My point is that crosses swung into crowded boxes, free kicks swung into crowded boxes and corners swung into crowded boxes account for a decent proportion of Özil's 'assists'. In this sense, the stats are misleading since in my opinion, they are of a lower value than a threaded pass, a through ball or a dink over the top. Now Özil certainly has produced all those in his time with us but they account for a much lower percentage of his 'assists'.

If you weight the relative skill levels of their 'assists', DB10 and Özil are not in the same league.

Walk into any pub, Arsenal or non Arsenal pub and lay that claim, they'd think you are taking the piss.
Bergkamp first and foremost. Fabregas second to Dennis only. Henry can make an argument for someone who knows how to give a final ball and should be counted among the best, but not the best.

I've seen enough clips of Brady to see why he's got deity status with people from that era.

Vieira intercepts and lays it off to Parlour or Pires who break and find bergkamp in the final third “woah how did he spot that pass!”

Over and over and over and over ......

Don't think people in general rate Bergkamp as highly as Arsenal fans do so I'm not sure about that claim, but nice to see you try to interact with other posters on the forum for a change.

Cazorla was exceptionally skilful. A player who can score free kicks with either foot is very rare indeed.

There are others who you would never dream of categorising as great (or in some cases good) players but nonetheless had exceptional natural skills. Kanu - sublime skills for such a big lanky man with huge feet. I don't think I've ever seen a player like him. Hleb - fabulous first touch and ability to create space but then spends far too long deliberating and ends up passing it backwards. Gervinho - absolutely brilliant dribbling ability and body feints and not a notion in the world how to use it....and he couldn't kick the ball properly which is just bizarre for a pro-footballer.

Then you have other players with a slightly different skill-set. Overmars, like Henry, could dribble at a fierce pace. Maintaining control of the ball at that pace is not too common. I just love natural footballers. Sadly, dribbling is disappearing from the game as everyone plays the Pep/Klopp pressing and gazillion passes.

This is still one of the weirdest Arsenal goals I've seen.

There have been some cracking goals scored over the years by players who aren't necessarily considered Arsenal greats. This one by Eduardo always comes to mind when I think about great Arsenal goals. At first glance it looked like a mishit, but seeing the replay it's just a sublime finish, perfectly controlled.

Stuck in a massive queue back in the stand because my dad insisted he wanted a tea at halftime and missed the whole thing.

Brady was known for a sublime final pass ..or two!

So who’s paying £15 quid a throw to the premier league to watch pay per view games?

They may be in for a shock. Take up will be low.

I suppose you would want pay 15 quid to watch a Burnley game but only if u were strapped to that electric chair people talked about before, and your life depended on it.

Or a lifelong Burnley fan, plus those of who they’re playing?

https://www.247tvstream.com

Works incredibly all over the world...for me $80/year-ish)

Saw some stats for the average distance collectively covered per game so far by the big 6. Arsenal lead the way, 3km per match more than Liverpool in 2nd and 7km more than Man U in 6th

Everton being top of the table and Villa second is pretty remarkable after 4 games. City bottom half the table, equally so. This won't last and will likely change on the restart after the international games. No one would have seen that coming though.

But they are suggesting a per game price of 15 quid, 4 games and that’s yer 80 bucks. Is that good value ?

I assume its because I access British media for Arsenal related news, that I am getting clips of 'The Graham Norton Show'. Delightful show, based on the stories famous guests have told.

Really? That implies strongly that he has been conniving to get out of something he doesn't want to be a part of, when from what we know that doesn't seem the case. To use a more modern term it could be argued he is being constructively dismissed by his boss! Whatever the eventual outcome it will be good to see him back on the field somewhere playing his lovely football. Don't be surprised either if it is at a big Premiership club.

And this week (16 October), the guests include Arsene Wenger and Samuel L. Jackson. They ought to do a buddy movie together.

Not a chance that any top premier league club would risk a penny on him.

I will be, very! Perhaps the memories of his good play have faded for most of us a bit too much, but surely of all leagues, this one isn’t for him.

I’ll be very interested to see where his next move is, retirement FC the front runner for me at the moment. Destination cash Island.

Not much in the way advice. I read between the lines that Özil doesn't want to play defense, needs to be fulcrum in order to feel he is in the game.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... l-22823284
Arsene Wenger's advice to Mikel Arteta on Arsenal outcast Mesut Özil

So far my $80 gets me pretty much every PL game/Carabao Cup/FA/Cup/Europa league/Champions League. Links to UK/Canada/Oz/Caribbean/Middle East/USA Sports TV streaming websites..A lot of other stuff too. Need good bandwidth, but HD quality also. I was skeptical at first, but a scouse mate in Miami turned me on to it. Sometime it takes some hunting, but I 99% of the time find what I want..albeit with some manic middle eastern commentator!

Breaking news eh.

That looks remarkably good. I wonder if they block it in the UK.

One thing that does really annoy me is that I pay megabucks for Sky, BT Sport and Amazon Prime but am not allowed to watch it when out of the country. It’s like having a book or magazine that you can only read in the UK.

A VPN may be the answer if that happens..I use one in USA/Mexico so the missus can watch Corrie & 'Stenders...works like a charm!

Rashford did a great public service for the nations kids. I don't know how the system works or the standard but does it rise to the standard deserving on an MBE? I don't know. I have a Brit friend here (for the record hates Man Utd) who said while worthy of praise, is not worthy of an MBE.

Ah, that explains it. VPN is the answer.

But the thing is, for someone with obvious footballing intelligence I don't see why Özil can't do what's required? Surely closing down and pressing is merely an awareness thing that may require a higher level of fitness but isn't anything too drastic that couldn't be learnt quickly if Özil was willing to apply himself. I see Pépé being pretty lazy without the ball and gives up easily but somehow he's still getting in the squad.

I think he could do what Arteta wants but can't be bothered.

van Persie is on one of the biggest 'what ifs' for Arsenal. What if he had stayed healthy? What if he didn't leave? He's turned out to be one of the biggest Judas we have. I recall at the time of his move even a voice on here was saying he wasn't. Not sure how you call yourself a gooner and come to that conclusion. Anyway, he was one of my favorite players, second after Fabregas in the post invincible era. I was an early fan of his when America had eredivisie matches on. He played in the wing but looked good doing so.

A shame.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/10/06/glad-to- ... -13378614/

I don't believe for one second the LA Rams stadium was built totally with private funds. BS. No structure in LA of that size and cost goes up without the city, county and state involved financially. It's what they tell the public.

The likely truth is public funds were used in such a way to give them cover. The usual ways, tax abatements, tax credits, utility costs at deep discounts, money hidden in bond financing for another purpose but diverted ultimately to the project, the city guaranteeing the bank loans behind the scenes, etc. LA has a myriad of ways to fleece the public. Experts at it, like most major, global cities.

Its football madness to expect Özil to close down and press - it is not what anybody expects him to bring to the team - he never did in his career before at other clubs. If defending is what Arteta wants most from Özil, then it is no surprise he leaves him out in the cold!

You may think it's madness, but the whole team have defensive responsibilities when the opposition have the ball. This is modern football. Özil is either unwilling or incapable of doing his bit in this regard. When you see Aubameyang busting a gut to get back and support the left back you wonder why Özil can't show a similar level of commitment to his team mates.

When we bought him people were complaining he rarely tracks back. As you say, it was never part of his game. When he first came in the league he would get fouled and pout while the run of play went on and he'd sit there. Later, he toughened up and rode tackles better, accepted hard fouls, even cynical fouls were part of the British game. He changed, but there are some things he just is not going to do willingly or be committed to and that is defensive duties.

We are playing a style similar to City and Liverpool, pressing from the front and you need all the outfield players to do it. It won't work with one person who isn't going to. So, it makes sense he's being left out. Not hard to see that. But then again, these are some of the same fans who complained about Giroud's lack of pace as if he had some control over that.