Much has been made of Mesut Ozil’s performances since his arrival at the Emirates last Summer, his early performances were mesmerising and it is true that he had gone off the boil a little to the end of last season where the German creative Midfielder seemed to be struggling with the physical demands of the Premier League. Some fans and the media appeared to have zoned in on his performances and labelled him as “lazy and “dis-interested” something that I would have to say is well wide of the mark.
Ozil carried a hefty price tag when Arsene Wenger captured the attacker from Real Madrid last season, £42.5 Million to be exact. He has his doubters that is for sure but are people expecting too much from him, even at Real Madrid he was never the most energetic of players but always offered a valuable quality something that Jose Mourinho knew how to harness. Mourinho has called Ozil ” The best No.10 he has ever worked with”, high praise indeed, the Chelsea boss even went on to mention how much the signing of Ozil would make Arsenal title contenders which is something that didn’t quite materialise but it was the sort of signing that would make other clubs take note of a new found ambition.
So what has gone wrong for “the wizard”? I’m not sure anything has, he still remains confident in his own ability and anyone that saw his performance at Aston Villa back in his familiar support striker role would have seen very encouraging signs. Last night was also encouraging, Ozil created 5 chances for other players which were spurned and had a 92% pass completion rate which says to me had is adept at keeping possession something that as a club Arsenal haven’t always been the best at on European nights.
Manchester United’s Angel Di Maria is a player that has been raved about by United fans and media pundits alike, whereas Ozil is constantly ridiculed. I am still scratching my head as to why ex players don’t see what many Arsenal fans see. You cannot fault these stats they are impressive for a player who if reports are to be believed is suffering from a World Cup hangover, just imagine what he will be like when he shakes that off. Whether it is media bias or just sheer ignorance the stats don’t lie, they are there in black and white.
While we are at it lets quash another myth shall we, Ozil’s supposed “awful” World Cup displays, statistically he was up there with the best, Messi was once again lauded with every breath he took, once again Ozil was used as a scapegoat through misguided opinions and accusations.
As you can see Ozil was more than a match and very rarely gave the ball away, I would rather have an efficient footballer that keeps the ball and keeps creating chances than an ordinary footballer that runs around like a headless chicken for 90 minutes but is labelled ” a hard worker”. The so called “flop” is looking happy and I would now expect Mesut to now kick on and put a run of performances together and become the kind of enigmatic player he was at the Bernabeu. There is no doubt about it, Ozil has to play in his infamous Support Striker role which is where he does the damage, there are few more creative players in World Football when he is on his game. Ozil lasted 76 Minutes before being substituted last night in Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Galatasaray he was given a great ovation by the home support something that for some reason bewildered former West Ham defender turned media hack who wasn’t impressed with his performance. He claimed that Ozil should be doing more than he is, no-one seemed to say the same about Dimitar Berbatov who was a match winner in his Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United days but cut an disinterested figure at times much like Ozil.
Some journalists have even claimed Ozil could be sold in January, for me that is beyond insanity. I would love to know where they dream these stories up. Ozil is a valuable player and is only a few games away from setting the Premier league alight.