Arsenal FC and Their Mesut Ozil Problem
By Sam Limbert
After picking up the first win of the season against West Ham on Saturday, one of the main points of discussion has been about one man who wasn’t on the pitch against the Hammers, rather than those who secured Unai Emery’s first victory as head coach.
Ever since his move from Real Madrid, Mesut Ozil has been analysed differently to other players. His price tag and reputation meant that, somewhat understandably, more was expected of him compared to others in the team. The German has never been the sort of player that was going to take the ball on the half way line, dribble past a whole team and score 30 goals in a season, but the way he has been criticised by some, it still wouldn’t be enough even if he did that.
His game has always been about being an enabler. The rest of the team around him usually all look like better players when Ozil he plays well, but equally those around him need to be on it for Ozil to look his best.
He didn’t have a good game at Chelsea, so while Unai Emery is still tinkering with his team and trying out different combinations in his starting line-ups, Ozil being on the bench against West Ham wouldn’t have been unreasonable. Stories emerged in the lead-up to the game about a training ground dispute between Ozil and the head coach, before he then missed the game through an illness. Unai Emery said after the game that Ozil had a cold and there was nothing more to it.
Training ground bust-ups make for great newspaper headlines, but at this stage we have to take Unai Emery’s word for it that this was nothing more than Ozil feeling under the weather. It’s not the first time his immune system has let him down before a game if that is the case. There were pictures on Wednesday this week of Ozil back in training, so I would expect him to be involved in the squad again on Sunday against Cardiff.
While we don’t know if anything untoward did happen in training last week, it’s important to consider the summer that Mesut Ozil had as context to discussions about the German. Whether he earns £300,000 a week or not, Mesut Ozil is human and mentally what he has been through with Germany both on and off the pitch will have been immensely draining and upsetting.
On the pitch in the World Cup, he was playing in a failing team. It wasn’t his fault that Germany’s defence went AWOL against Mexico and that others then missed chances he created against South Korea. Off the pitch, there were clearly issues behind the scenes and Ozil courageously took the decision to step away from international football. In doing so, he highlighted important issues relating to migrants and racism as to why he felt unwelcome by some when playing for Germany.
The lack of support Ozil has received from other players in the national team, and most recently from Joachim Low, has been extremely disappointing and misses the point as to why Ozil stepped away. The claims of racism were directed at the German football federation rather than the team specifically itself. To have players and the coach come out and deny something that wasn’t levelled at them in the first place, seems like an attempt to sweep this under the carpet without actually investigating the allegations made by Ozil. Given how much Ozil has done for the German national team, the comments aren’t going to encourage him to reverse his decision any time soon.
To have this going on will have made it difficult for Ozil to start the season with a clear head. I just hope that Arsenal can support him properly after a difficult summer. As much as Arsenal need Ozil, Ozil arguably also needs Arsenal right now. Footballistically, Unai Emery and Ozil himself then have to work out the way to get the best from him on the pitch as when he’s playing well, he will undoubtedly help Arsenal win games and he makes football a joy to watch.
While Aaron Ramsey had a positive game in the number 10 position against West Ham, there were numerous moments in the match where I felt like the Gunners missed Ozil’s guile on the ball. Had Ozil been playing on Saturday, I think Arsenal would have controlled the game better as the German is usually excellent at making himself available to receive the ball from the central midfielders. That would then have potentially brought Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into the game a bit more.
Unfortunately, because of being the highest paid player, I can’t see the added scrutiny on Mesut Ozil becoming any less intense. But I want to see him back in the team because if Arsenal are going to make it back into the top four this season, they’ve got a much better chance of doing it with a firing Mesut Ozil.
