You know how there are always divisions amongst fanbases on issues, right, and particularly among Arsenal fans? Well, today I fancy talking about Mesut Özil, who seems to be flavour of the month in terms of dividing people. But interestingly enough, it’s not the Arsenal fanbase I’m looking at today, but the media. Because it’s the media that seem to be divided on him. That I find really interstesting.

It’s interesting because there seem to be two opinions that have formed over the last 24 to 48 hours since we went out to Monaco. There are those that have suggested that Özil was one of the stand out performers in the game, always involved in Arsenal’s build up and one of the best performers on the night. But there are others that have pushed the line that he once again flattered to deceive his lofty price tag of over a year and a half ago.

I took to my Twitter account yesterday to see what was going on and found an almost unanimous appreciation for the performance of our German playmaker. Blogs, Tweets and people in real life all agreed that he had been excellent. But this was no ‘newsflash’ to most Gooners, for we have seen Özil improve game-after-game since returning from injury earlier in the year, so most Arsenal fans I know on and offline have thought similar to me. So I had to smile when certain pockets of the media began spreading their toxic fumes of discontent for a player who Football365’s excellent Mediawatch page called an ‘easy target’ for clicks.

Apparently a few select individuals have chosen to call Özil’s performance disappointing, with Mediawatch citing one journo who I won’t name (it will only increase the profile of a person who would be getting exactly what they want from their idiotic bile) who basically accuses Özil of faking injury last year at the Bayern game. Hilarious in its ridiculousness I know, but this person earns money to talk about football and chooses to drag out false reasons from over a year ago to bash an easy target for clicks?? Do you think that journo goes home at night thinking that they’ve made a career as a professional journalist successful by trolling football fans in print and online? If they’re a qualified journalist, I wonder if that person thinks “yes, this is what I studied for for all those years, click-whoring a story for a sensationalist headline”? I’d hope not, but I wouldn’t be surprised. 

So after reading this extract, in which the individual doesn’t actually talk about the present to back up their article, I found myself smiling. I was smiling because Mediawatch also highlighted a number of other journalists who had praised his performance and it occured to me; the more some sections of the media highlight the moronic and lazy journalists who are picking a narrative that is no longer relevant (because we as fans know that Özil has performed well over the last month or so), the more their own credibility will be undermined. It will not just be the Arsenal fans who are able to appreciate Mesut, but the rest of the easily swayed masses who read what some of these idiots write and assume it to be gospel. Those who regularly watch Arsenal – I include the journos too here – will continue to recount the good performances of our club record signing. Those who continue to try and ride the ‘Özil’s nicking a living’ wave of click-baiting will only serve to make themselves look more stupid. 

That’s why I smiled. Because I know that people like those at TalkShite who don’t watch an Arsenal game and then judge a player on the hearsay of another, will only turn the real fans away from them, leaving us with people who actually can provide insight on performances rather than keep the online advertisers happy.

So carry on with your uneducated populist clap-trap, you lazy journos of the world, because you’re doing yourselves no favours. And that’s ok by me.