BY NISAR KHAN
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| Mesut Özil has not lived up to the mark as of late. IMAGE COURTESY: Telegraph.co.uk |
Mesut Ozil was acquired by the Gunners on the deadline day of the Summer transfer window, as Arsenal splashed out a club-record fee of over £42 million for the German midfielder.
Debuting in Arsenal’s 3 – 1 victory over Sunderland, Mesut Ozil impressed many who were skeptical about the Gunners’ signing of him – just eleven minutes in providing another trademark assist. From then on in, he proved to be an important part for Arsenal as they climbed to the top of the Premier League, solidifying themselves as title contenders.
Going into the New Year, and the decline would slowly begin. As of 11 February 2014, Mesut Ozil had scored four goals for his club, while dishing out eight assists in twenty Premier League apps (per WhoScored). While they may be some decent statistics, is that what we could expect of a star worth over £40 million?
It’s easy to understand that every player has their slump in form, and it is most likely that Mesut Ozil will get up and going again – but what if it’s too late? With Arsenal’s schedule in the next two months a very tough one that could make or break their title hopes, does Ozil have time to recover? If Arsenal want to get through the tough schedule, they need to look in Ozil’s direction, the £40 million price tag came with that responsibility.
Since Mesut Ozil is a midfielder, one of his key jobs on the pitch is to pass. With an average of 1.4 crosses per league game, is he really creating enough chances? That could be the key as to why his assist count is too low for comfort.
On to more passing statistics, the German has an 88% pass success rate, while just under three key passes per game. The worrying thing is though, that this shows a tale of two very different half-seasons for the German, one where he impressed and then it was a much different story after Christmas, where concern would amount.
Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger defended his record signing on Tuesday, commenting on the performance that brought all of Ozil’s criticisms to light, after they were demolished by Liverpool in the weekend.
Passing can’t always be perfect, and most can accept that. But as a midfielder you need to put in some minimum of defense, and obviously Mesut Ozil’s failure to do so would result in the 25-year-old becoming subject to criticism.
While Arsene Wenger defended his player saying he had a bad day, defense like this is unacceptable in the Premier League.
Mesut Ozil in fact backs off in the above image, having been in a better situation to clear from the corner, Martin Skrtel’s run should have caused no trouble and fell straight to the German. Whether it was a lapse of concentration or whatever else, it cost them the second goal which in such a high level of football, defense is part of the package, and you need to treat that as fundamental for winning games.
It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to the criticism that has accumulated in numerous stories around the web following his lackluster performance against Liverpool.
The key concept is that Mesut Ozil was brought at such a price to help Arsenal contend for the league, with him not doing that, and other key players like Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott out of action, that price tag is combined with more pressure on him to perform. Arsene Wenger is a reasonable manager, and will most likely give Mesut Ozil the time to revamp his play and prove pivotal for Arsenal.
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