A brutal assessment of why Arsenal are better without Ozil in the team

Ozil is finally at his best for Arsenal by ThirdManJW

Ozil is now more effective than he’s ever been during his Arsenal career. How is that possible though, when he hasn’t played for over a half a year? Well that’s the point!

No Ozil, has meant a far better team spirit on the pitch. A player’s performance, and attitude, can often be very influential, and infectious, especially with big names like Ozil. When your team mates see a star player performing well, working hard, and fighting for the badge, it drives everyone one on. Football is a team sport though, and one should never expect just one player to do everything. Not everyone will contribute to success or failure equally, but there has to be a minimal requirement of working hard from the players, at any club. That’s where Ozil falls short.

He’s petulant on the pitch. He’s lazy. He doesn’t fight hard for the ball. All the things you don’t want your other players exposed to! For too long this has affected the rest of our team. Before Arteta, Arsenal were one of the worst teams around, off the ball, and Ozil has always led the way. Jogging back, no pressing, no tackling, falls to the ground at the slightest touch from an opponent. It’s been embarrassing to watch a so called “world class” player perform like that, even as a captain at times, and it’s been so detrimental to the team. It sets a terrible example, especially to young players as well.

One of the biggest reasons we’re performing so well as a unit now, in regards to players, is because of Aubameyang. His performances have been brilliant, but it’s his hard work off the ball, which has really helped change things for the better. Seeing a world class striker, and your best player, back in our own box at times defending, effects everyone. Team mates will then join in when they see this, opponents know they’re in for a tough game, and it really gets the fans on board. It sets the standard for the team.

As fans, we don’t expect a player to be brilliant every game, but what we do expect, is that said player at least tries! That they work hard. During his time at Arsenal, Ozil hasn’t been our worst player in regards to performances, but he has been the worst when it comes to work rate. The same lazy excuses often crop up from those defending him, with useless stats. Ozil covers more ground than most, is one of them. Well he should be covering more ground than most, given the fact he was almost always given a free role. And the stat doesn’t tell us how effective Ozil’s ground covering has been, because as the naked eye will tell us, the guy almost NEVER sprints! Whether it’s to join an attack, or to help out defensively, sprints do not happen for him! He doesn’t press either. Once you dig a little deeper into this stat, one can see that it doesn’t mean a lot.

Another excuse for his lack of work rate, tackling, etc, is because that’s not part of his game. As a playmaker, such things should be beneath him. Well it was part of Cesc’s, and Santi’s games, and KDB these days, so why not Ozil? If Ozil was devastating in the final third, then maybe one could ignore his lack of work rate, and lack of defensive responsibility, but he isn’t!

The way Arteta has got us playing at the moment, specifically, the defensive side of the game, and work rate, just isn’t possible with Ozil. His absence has allowed the rest of the players to really develop into a solid unit, with hard work at the forefront of everything we do. Once Ozil has finally left the club, then a huge part of the off-field problems will be over as well, which again, will help the club progress.

Although, I will feel sorry for Gunnersaurus when Ozil leaves!

ThirdManJW