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Arsenal: Everything Carlo Ancelotti Said About Mesut Ozil Is True
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal’s trampling at the feet of Bayern Munich turned up another disappearance from Mesut Ozil. Proving that Carlo Ancelotti may have been right all along.
Arsenal waited a long time to see Mesut Ozil’s talent come to fruition. After 18 months of seeing him get pushed around and manhandled by nearly everyone, Ozil finally took his injury as a sign that he needed to shape up and get his act together.
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He returned for a 19 assist season where everything went right for him. He looked damn near invincible.
When this year got started off with a bang, there was reason to believe that Ozil was here to stay. But then it got bad, and then worse, and now terrible.
It feels like Mesut Ozil is even worse than he was when he first arrived. Not only is he under performing, but he is also completely disappearing. There were times
when he just wasn’t there.
Against top tier teams, your stars make their name. Ozil, yet again, did nothing. He was a liability and I think he threw his hands in the air in frustration more times than he completed a pass.
It was just another awful day.
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And it has brought back into our minds the words of Carlo Ancelotti, the man who sold Ozil to Arsenal in the first place. Who was also the coach of Bayern that orchestrated the stomping.
“I decided the departure of Özil. I prefer Di Maria for the balance of the team,” he said, as quoted by the Telegraph. “It’s true, that maybe Di Maria has less quality than Özil but on a profile of dynamism, character and help to the team I preferred Di Maria.”
Ozil has shown no improvements in help to the team and dynamism. I would say that he has strong character because he has a lot invested in the team, but that seems to go out the window when he is struggling on the pitch.
Wenger knew what he was getting in Ozil, but I have to wonder now if he was hoping to prove Ancelotti wrong. Ozil has immense talent, absolutely, but it is in his drawbacks that we see what Ancelotti was talking about. He does not help the team as much as he should in such a central position. He does not have the character to lift his team mates. He does not have the dynamism to do it himself if the team needs a hero.
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Ozil needed to prove something against Bayern just like he needed to prove something against Chelsea. It is not going the German’s way and I don’t know how long the Gunners can continue bearing the brunt of his burden for.