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Arsenal: Mesut Ozil Absence Refreshing And Revealing
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal took care of business against Crystal Palace and they did it without Mesut Ozil. That says a lot, and should be a notice we carry for awhile.
Arsenal has grown to be rather dependent on the likes of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. The superstar duo accounts for so much of the offense that the Gunners put out there that it really is just a matter of rotating supporting cast. Who will step up and help them today?
Related: 5 Things We Learned Against Crystal Palace
It’s gotten to the point where a nice refresher every so often that we don’t absolutely positively need these guys would be swell. If for no other reason than just because it’s reassuring. Wenger is adamant that Arsenal is bigger than any player and it’s moments like the win against Crystal Palace that we see why.
Mesut Ozil was bed-ridden and could be sent out into the starting XI. In his stead, Wenger moved Alexis into the No. 10 spot and let Alex Iwobi start wide left and Lucas wide right.
The result was nothing short of spectacular. Iwobi and Alexis split ten created chances evenly as they interchanged between the No. 10 spot and the left wing. It was a seamless combination of talent and it completely covered the fact that Mesut Ozil wasn’t on the pitch.
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Not only that, but hopefully it led to some clarification that there isn’t always this do-or-die mentality when it comes to Ozil.
Seeing him struggle against City and Everton was unfortunate and led to some heavy criticism. While it is in no way indicative of his overall value, it did highlight a major point – there has to be an alternative. There has to be something Wenger can do when Ozil just isn’t clicking, some switch he can make, to change things around.
Hopefully this Palace win shed some light on this predicament and showed that Alexis and even Iwobi is capable to filling in and changing things up a bit. That is a big thing to recognize.
Ozil doesn’t need to be replaced. He doesn’t need to be pelted with tomatoes. He just needs a break every so often and to have a worthy replacement that won’t completely drop the level of talent on the pitch.
Next: 10 Massive Things We Learned About Arsenal In 2016
Again, this is a big hope, because Wenger loves him some Ozil, but the alternatives are clear. When Ozil drains the pitch because he is exhausted and ghosting, alternatives like this can turn things around.