Is this Arsenal star really the way to get best from Ozil?

Even though the Arsenal and France international forward Olivier Giroud has an impressive goal record in the Premier League this season, going by how many minutes it has taken him to score, there have not been too many Arsenal fans calling for Arsene Wenger to start him more often.

That is because of the excellent performances that we have been seeing from Alexis Sanchez in his new central role, but according to a report in The Mirror the former Chelsea star and current pundit Pat Nevin thinks we may be missing a trick with the powerful Frenchman.

One question that has been raised a lot about the Gunners since the two damaging away defeats in a row to Everton and Man City is the one about Mesut Ozil and how to make sure that he has an impact for us in every game. Nevin reckons that having Giroud as the centre forward is the way, as his ability as a target man gets the whole team further forward and that allows more space for the German play maker to work his magic.

He said, “People always have a go at Giroud when he plays in a big game and he’s not holding the ball up.

“But he’s pushing everything further forward, he’s heading balls down and people like Ozil get more time on the ball.”

Maybe he is right and the fact that Ozil is getting into scoring positions more often but only has two EPL assists to his name so far backs up that theory. Perhaps we should also take note of the stats on Squawka.com that show that for the amount of playing time in the league this season, Giroud has a better rate of scoring and assisting than Ozil, Alexis and Theo Walcott and Ozil has the lowest of the lot with just 0.13 per 90 minutes.

So could Giroud help Arsenal get the best from Ozil? Is it time for Wenger to give his fellow countryman a few more starts?

Bob.

7 Comments

  1. I don’t understand why Wenger doesn’t play Lucas more often

    He can play on the left and up front
    Maybe he can improve on Iwobi and Ox on the left.

    I still think Giroud is better off the bench as a Super Sub. Alexis is fine up front

    Alexis has 12 PL goals and 6 assists and its just the last week of December. He will easily hit 20 goals if healthy

  2. Maybe but not a valid reason to justify the disappearing act of Özil in the last game and specially the lack of assists. Unlike others vilifying him and putting him to the sword isn’t the thing to do! He is still world class to me and should do better, simple. Specially in the midst of a contract negotiation where he is rumoured to be asking for top dollars.
    On another note he’s given some balls that are forward players (except Sanchez) haven’t been able to finish.
    At least he is scoring more but should have done better against Everton.
    All in all I’m expecting a response from him in are next 6 games which are all winnable games!
    And why the hell is Lucas not playing more are left side is up for grabs maybe that can help!

  3. Personally I don’t care for assists. More important is chances created. At the end of the day an assist only gets recorded if the person on the end of a chance created actually scores. Ozil can create 100 chances and get no assists if Sanogo is up front, doesn’t make ozil shit?

    A week before the city game arsenal went top of the league and everyone was crowing. That was 2 matches ago, but now with 21 matches still to play, it is all over.

    Ffs, gimme a break. The squad will be strengthened over the next month with the return of Mertesacker, Welbeck, mustafi, ramsey and hopefully cazorla, and chamberlain. Who knows we might even make a signing???

    This season has a long way to go, my big fear is the reliance on alexis and ozil, if they are off form, where is the match winners?

    1. this was my point in an earlier article, where are the game changers when Ozil goes missing and Sanchez is attempting to do it all by himself? theres no one who can turn the game on the spin of a coin its certain NOT giroud in my opinion

  4. I wonder if we could handle afew formation changes? Wenger seems to be the only manager rigidly sticking to 442. Only when the chips are really down with defeat staring us in the face does he bring in Sunday league tactics, ie take off the players who score the least goals. The trouble is elneny and Gibbs are not the answer either.

    Personally, I would rather see a free scoring academy player like mavididi or nketiah coming on. But more importantly could we get better from the first team by playing 4321, 4141, 433, 442, 4132 or 3 at the back even?

  5. I miss when Giroud played up front and all we needed was a 20 plus goalscorer, along with a quicker CB and a better option than Flamini. Maybe that was true but it arrived too late for Wenger it would seem. I’m not saying we’re out of this race, but if the team doesn’t sort themselves out well then it could be only a matter of time. If this was between 2004 2007 or eight we would be out of the race. I think we will get a chance to get close to top again but what happens then and after that you’d have to have concerns. I hear the players cancelled the christmas party due to fans backlash, in truth I don’t think it is the party that the players fear disapproval, it is the fixture if lost. Lets hope they keep this commitment throughout the season, I don’t think you’d find many other clubs willing to cancel the christmas party.

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