Arsenal: Mesut Ozil Completely Off The Hook For United Performance

Arsenal played arguably the worst 88 minutes we’ve seen them play this year, but Mesut Ozil is hardly at fault for it.

Here is what is incredibly easy to do: You see that Arsenal has not had a single shot on target and you know that no chances are being created, so you immediately look to find a responsible party. Naturally, since it’s offense that was the problem, you point to Mesut Ozil.

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This is the wrong approach.

I have had some time to cool down after watching that 88 minutes of utter garbage and six minutes of mixed bliss, but one thing I have noticed in the process is the outcry of finding a guilty party. Most have it whittled down to Mohamed Elneny, Mesut Ozil or Aaron Ramsey.

I totally get that. Each one had a bad day in their own respect, but you have to look at this in the bigger picture. Yes, each of the three was bad, but the main, underlining flaw was the tactical blueprints from this game.

I don’t often pin anything wholly on Wenger, but I’m doing that here. He is 100% responsible for the disappearance of Ramsey, Walcott and Ozil as well as the poor performance of Elneny.

It’s simple. This is what happened: That front four of Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil and Alexis was completely removed from the rest of the game. They were isolated and on their own. Coquelin and Elneny provided no support, just like they never have.

That left Ozil to pick up the pieces and try to do the No. 10 role while also doing Santi Cazorla’s missing role, because Elneny and Coquelin wanted no part in it.

Look at just about any instance out there of what was happening when Ozil picked up the ball. Everything he could work with (Ramsey, Walcott, Alexis) was in front of him, but so too were eight United players.

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A key way to break this down is to have somebody coming up from behind you, a charger like Xhaka, Ramsey (when used correctly) or Cazorla. That forces United to reshape to accommodate this late addition and, in the process, openings pop up.

That never happened because, as mentioned, nobody wanted anything to do with that attacking half of play besides our front four. There were no late arrivals. There was no late cavalry to save us like they did Jon Snow.

It was complete isolation.

The whole “Ozil should be able to do something no matter what if he’s that good” argument is a bit too whimsical. No one just “does it” on their own. Every great player out there has something to work with. They have support all over the pitch, they have movement.

Ozil had none of that. You can’t put a man on an island and, after he’s been there awhile, say “alright, you should know by now how to built a vibrant community on this little island all by yourself.” That’s not how it works.

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Spare the German of your criticism and instead turn it to Wenger. Le Prof send out a team with no intentions of winning.