Friday, March 29, 2024

What has happened to Mesut Ozil?

Arsenal's club-record signing Mesut Ozil has been criticised for his recent displays for the Gunners

Arsenal’s club-record signing Mesut Ozil has been criticised for his recent displays for the Gunners

There are murmuring amongst Arsenal fans that they are not happy with the recent performances of club-record signing Mesut Ozil.

The Germany international playmaker arrived in north London for a fee of £42million from Real Madrid in August and brought with him a big reputation.

Mood changer

When Ozil joined the Gunners, suddenly the mood around the club went from one of doom and gloom to jubilation because everybody associated with Arsenal believed they were signing a truly world-class playmaker in the German.

The signing gave everybody a lift at the club, including Ozil’s new Arsenal teammates and the Gunners started to produce confident performances. The German assisted on his debut and then produced two assists on his home debut, but in recent games his influence has majorly waned.

Mistakes

Ozil made some crucial mistakes in Arsenal’s 5-1 hammering at Liverpool on Saturday. He gave the ball away for two of Liverpool’s goals and looked languid all afternoon. This was not the same played that arrived to the big fanfare in August.

Fitness

Mesut Ozil was regarded as a player that could not complete 90 minutes in Madrid, much to Jose Mourinho’s annoyance last season. In his three years at the Bernabeu he hardly ever played for 90 minutes, which is incredible to think for a player of just 25.

Ozil has completed 90 minutes on 11 occasions for the Gunners and it seems that his body simply cannot take the demands of completing a full football match. Ozil should be attempting to get fitter and stronger.

Instead it seems that he is just happy with being a player that struggles with fitness problems and the physicality of the Premier League. La Liga is a much less physical league than the English top-flight and maybe that is why Ozil is now struggling.

In La Liga, Ozil could afford to be less strong than a lot of his opponents, because his skill and vision made up for his lack of strength. However, in the Premier League he is struggling to make use of his best assets because he looks constantly fatigued.

Arsenal have lost some key players in the middle of the park this season, so Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been unable to give the Germany international a rest. It is obvious to most people that Ozil is in dire need of a rest.

Unfortunately, Wenger is now in a position where he has to play the players who are not injured or suspended. He cannot afford to rest Ozil at such a crucial time in the season for the Gunners.

Downturn

Ozil losing form and Arsenal losing form at the same time is no coincidence. In truth the Gunners have not been playing particular well for a good while, but their solid defence and individual performances have bailed them out on a number of occasions.

That defence was breached spectacularly by Liverpool’s SSSAS on Saturday. The Reds made Arsenal’s previously solid defence look very leaky with four goals in the opening 20 minutes and Ozil contributed in a way most Gunners fans would not expect, by gifting the Reds the ball.

The German’s performance against Liverpool was his worst in an Arsenal shirt, but everybody has off days. The Liverpool game showed that even the Gunners star playmaker can get it badly wrong.

The former-European assist king has not been creating many goals of late either, with just one assist in his last eight appearances and no goals. Prior to that he had created eight goals and scored a further four in the opening months of his Arsenal career.

There is no doubt about it Mesut Ozil needs to do more for his team. His teammates and fans are looking for him to be the inspirational figure in midfield, the playmaking wizard who can create goals from nothing. At the moment he is just a very expensive passenger.

Too much

When he arrived at the Emirates Stadium, Mesut Ozil was hailed as the man that would turn Arsenal into genuine title challengers. There is problem though, however highly-rated Mesut Ozil is, he is still human.

Maybe too much is being expected of the Germany international. Everybody in the football world knew that he was not the fittest or strongest football, but accepted it because of his ability to create goalscoring opportunities.

If he is not creating chances for his teammates though, then Mesut Ozil is almost obsolete. He serves little purpose in the Arsenal team at the moment. With a tough run of fixtures coming up maybe it is not the best time to rest the Germany international.

However, if the Gunners want to see the best of the mercurial Ozil, then they will have to accept his physical limitations and give him a rest at some point, or he will just become a very expensive liability to the team.

What has happened to Mesut Ozil?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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  • Eric tavarez

    0 0

    This kinda proves that being an amazing player in spain doesnt mean you wil be in the uk

    my congrats to c ronaldo!
    This also proves how good he is!
    Was lord and master at man united- went to spain and barely needed time to adapt- wel even in his ” adapting time” he scoared more goals then other players

    I start to wonder… How messi wil do in the uk….
    With him being fast ok…. Might help
    But stil
    You got squat if your just fast.. But not strong enough- or low on stamina…

  • Juan

    0 0

    Wel.. Modric had to get used to the change of competition. When he moved from totenham to real madrid. Fans etc. Where skeptic also
    Saying he was kinda usseles… And a stupid mourinho buy. But look now! I would rate modric one of the best central midfieldera of real.
    And hes doing a good job, just had to get used to the. Spanish-counter/attacking speed and it took him half a year or more.!

    Ok ozil is younger, but WE KNOW his stamina is uhm wel kinda crappy for somone his age….
    So in a competition like the epl…. He rly is at a disatvantage…

    But if wenger does give him some rest, buys a better forward who actualy scores goals and if us fans give him a year or more
    He WIL adapt!

  • cloud

    0 0

    that’s a bit harsh calling someone a tw*t.

    but i have to agree with david here. ozil, even during his time at madrid is always regarded as a man WHO CREATES GOALS, not MAKE GOALS. He is an assist-man. But let’s give him some time to adjust to the physicality of the EPL. Maybe in time he will learn to do his usual ( assist ) thing and be able to avoid heavy tackles or heavy handed defenders.

    coz, i would also say the same to Juan Mata in United. give him time.

    • David Nugent

      0 0

      To be honest cloud I was a big fan of Ozil at Real Madrid and do rate him as a player, but as you say he will need time to get used to the physicality of the Premier League.

  • EnragedFootballFan

    0 0

    Agreed with the physicality of premier league but Ozil serves no purpose if he’s not assissting? Have you watched any of Arsenal’s game this season? Or his in particular? His passing and off the ball runs have provided team mates to make room for a pass or run through the defense. That doesn’t count? Mind you he’s playing in a team devoid of runners who can stretch the opponent’s defense. (Ramsey and Walcott) By the way who made you a pundit, you tw*t?

    • David Nugent

      0 0

      First of all if you are going to comment I would appreciate it if you kept it clean. I watch every Arsenal game, in my capacity of an Arsenal blogger as well. Maybe I overreacted with my assessment that Ozil serves no purpose if he is not assisting, but that his main job in the team. He arrived as the player that had supplied the most assists in European football over the last few years, yet has not done his job in recent games.

      Did Ozil create space for his teammates in the Liverpool game? no he did not! So you are saying that a £42million player is unable to play his best football without players like Ramsey and Walcott? Maybe you are just one of those Ozil-fanboys, who only sees the good in the German just because he is the club-record signing!

  • EnragedFootballFan

    0 0

    Agreed with the physicality of premier league but Ozil serves no purpose if he’s not assissting? Have you watched any of Arsenal’s game this season? Or his in particular? His passing and off the ball runs have provided team mates to make room for a pass or run through the defense. That doesn’t count? Mind you he’s playing in a team devoid of runners who can stretch the opponent’s defense. (Ramsey and Walcott) By the way who made you a pundit, you tw*t?

    • David Nugent

      0 0

      First of all if you are going to comment I would appreciate it if you kept it clean. I watch every Arsenal game, in my capacity of an Arsenal blogger as well. Maybe I overreacted with my assessment that Ozil serves no purpose if he is not assisting, but that his main job in the team. He arrived as the player that had supplied the most assists in European football over the last few years, yet has not done his job in recent games.

      Did Ozil create space for his teammates in the Liverpool game? no he did not! So you are saying that a £42million player is unable to play his best football without players like Ramsey and Walcott? Maybe you are just one of those Ozil-fanboys, who only sees the good in the German just because he is the club-record signing!

  • cloud

    0 0

    that’s a bit harsh calling someone a tw*t.

    but i have to agree with david here. ozil, even during his time at madrid is always regarded as a man WHO CREATES GOALS, not MAKE GOALS. He is an assist-man. But let’s give him some time to adjust to the physicality of the EPL. Maybe in time he will learn to do his usual ( assist ) thing and be able to avoid heavy tackles or heavy handed defenders.

    coz, i would also say the same to Juan Mata in United. give him time.

    • David Nugent

      0 0

      To be honest cloud I was a big fan of Ozil at Real Madrid and do rate him as a player, but as you say he will need time to get used to the physicality of the Premier League.

  • Juan

    0 0

    Wel.. Modric had to get used to the change of competition. When he moved from totenham to real madrid. Fans etc. Where skeptic also
    Saying he was kinda usseles… And a stupid mourinho buy. But look now! I would rate modric one of the best central midfieldera of real.
    And hes doing a good job, just had to get used to the. Spanish-counter/attacking speed and it took him half a year or more.!

    Ok ozil is younger, but WE KNOW his stamina is uhm wel kinda crappy for somone his age….
    So in a competition like the epl…. He rly is at a disatvantage…

    But if wenger does give him some rest, buys a better forward who actualy scores goals and if us fans give him a year or more
    He WIL adapt!

  • Eric tavarez

    0 0

    This kinda proves that being an amazing player in spain doesnt mean you wil be in the uk

    my congrats to c ronaldo!
    This also proves how good he is!
    Was lord and master at man united- went to spain and barely needed time to adapt- wel even in his ” adapting time” he scoared more goals then other players

    I start to wonder… How messi wil do in the uk….
    With him being fast ok…. Might help
    But stil
    You got squat if your just fast.. But not strong enough- or low on stamina…

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