There has been a lot of talk about Mesut Ozil’s recent form and lack of desire on the pitch – but who is really to blame for the German’s downward spiral since the turn of the year?
I’m sorry to say it but although Ozil hasn’t lived up to our expectations and is the one who has to perform but Arsene Wenger has to take a share of the blame, and here’s why.
Ozil is an attacking midfielder, who possesses great vision, passing ability and can create moments of magic in an instance, and many will agree that his best position, the role you will get the best out of him, is behind the striker, not on the wing where Wenger has been deploying him for many of his games since his arrival last summer.
The 25-year-old isn’t blessed with pace, nor the stamina to operate on the wings, especially in the Premier League. Yes he did feature a lot for Real Madrid on the wings, but he had players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo, Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain (when he was at the Bernabeu) and Angel Di Maria all offered him runs and space to play the ball into – he didn’t have to do track back, all he had to do was attack and create. At Arsenal, however, it’s a different story.
Wenger should realise where the German international’s best position is and where he could get the best out of him. The Frenchman should know that the wide position isn’t suited to Ozil, and while many of us complain about the lack of passion and poor form, we should also take into consideration that he is playing in a position he is not comfortable in. Wenger did the same with Andrey Arshavin – we all knew his best position was behind the striker yet Arsene always stuck him out of the wing, which contributed to his poor form and eventual departure.
Its Ozil’s first season at Arsenal and it will take time for him to adjust to the Premier League. But to be honest, although he has hit a blip in form, Mesut has had a decent enough return so far in the Premier League, scoring four goals and has one eight assists to his name – one less leaders Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney.
Yes Ozil hasn’t pulled his weight in terms of tracking back but he isn’t and never has been one to do so, and I believe Wenger’s decision to play him out wide has – to a degree – contributed to his poor form.
Hopefully, when the German returns from his rest, Wenger will play him in the hole behind the striker and give him license to express himself in this position.
Yes i do throughly agree with you. I am a die hard Arsenal supporter since 1970 while in school.
For player to deliver the position he has played with previous team is very important. To ask him to play in other position will not make him a star player you hope for.
please wenger ! You are not employed as a finance manager to make more money for Arsenal stakeholder.
You are to bring silverware for the fan to savour.
Agree, with most of it though ozil has not been deployed on the wing at all by wenger. In fact ozil always has a tendency to wide and also a tendency to drift in and out of matches. Great players often do that, it’s what makes them.
As for ozil getting criticised for defending I don’t understand that either. He is basically.playing the bergkamp role for arsenal and I cannot recall anyone moaning at bergkamp for not defending. In fact I would have thought people would have moaned if he was defending.
The classification of ozil as a midfielder is the problem and also the 4231 formation. I mean Walcott and chamberlain are.listed as strikers yet play no further forward.than ozil. If we played 4411 like we used to with.ozil as the 1 behind the striker no one would expect him to defend.
Give him a striker like henry to play behind or ronalso or di maria to the side of him and watch beau gest go.
I dream for the day when we have Walcott ozil draxler playing behind a world class striker with wilshire and Ramsey holding
And rosicky cazorla podolski giroud sitting on the bench with arteta and Flamini the holding back up.
Gnabry chamberlain Campbell sanogo plus aneke and zelalem will be our young option looking on and chomping at the bit for their chance.
That to me is a well balanced line up that just needs a stable defence behind it. If we can just get sagna and vermaelen to stay plus sign another Cb we would then have 2 consistent defences with a young option of bellerin hayden ajayi ormonde-ottewill-ottewill-ottewill. Keeper Szczesney and casillas.with martinez or macey as the young option. That’s my squad of 34 and we only need 4 new signings to achieve that draxler casillas a Cb? and a world class striker. Fabianski Viviano djourou coquelin diaby kallstrom park and bendtner can be moved on whilst others like miquel eisfeld afobe ryo akpom toral Olsson still need to prove themselves out on loan
i agree wager is to blame also if u realise each time he plays cazola,welshare,ramsey,nabury etc out of position they will either under perform or they get lost i wonder why he does it not to put players in there best positions so as to get maximum output,he is to blame
He played many games as a winger according to you? thats news to me and I watch every game they play. He has pushed other central player out on the wing to keep him central is more like it.
Wenger Wenger Wenger ? That’s all you bang on about and then put in first reply grow up
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Your writing is fraught with mistakes that could be picked up by anybody who even closely resembles an editor. Because of this, your argument loses much of its otherwise merited credibility. Improve on this and the effect of your arguments will broaden.
*yawn*
Firstly why is anyone to blame for his poor form? It’s his first season in the prem and historically most players will struggle (look at the likes of Henry, Bergkamp, Pires). It’s a tough league to adapt to and no matter how much a player costs they still need time.
Secondly, Ozil isn’t being deployed on the wing as you say. We play 4-2-3-1 and the 3 attacking midfielders interchange throughout the game. It’s not rocket science and you don’t even need to watch the game to see it happening because all the pundits comment on it afterwards.