Alexis Sanchez Can Learn From Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal Impact

Arsenal have two seriously special athletes in Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Both have acclimated very well, but there is one thing that Alexis Sanchez can still learn from Mesut Ozil.

The two biggest name signings of the past decade for Arsenal are, by far, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. Both have made such a significant impact at Arsenal. They are focal points of the attack and each of them have at one time or another carried the team. Alexis Sanchez took the reigns at the start of his Arsenal career in 2014. Mesut Ozil has been carrying Arsenal for about the past month.

Related: Why Mesut Ozil Needs Aaron Ramsey

But there is one lesson that Alexis Sanchez still has not learned. And it is a lesson that Mesut Ozil has already displayed a knowledge for in the past couple matches. When Alexis Sanchez was in the habit of carrying Arsenal on his back and shoudlering the burden of their floundering form, he had trouble giving up that responsibility. When the second half of the season rolled around and Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil came back to health, Alexis still tried to carry the team. He did not necessarily want to allow that burden to pass to a team mate.

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It was the chief contributing factor to Alexis’s exhaustion and his faltering second half form. He was trying to do far too much. One could argue that Alexis is still struggling with that. When it is clicking, he is brilliant. But when he is tired and still trying to carry far more than he is capable of, it can be rough. The effort will always be there but the little things, the technical things, can look sloppy.

Mesut Ozil had been carrying the team for quite some time lately. Even moreso since Alexis obtained an injury. But what we have seen in the past two weeks is exactly what we should want to see. He has not been carrying the load. Since Aaron Ramsey came back, Ozil is letting his Welsh team mate in on the action and letting him run the show at times. That is something Alexis Sanchez is struggling with. It is what will keep Mesut Ozil relevant at all times.

Even against Olympiakos, when the statistics will Ozil he was not effective (one key pass, 79% pass completion), he still was effective in the background. He nothced the pre-assist pass on both of the goals that were not penalties. He still looked dominant on the ball. He just was not hitting that knockout pass. Why? Because Ramsey and Campbell were allowed a fair share of the responsibility and they handled it well.

Ozil letting his team mates take the reigns from time to time will keep him fresh. It will keep him more under-the-radar as well. I was getting worried that with Ozil’s continued spotlighting, he would get figured out. This is the Premier League after all. But that won’t happen if he dips into the shadows every so often, still quietly effective yet not as demonstrative.

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It may be against Alexis Sanchez’s DNA to make such an adjustment. And that is fine. Not everyone allows themselves to slink into the shadows on occasion. He is still going to be a vital piece to this Arsenal squad no matter what. But wouldn’t it be nice if Alexis was fresh all the time?