10 Things We Learned About Arsenal from FA Community Shield Win over Chelsea

3. Mesut Ozil needs a Central Role

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When Mesut Ozil first came to Arsenal, Wenger used him on the left flank. It was frustrating, counterproductive, and caused a lot of discontent towards the Ozil signing.

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However, once moved into the central, No. 10 role, Ozil looked absolutely brilliant and made it clear that he should be playing nowhere else.

While I think that Arsenal should have deployed a 4-2-3-1 with Cazorla on the left wing and Ozil in the middle, Wenger instead opted for a 4-3-3 formation with Ozil forced to the left side. He was not nearly as effective. He still did a good degree of creating as he led the team in key passes, but his 80% pass completion is very un-Ozil like and the midfield Mozart only touched the ball 56 times, just about as many times as Nacho Monreal touched it.

Ozil needs to be the fulcrum upon which this offense pivots and he can only do that from the central No. 10 role. That should not be a concern though, as Arsenal will (hopefully) revert back to a 4-2-3-1 when Alexis returns.

Next: Number 2