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Wenger On Re-Signing Van Persie + Mesut Ozil’s Poor Form

By on February 11, 2014

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger conducted his pre-match press conference this morning ahead of tomorrow night’s huge clash with Manchester United.

Among the things he’s been talking about, the boss spoke out on rumours of him re-signing Robin van Persie as well as Mesut Ozil’s recent poor form.

Newspaper reports have linked RVP with a sensational return to the Emirates this summer with the Dutchman understood to be unhappy under David Moyes at Old Trafford.  The striker was apparently upset when Fergie left at the end of last season and isn’t happy with Moyes’s training methods, and a switch back to Arsenal has been touted.

However, when quizzed about a potential return to north London, Wenger remained coy and insisted now wasn’t the time to speak about any move for the player. He told reporters:

“I don’t think that’s an ideal subject for us to treat today. I think it is best we don’t talk about that at the moment.

“Robin van Persie is a great player. We know that. It doesn’t mean he has to score [against Arsenal on Wednesday]. It depends how we defend against him.” [source: ESPN]

I personally think there’s ZERO chance van Persie will ever return to Arsenal. He left under a dark cloud and has become something of a hate figure among the Emirates faithful so a return would be extremely difficult.

He certainly hasn’t looked himself this season but whether that’s due to a lack of match fitness or he’s unhappy under Moyes remains to be seen. I’m sure United’s awful form has a lot to do with his sulking as well, but he won’t find any sympathy from me.

Next on the agenda was Ozil’s poor recent form. The German international has come under fire after his disappointing display at Anfield on Saturday but Wenger was quick to remind us that he’s still adapting to life in the Premier League and assures us that the 25-year-old is working hard to get up to speed with the physical nature of English football.

Wenger told Arsenal.com:

“He has done well, he is adapting as well to the Premier League – we have seen that before,”

“I wouldn’t like to put too much pressure on him because he has been a top-class player until now. He didn’t have the best of games on Saturday but that can happen. He works very hard to adapt to the physical level of the Premier League and for me he is an exceptional player.

“[Criticism] happens but we have to deal with that and he has to deal with that. He has been a professional footballer for long enough to know when your performance on the day is not good enough, you get criticised or questioned. It is normal.

“He was like everybody else on Saturday – he was not on a good day and was affected certainly by the fact it was a bit of a shock to be 2-0 down so early. He works very hard in training to improve and there’s nobody really to ostracise from that game, we are all conscious that we were not good enough.”

The criticism of Ozil has been waaaaaay over the top and he certainly wasn’t the only player who under-performed at Anfield, but I suppose a £42m price-tag brings with it a certain level of expectation, which he failed to live up to on Saturday.

The problem is we know there is so much more to come from him and it’s frustrating to see him playing within himself, but the mistakes on Saturday were simply down to fatigue and him not being used to the intensity of this league.

Ozil has played his entire career with a winter break and isn’t used to playing every minute of every game as he is being asked to do at Arsenal. It’s going to take time for him to adapt and we just need to be patient, because he’s a world class player and will be devastating when he gets used to England football.

What are your thoughts on a potential return for RVP and Ozil’s form?

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