Arsenal: Mesut Ozil Revelation Changes Next To Nothing

Arsenal has suffered as Mesut Ozil struggles, but a new reveal hopes to clobber the correlation – but it fails in every regard other than a wow factor.

These past two Arsenal matches have been next to awful and it’s hard to ignore the role that Mesut Ozil played in making them that way. I have recently come to terms with the fact that Ozil is in fact human, but the need to bridge the gap between his often-polarizing performances is still a blatant necessity.

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That said, there is a recent stat emergence that aims to eradicate all of the criticism thrown on the German maestro.

This stat, as presented by the Guardian, indicates that Mesut Ozil has won the ball back 16 times in the final third this season, the same as Alexis Sanchez and good for a tie for second in the league behind just Eden “The Ghost” Hazard.

That’s a pretty cool stat and I’m happy to know what Ozil is still putting in the effort necessary on the whole. It’s a swell thing.

But this stat doesn’t alleviate two major things. First of all, this accounts for the season as a whole. No one is questioning how fantastic Mesut Ozil is overall. That is not a debate. The criticism comes from his polarizing form, where he can tend to disappear, like he has done in the past two matches.

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In these two matches, he has only attempted two tackles in 180 minutes. Both came against Everton.

So yes, his standing with winning the ball back is a great, grand total, but it doesn’t excuse how poor he can be when he truly is poor.

The second thing about the stat that doesn’t free Ozil of blame is the singularity of it. Okay, he wins the ball back pretty effectively in how own third. Yippee.

But we rely on Ozil to be our creative center. And in these past two matches, he has created a whole two chances while losing possession eight times. That’s not exactly going to just be glossed over by his ability to win the ball back on a solid average.

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Again, it’s an admirable stat to add to the narrative, but the overlying theme is not changed. Ozil’s best and his worst are so far apart and finding a way to bridge that gap is an absolute necessity. Even if that bridge is just subbing in another player when the game isn’t going his way, which is bound to happen from time to time.