Should Arsenal use Ozil or Sanchez as regular No10?

Mesut Ozil could be given the central midfield role by Arsene Wenger in the upcoming Premier League season according to a report today.

Wenger is still trying to find the best way he can fit Ozil in his talent-laden midfield. The German world cup star has been shifted around Arsenal’s three attacking midfield slots. And still, Wenger couldn’t figure out a permanent slot for him.

Ozil is a record signing for the Gunners having arrived from Real Madrid in 2013 for a fee of £42 million. But Ozil had tough time in settling down at the club and hasn’t hit the heights that were expected of him. His last season was hampered by injury and had frustrating spells out because of injury.

The attacking midfield slot was alternated between Alexis Sanchez and Ozil for the last season. And when Ozil was out on the sidelines, Sanchez made it his own; and emphatically. His influence from the central attacking role helped the Gunners more than that of Ozil.

With Wenger looking to finally put Ozil in the central role, it would mean Sanchez will have to move to the wing. He also had a great Copa America in the central role and would have hoped to continue in that role for the new season. Sanchez scored 16 goals for Arsenal last year in 35 appearances while Ozil found the back of the net 4 times in 22 matches.

It would be difficult for Sanchez to not be the first choice for the central attacking role despite his impressive numbers. But Wenger is trying his best to coax the best out of his record buy. He believes that this could be the long term solution to fitting both Sanchez and Ozil in the attacking three.

Despite having a wealth of options in the attacking midfield position, this report reckons that Wenger is not apparently ruling out signing another winger this summer.

Before doing all that, Wenger would try to fit Ozil in the central role in the hope that he can find a key to his success. Do you think Ozil in the central attacking role will bring the best of him to the Emirates or should Wenger continue to give Sanchez free rein in that spot?

Sridhar

Tags Ozil Sanchez

44 Comments

  1. I want ramsey back in Midfield. He is the engine of our team. So that leaves us with Ozil or cazorla for number 10. That is why we wanted competition in the first place. Especially in big games you need Rambo and a DM infront of the back four.

    ——Coq—–Rambo—-

    ——–Ozil/Cazorla—–

    Cazorla is technically the most gifted player in our team. I don’t really care about price tags. I play cazorla as number 10 any day any time ahead of Ozil, jack, rambo or Mozart.

    1. sorry but I’ve never seen Sanchez play No. 10 for us. Right wing or left wing and was unsuccessfully used as a striker.

      1. where did u see me saying Sanchez should be our number 10? I said its between Ozil and Cazorla . I also said cazorla is the best number 10 in our squad. Just where did i mention sanchez as a number 10?

        1. I think he is referring to the article not your post. I too haven’t seen satchel play the no.10 role and I went every match last season. I too saw alexis play left, right and centre forward but never in the no.10 role. I actually love it just as it with coquelin in the dm role, Santi playing the deep playmaker and ozil playing the dadvanced playmaker. It’s exactly where you want your two most skilful players, right in the middle of the.park. With alexis coming off the left which is exactly what he prefers, it leaves theo giroud, Welbeck chamberlain. Wilshire and ramsey fighting for the remaining 2 places and the other 4 sitting on the bench.

          The rest of the midfielders and forwards arteta flamini rosicky Wellington and sanogo are simply competing with the under 21s zelalem, chambers hayden bielik gnabry akpom for a sniff of the action.

          Obviously I want to see more world class players at the club and I see approximately 10 players in our 27 man over 21 squad, whose coming season will be a bit part season if everyone is fit.

          For me this is our current best x1 and bench and is exactly how I would have it.

          …………………Cech
          Bellerin Gabriel koscielny Monreal
          …………….Coquelin
          …………….cazorla (c)
          ………Ramsey ozil alexis
          ………………Walcott

          Ospina Debuchy gibbs wilshire chamberlain Welbeck giroud

          Current Next best bench – Szczesney Jenkinson mertesacker arteta rosicky gnabry campbell

          Current 3rd best bench Martinez chambers hayden bielik zelalem wellington akpom

          Current 4th best bench Macey Moore pleguezuelo flamini crowley sanogo iwobi

          Not a bad 39 man squad there.

          1. i agree on some points. all the flamini hate aside, he is not in the worth team. you must be mad. you haven t even seen bielek kick a ball yet you think he is better than flame. flame can do a job, but i will agree we want better. but srsly no need to slag him off that hard. wtf

          2. Current best includes Ramsey out on the right?
            Over the Ox? Welbeck?
            I dont think so, Ramsey will drift into the middle like he did at the end of last season and help squash our team, he also lacks pace to get in behind the last man.

            Ramsey is a really intelligent player with a fantastic enguine to run all day long, brave and has some nice technique… but he isn’t a RW.

            Cazorla has done well NEXT to Coquelin as well, not just infront of him, he was alongside Coquelin and he made himself available to recieve the ball as soon as Coq won it back.

            Oh and I gotta ask why Per was left out?
            Is it because he is slow and the media makes fun out of him? Did you consider how well our def did over the WHOLE season dispite not having Coq for half of it and our GK situation didn’t pick up till after the new year… but we still had a damn good def!

            Per and Kos have great TEAMWORK.

            Gabriel hasn’t shown us he can replicate that teamwork YET, I would pick Per for now while admitting that Gabriel could change my mind given the oppertunity.

    2. so muzzi ozcan knows so well how to predict players transfer ……name em…..and when it comes to arsenal, he just goes anonymous and say its a big signing….. Said its a matter of few days…. A Few days then…. THE WORLD IS WATCHING!

    3. @galen, I do like Cazorla very much as well, and dont give a damn about price tags either but there is no way that he is as technically gifted as Ozil. The way Ozil sees a pass and moves the ball is beyond Cazorla’s ability. Having said that, an in-form Cazorla is much more preferable at the number 10 position then an out of form Ozil, that’s for sure.

  2. Ozil is our #10, wenger is building a team around him. Ozil is playing his best football after acclimating to the perm it’s not even a debate who should be our #10. Sanchez is world class as a winger and he has a license to roam and do what he pleases anyway

    1. @ at the author

      Do you watch arsenal at all? You said numerous times that arsene will “try and fit ozil in the center” when he has played there ALL year…..

      He only played on the flanks last year cause wenger has said numerous times that it is a learning tool. On top of it wenger played him on the LEFT purposely to make him work harder and help him adapt

      1. finally someone gets it! wenger is just a lot smarter than the average noob running his mouth

        1. I’m with you man it’s pretty sad how much wenger gets questioned. Everyone was saying how stupid wenger is for playing him on the left cause he’s better on the right, you don’t think wenger knows the #10 and the RW is ozil’s favorite/best positions?!!?! It was all part of the man’s plan

  3. Sanchez is so good he can play RB and LB. But I rather have him on the wings. In the modern game you need your energetic players outwide and sanchez has the speed to transition from defence to attack.
    Sanchez and Welbeck as LW
    Theo and OX as RW.
    Giroud / New striker for CF

    Sanchez as LW is very dangerous and when he cuts in u know he can shoot. Think of the liverpool goal and the Villa Fa cup final goal.

    1. i really don’t see a striker of real pedigree being available. OG got 14 goals in 24 appearances. and that with 3 MONTHS out. also vs the top 4. so everyone needs to chill. he does a great job. with Walcott being toted by wenger play centrally, i think we might be sorted.

      on the left wing: sanchez and welbeck to cover (also covers CF). sorted.
      on the right: the ox and __________?

      the ox is injured quite a bit. he is a gamechanger, he goes past people and i saw glimpses of his finishing. he hasn’t had a breakout season though. we are lacking goals from that right side of attack!!!
      i think wenger will find it easier to buy a goal-getting RW than a CF. just my hunch. if we can add goals from there too we’re sorted attack-wise

  4. why is that an issue? sanchez and ozil play well when alternating their roles but ozil is the ideal number 10. but what makes me happy today is poldi’s tweet he uses a #who is totenham and i liked it.that guy is one true gunner, hope he finds his scoring feet again. am proud to be a gooner.

  5. We sell either Sanchez or Ozil, or both, and then we don’t have to worry about who plays #10. #WarChest #CutTheFat

    1. or cloning cazorla into Sanchez and play him anywhere. he will be a world beater. better than Messiah and ronaldo

  6. Sanchez and Ozil had great chemistry in the 2nd half of last season…..Sanchez loves to cut in while Ozil drift to the flanks sometimes.. Maybe that their style, chemistry or that’s how Wenger set them up…Having said that, The number 10 goes to Ozil the KIng of assist for many yrs. He sees what alot of players doesn’t see. His vision is awesome. I feel we will see a better Ozil in the coming season….I think the Article should be Ozil or Santi for the number 10 position? Very close if we compare the latter as they are great players….Sanchez is terrific on that flank. If its not broken, dont fix it……

  7. that muzzi ozcan man just said Emenike to Al Ain and it’s been confirmed…
    pray he is right with us

  8. Never seen Alexis at No.10. But in fairness if you watch the 3 behind OG it is difficult to keep track of them on the pitch. Alexis clearly has licence to come inside off the left whenever he wants – and frankly that is nearly every time he gets the ball.

    1. Alexis played about two times as #10 last season. I think we even had an article on that here…

  9. i can not remember any game that saw Sanchez play no.10 i also can not remember when Ozil played on the left wing while Sanchez was in the field. LW is Alexis’s natural position as no.10 is for Ozil.

    1. RW is Sanchez’s “natural” position, this is his first year playing consistently on the left.

    2. Sanchez is a bit awkward on the LW. His natural position should be RW, but he doesn’t do much crossing. He likes to cut inside and shoot with his right. He’s more of an wide forward (like Ronaldo) than a true winger. We need a proper winger on the right to give us some width if we play Sanchez on the LW.

      1. I agree somewhat, I think wenger just needs to pull sanchez aside and tell him he has the option of going by-line! If he started mixing it up instead of cutting inside every time he’d be even more deadly and unstoppable.

        But like I said it’s really his 1st year playing on the left, I have no doubt he will be even better next yesr

  10. Sanchez-central mid? Don’t ring a bell
    Sanchez ozil and Rambo can be played in a fluid front three behind a striker .Sanchez with the license to peel off and run into the box during build up ,jus in case we’re playing giroud .Ramsey around the 18 yard box to cause an overload, ozil license to roam laterally.

  11. Would you be shocked if we got Di Maria from UTD and he has a blinder of a season with us? As crazy as it sounds I would love to have Di Maria at Arsenal. Wenger wanted him when we signed Ozil and also when he was playing in Portugal too. Form is temporary, Class is permanent. How’s this for an attack?
    Alexis———-Walcott———-Di Maria
    Ozil

    1. We lacked goals from the RW position last year which is something we need to address but di Maria is not the answer. He isn’t a natural scorer, he is more of a creative winger so I’d rather bring in Reus for less money. But wenger knows best

    2. Actually, no. I would not be shocked. He is a far better player than what Van Gaal was able to get from him. His price might be very good right now. Good chance to jump on it.

  12. We play a fluid front four. The LW and RW rarely stay wide and often come inside and quite often switch with the AM completely. For our style of play, Alexis is best utilised from wide so that he can cut in to shoot and also to terrorise the opponent’s fullback. Ozil is not as effective out wide but when he switches out there he can disrupt positions and cause additional problems. Best solution to positioning is to stick with what we have: Alexis LW/RW and Ozil AM.

  13. The German team no where to play him but AW don’t? As for sanz well the boy is all over the park so just let him play like that simple

  14. Muzzi Ozcan:
    Arsenal will be making the transfer of the season ! The deal isn’t to far from being complete ! Will update in the coming days.
    WTF, how does he know this?
    Who is it? Vidal, Benzema, Reus, Goetze or Lewandowski ???
    Benzema for me!!!

  15. I still say this is not serious. If you asked about Ozil vs. Cazorla it might make more sense – and still would not be a good reason for change.

    Wenger finally has the situation working well – Ozil in the middle, Sanchez on the left, Cazorla operating from deeper. Why change it when the mix is FINALLY working??? Just need to solidify the RW – Ox for me.

  16. …………..1
    2…….5………6………3
    ………….4
    ………….8
    7……….10……….11
    …………..9

    1-11 how easy was it then?

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