Remember when Mesut Ozil first arrived at Arsenal after his deadline day transfer from Real Madrid had sent us Arsenal fans into raptures of delight and disbelief and gave the under fire Arsenal team a real shot in the arm? The German started pretty strongly as well, producing a pinpoint assist on his debut, but there were soon concerns about his work rate and influence.
A lot of that came from how he plays, or appears to stroll around the pitch, and I have written plenty of articles defending Ozil and pointing out the things he does bring to the team and do well. However, the play maker did always seem to run out of juice and rarely finished a game in that first season and that was true of his time at Real Madrid as well.
So it was a real boost to see him full of running and popping up to seal the win over Bayern Munich in the 94th minute. And that was not unusual for the new Ozil because ever since he returned from injury last season the midfield maestro has looked stronger and fitter than ever. So as well as being able to help Arsenal blow teams away early on, as he did with a goal and an assist against Man United, he is still mentally and physically fresh enough to take advantage when the opposition tires, as happened with his two assists against Watford.
I do not think it is a coincidence that this has happened after Alexis Sanchez signed from Barcelona, because the Chilean could make a hyperactive gerbil on drugs look lazy. So I´m sure that the Alexis affect has worked on Ozil as well as the other Arsenal players. For me though, it looks like something has clicked in Ozil´s mind, perhaps a reaction to all the negative comments and criticism and a determination to prove people wrong. Or perhaps he now feels that Arsenal are going places and can win any major trophy.
Whatever has re-energised our number 11, long may it continue because he is an amazing player for us at the minute, scoring and assisting on top of his all round influence. So is Ozil now proving that he was well worth the money Arsenal spent on his transfer?
Ozil is not a Horsetype of a player. He plays slicky football and most of the time delivers. On the other hand you can have Ramsey,a player who runs and fight all 90min but his delivery has gone down since the begining of the season.
Ozil is integral part in our good run of results so fat. And Yes he is worthy avery penny.
I don’t think Ramsey has gone down, I just think he is simply being shown the way by having 3 players around him that are better ozil, alexis and cazorla (in a position that suits him) and of course Ramsey is playing in an unfavoured position.
One minute Ramsey is the best midfielder in the team now he is fighting with the likes of coquelin and chamberlain to be the 4th best midfielder. When welbeck and wilshire return he will have even more fight on his hands to make the starting x1.
Not so.long ago Ramsey was the best player for Wales and even the captain, but bale has emerged and now Ramsey is just the pick of the chasing the pack there……..for the time being.
However, I think he has what it takes to win his current fights, I don’t think he will.oust bale as the number or ozil, cazorla and alexis, but he will hive all the rest a good run for their money to prove he warrants a next best tag.
For me there are only 3 positions in our team that are open for the fight, that is CB where mertesacker has a big fight to keep out Gabriel, who is a totally different style of defender. At CF Giroud and Walcott are both showing their ability with completely different playing styles, whilst the right of the attacking 3 midfielders sees Ramsey and chamberlain currently competing, but when welbeck and wilshire return you will see 4 players all with different playing styles competing for that position.
The other 8 have pretty much nailed down their starting positions and are only really threatened when rest is required or injury and suspension takes it toll. That to me is fine, we finally have a core.and I am totally comfortable with that.
Ozil has always been high on my list, seen him play at madrid as well, his game is all about beautiful passes, threading the needle, incredible vision, selflessness, perfect weighted balls, he is the guy that makes other players look better, just saying
Ozil is a genius. It’s only his personality I think. Shy people develop late in big stages. And now he has.
I think Alexis has had an effect as well.
I any case yes, Ozil looks like he has found some good coffee
He just need to add goals to his name along with the usaual assits.
The player of his quality should score 10 to 15 PL goals every season.
He just needs to hit the ball little stronger. He can develope wilshire like skils od scoring as his shot will definately be perfectly placed,
only thing missing is abit of power. I am sure Wenger knows that and we can quckly seen a player scoring 15 goals and 15 assits a seaosn in PL
OT:
“Does this show Arsenal CAN win Champions League?”
Very rational title, you guys took it too far …
Listen Baby Please
Ozil is WC and brilliant passer of the ball
But with Alexis, Cazorla, Koscielny, Cech and rest of the team, when united, consistent and hard working we will achieve great things
It takes a whole team of talent to win trophies
i think every of our attack minded players now express them self more bcos of the assurance nd team play of Coq.
i watched some of our matches against the big teams again nd having Arteta as DM was like having a free space for fast opponents.
Ozil work rate as certainly improved but let us all pray that le Coq stay injury free especially for the high intensity games.
Completely agree, without Coq our midfield loses half its ability, he’s just as important to our attack like Cech is to the defence
He wants the Balon D’or. No mystery there, he just knows that to win it he must score more and make more assists.
My guys Galen and GOONSTER on here have knocked Mesut for quite some time; saying that he should be sold, benched, too soft, doesn’t work hard enough, not right for this team, etc.
I told them then and will tell them now, for Mesut it always came down to the people around him, and more importantly, the tendencies of those around him — primarily the number 9. When Arsene doesn’t get the balance right and we have Giroud as the 9 (constantly coming back to get the ball allowing the opposing back line to push forward and compress the space), and Ramsey on the wing (cutting in or drifting in to get on the ball) that’s 2 of the 3 front men coming back and drifting inward, which compresses the space where Mesut operates. With Theo now forcing the opposing back line to play a bit deeper because of his pace, that immediately opens up room for Mesut, and provides him a vertical option to thread balls in behind for. Alexis provides a wide and vertical option to receive the ball, while still dribbling inward, he at least starts wide and dribbles in, versus running/starting in-field like Ramsey. 2 of the 3 front men are now providing width and vertical options.
It’s no surprise that when super-sub Giroud comes in he’s immediately paired with the ox (who will stay wide and offer a vertical option) so that we maintain 2 of the 3 front men providing width and vertical options. All of this opens up space for Mesut to do what he does best.
It’s quite obvious how the technical ability of Santi and defensive stability and pace of Le Coq benefit him as well. The faith that Arsene has in him has allowed Mesut to heed Arsene’s belief that he can score more goals. The old Mesut would’ve passed the ball at the top of the box in the 1st half to Ramsey, but instead he shot right-footed and forced a save out of Neuer.
With 2 of the 3 front men providing the right options, the big teams can no longer compress the field and space on top of Mesut. Hopefully he and the boys can maintain this recent run, establish some consistency and put in the proper performance against Everton this weekend.
Lack of squad depth due to injury and lack of purchases in probably the biggest concern at this point, and may cause us to slip a time or to. I really hope not.
COYG!!!