Mesut Ozil is an outstanding footballer, on his day he is amongst the worlds best, able to pull the strings from midfield and cause mayhem within even the most experienced of defensive lines.
Indeed his brief spell at Arsenal has seen a continuation of this theme with the German slotting in with apparent ease and in the main leading what is now an imperious gunners midfield line. He has already created 23 chances from his first 8 Premier League games and returned a couple of goals in the process, he is by most people’s reckoning the stand-out new addition to any of the top sides in the country.
Sunday was different though; a previously hapless United side were able to blunt an Arsenal side that came into the encounter with unerring confidence. The pre-match talk was about Arsenal continuing to display their credentials by putting the champions to the sword, something that Ozil himself echoed.
The result won’t in itself concern Wenger, Arsenal are still top of the league and sitting pretty going into the international break. The point of worry though is the manner in which United were able to stifle Arsenal’s attacking abilities, a previously free-flowing outfit restricted to a tentative and laborious approach which was perhaps more reminiscent of their North London revivals.
Ozil epitomised this pattern and those that hacked his twitter account to update his location to Phil Jones pocket had hit the nail on the head. Everyone is allowed the odd off game, but for Ozil his main criticism in the past has been his persistent tendency to blow hot and cold. Arsenals don’t want a luxury; for £42.5m they want dependable world-class quality.
This isn’t an anomaly, he did at Real Madrid and he has already put in less than convincing displays against the likes of Crystal Palace and West Brom. His wild fluctuations from game to game are a definite cause for concern considering the importance that Arsenal have placed in their record signing.
I don’t doubt Ozil’s ability at all, in fact I think it was a huge aberration by Madrid that actually allowed him to leave in the first place, but his innate ability is the reason to be frustrated. The worlds best put in top performances week in week out and even when they don’t they still only did to a 7/10 showing rather than becoming as anonymous as Ozil. Even if they don’t influence the game in the main, they are still there make that killer pass or finish when their side need it, but with Ozil this just doesn’t seem to be the case.
Even with Arsenal’s impressive start there are still concerns about the squad as a whole, if Ozil is having an off-day is there the quality around him to pick up the slack? The likes of Arteta, Cazorla and Rosicky are all important components to the Arsenal set-up but in my opinion they are peripheral figures, Ozil is the keystone and without him Arsenal slide from being a top class side to just being on a par with a number of their divisional rivals.
The hope of course is that this will just be a transitional phase, a few months in England and Wenger may well have teased this worrying trait out of the German. That said it doesn’t seem like a simple issue, whether it is a fitness issue, a tactical one or simply a motivational one it is certainly not as simple as it might seem.
In Wenger Arsenal have one of Europe’s best and most experienced coaches, he will understand the importance of a consistently performing Ozil and you would imagine he would see this as an urgent priority.
Sunday was far from definitive for Arsenal; maybe it will act as a much needed wake up call to a side that seemed near invincible before. Arsenal may be making great strides towards ending the trophy drought but clearly this isn’t going to be an easy journey.
Ensuring their best player is consistently playing at his peak is paramount to the Arsenal title challenge and as it stands a notable concern for the Arsenal faithful.
Is it time Ozil started putting in consistent world-class performances for Arsenal now?