Arsenal: Mesut Ozil Or His Teammates The Scapegoat?

Rio Ferdinand has stated that Mesut Ozil is an unfair scapegoat for Arsenal’s recent struggles. Are we being too harsh on the German or his team to blame?

Arsenal have not played at their best for some time now. Perhaps not since the five-goal thrashing of Southampton has Arsene Wenger’s side played with the same fluidity and dynamism in their passing that so often carves even the most disciplined of opposition defences.

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There are many reasons as to why this is. The personnel struggles in central midfield, the chopping and changing of approach with Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez swapping in and out and the poor attacking production of whoever is playing at either full-back position.

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However, much of the criticism has centred on the toils of one Mesut Ozil. Writing in the Evening Standard, though, former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, believes that Ozil is an easy target because of his style of play, defending the German midfielder and shifting the label of scapegoat onto his teammates:

"“Mesut Ozil has become an easy scapegoat when things are going wrong at Arsenal. It’s easy to blame Ozil because he has a languid style. For his game to prosper, he needs other people to be constantly running and moving for him, to provide a target. Recently there hasn’t been enough of that going on. He is not the type of player to do it all on his own. He needs his team-mates to help his game come on.”"

This leads me to ask: Are the media and fans unfairly reasoning much of the team’s struggles with Ozil’s poor form or should his teammates shoulder a greater portion of the blame?

Well, it likely depends on how you view Ozil’s role in the side. As Ferdinand rightly states, Ozil is ‘not the type of player to do it all on his own.’ Unlike a Sanchez or Hazard, Ozil does not have the pace, the power or the dribbling ability to drive a team forwards on his own.

Instead, he is a facilitator. By that I mean, he is the supporting act that inspires the best in his teammates, rather taking the responsibility upon himself. There are few other players who boast the same vision, creativity and nous in the final third as Ozil. However, the midfield maestro is still dependent upon runs being made – there’s no use in playing a cute reverse pass if there is no one running into the space.

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So, whether Ozil is a fair scapegoat is determined by what he is being asked to do. There is a valid case to be made that for £42 million, more is expected than a mere facilitator-type player. Nonetheless, there are few players that can engineer time, space and opportunities for his teammates as well as Ozil, so yes, perhaps we are being a tad harsh.