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Arsenal vs Chelsea: Mesut Ozil still has proving to do
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal have a true gem in Mesut Ozil, but the German still has some proving to do in terms of showing us that that gem can always glimmer.
By this point, we all know what Mesut Ozil brings to Arsenal. This is his fifth year as a Gunner, which is crazy to think about in and of itself. He’s going to give us moments of pure magic, pinpoint passing and silky smooth touches. All of which will make us ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ like we’re at the circus.
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But the reason why I say Mesut Ozil still has proving to do has nothing to do with the product that he provides for the club, but more so how often he provides it.
As much as I love who Ozil is as a player as well as how upstanding he has been throughout this contract process, I can’t hide from the fact that his career here in North London hasn’t been smooth sailing.
After 18 months of hard knock living, he sustained an injury and returned a new man. Those last six months filtered into the 2015/16 season when he totaled 19 assists and became the assist king of Europe. Everything went right for him and he was even learning to score too.
That was supposed to be it. The final proof. Everyone lived happily ever after. But it just wasn’t.
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Last season Ozil tallied 12 goals and 12 assists. That is a superb return that only fell a few goals shy of his overall production in his huge breakout year. So it’s unfair to say that he had a bad year, because he didn’t. But it is absolutely fair to say he had an inconsistent year.
Granted, everyone has their inconsistencies. I won’t sit here and pretend like they don’t. But Ozil’s inconsistencies are harder to stomach because his bad games are terrible. And don’t try to tell me that a few charming flicks make up for it or that this is just who he is. That’s garbage.
Ozil is one of the top creative minds in the footballing world and, as we saw in 2015/16, there doesn’t have to be this massive chasm between his good games and his bad games. There has to be some sort of middle ground he can land on when he’s having a bad day. That bar has to be raised.
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That’s why this season is huge. We all want to talk about Alexis Sanchez and how he will perform, or the new boys, but Ozil has one hell of a season ahead himself.