Arsenal: Maybe It’s Time Someone Has A Go At Mesut Ozil

Arsenal definitely has a lethargy problem, and the man at the middle of it is Mesut Ozil. Maybe Thierry Henry is onto something with his bold theory.

We saw it again against Manchester City. Arsenal’s lack of a spine was a bit troublesome, even in the midst of Alexis Sanchez and Shkodran Mustafi trying to take the game into their own hands.

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Naturally, Mesut Ozil’s performance was, yet again, underwhelming. And, yet again, people want to know when exactly, if ever, we will get to see the inspired German maestro again, or if it will be more ball loss and lack of care on a match by match basis.

Thierry Henry has been oozing truth from his pulpit lately and another truth nugget he latched on to was how disappointing this inconsistency can be. After laying into his inability to always play at the Arsenal level, despite being a proven champion, Henry had this to say:

"I’m a big admirer of him and how he plays but if he was in my old team, I know a couple of guys would have had a go at him and maybe that’s what he needs. In my old team, everyone talked. Sylvain Wiltord talked. Edu the same. Even Nkwankwo Kanu would have said something. Jens Lehmann, he was talking all the time. We had guys at it throughout the team."

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Now that is a fresh concept. Ozil is held in too much respect by his team mates for anyone to have a go at him, but what if? Would it have a positive effect or would it simply break him down? Maybe it would cause him to fire back, which would serve the purpose that we need.

Alexis Sanchez is probably the only player who would dare to have a go at someone as revered as Ozil, and I would love to see this happen. It’s something that happens to every team and it is not always as corrosive as you’d think.

These are professional athletes that are all fighting towards a common goal. A small butting of heads isn’t going to disrupt the chemistry, and if it does, so what? Changes should be on the horizon anyway, and if someone can’t take criticism, they probably aren’t part of what the club needs to go forward.

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There isn’t a lot of stepping up and butting heads at Arsenal. There just isn’t enough fire for that. But we have seen Alexis go after Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and it’s not like it was the end of the world.