Arsenal: Mesut Ozil is going to like being the sideshow

Arsenal dominated against Everton and they did it with Mesut Ozil, in the best way possible, anonymous. This is the role he’s dreamed of.

Nobody can do what Mesut Ozil does, and for another three years, Arsenal won’t have to worry about what happens when you take someone like that out of a team. But things may be changing for the German in all the right ways.

Look at what happened against Everton. Surrounded by the speedy, electric Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the hard-working, creative genius of Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the razzle-dazzle of Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil was quiet. He still led the team in chances created, but that’s expected, no?

This was a stark contrast to where Ozil has found himself before. In recent weeks, months, years, he has been a target for opposing teams. I’ll never forget when Victor Wanyama spent an entire 90 minutes snapping at Ozil’s heels. And it worked. He was neutralized. With that neutralization came a complete inability to create chances.

He was the primary source of offensive push. He was the spotlight man. It wasn’t like at Real Madrid when he was surrounded by world class talent and allowed to express himself in relative safety.

But that feeling may be coming back yet again. Against Everton, for instance, Ozil was a sideshow. Everyone else moved faster, put in more physical work and were more heavily involved in plays. Yet it was Ozil who led the pitch in chances created.

What does this mean going forward? Well, that should be obvious. It means that Ozil is going to have so much high-paced, electric quality around him that he may well fall down the hit-list for opposing defenses. Which will give him more space than he has ever had in an Arsenal shirt to pick out his team mates and wreck the opposition.

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And, if opposing defenses want to get clever and target him still yet, then this club has the capabilities to get around that with other creative outlets.

Meaning that there is no way to effectively neutralize the Gunners as there once was. If you negate Ozil, you still have to face Mkhitaryan. And if, by some bizarre act of tactical magic, you shut them both down, you still have to deal with the high-flying Aubameyang and the superb Aaron Ramsey. But let’s be honest, no one is shutting them both down.

I have spoken so much in the past about how Ozil is best operating out of the shadows. He needs opposing defenses to not pay as much attention to him. He can still be effective when tightly guarded, but to unlock his best, he needs space and he needs movement.

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Now that he has so many other attractions around him, so many more attention-grabbing attractions, he is going to find that space and that movement. And that, in turn, damn near guarantees the very best from the very best play-marker in the world.

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