Arsenal: Mesut Ozil Speaking The Wrong Language

Arsenal has seen a decline in the performances of Mesut Ozil and he has spoken out about it, but the talking he should be doing doesn’t involve actually speaking.

Arsenal’s failures this year cannot all be pinned on one person. I don’t think anyone has ever tried to pin them all on one person. We have distributed it across the board and maybe the majority fell on one particular person, but to say that anyone has been “singled out” isn’t entirely accurate.

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That’s what Mesut Ozil has been claiming. And, to be fair, he has faced the harshest criticism, but that’s because Arsene Wenger puts so much on him. That No. 10 spot can make or break the offense and only Ozil is allowed to touch the role.

Ozil has repeatedly stated that he is happy in London and that he loves the club and the fans and the everything and that’s all well and good. But we know that already. I don’t think many have ever wanted him to be more outspoken about how he feels about the club. He has always asserted his stance in that regard.

He even has his own hashtag… #YaGunnersYa.

That isn’t the kind of talking we want to hear. In fact, we don’t want to hear anything at all. We want to see him back to his usual self. We want to see his belief in the club on the pitch, not on a computer or TV screen.

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Ozil set such a high standard last season that it’s no surprise that the expectations have gone up. But even before he was chipping in 19 assists in a season, the talent level of the German maestro has never been a question.

And it has always been accepted that he was quiet. He did his speaking on the pitch with his feet. That’s what it became at Arsenal last season too.

This year he is doing far too much saying he believes in Arsenal and loves the club and far less showing.

There is still time in the season to see Ozil turn things around. It’s been a rough year for nearly everyone, but Ozil has had it the roughest. Coming out these last two months and putting together a convincing final act could make all the difference in showing that you have another level of competitiveness that many doubted.

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It’s that old rule of fiction writing – show, don’t tell.