Arsenal: Mesut Ozil debacle all part of established territory

Arsenal locked down Mesut Ozil to a long-term deal, so it may be disheartening that he was sputtering so much, but is it really?

Arsenal’s two consecutive losses to Manchester City exposed the gross gap between what City have become and what the Gunners have become. Honestly, it all came down to confidence and player quality.

In the second loss, personal mistakes weren’t even at fault. In fact, the Gunners played quite well more times than not. The key difference being that City were oozing confidence and firing home whenever they got the ball and the Gunners kept finding the grateful arms of Ederson.

Then there was Mesut Ozil. Ozil, the world class creator that he is, was utterly devoid of all effectiveness and all creativity. There was no cutting edge coming from him, his passing was off, his dribbling uninspired and his touches were bizarrely heavy.

Which lead to the one thing we hate to see the most on the pitch during a loss – sulking. No one can sulk quite like Ozil, except maybe Alexis Sanchez. The German maestro frequently lost the ball and proceeded to throw up his arms in dismay, wondering why the footballing gods could be so cruel to him.

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I was just as riled up as the next fan to see his body language. It’s unacceptable and it always has been. But unfortunately, this is part of the territory with Ozil. It always has been and at this point, I would hope that we know that it always will be.

Ozil is not a fighter if things are going extra bad. He is not the kind of guy that can buckle down and turn a game around. Maybe blame it on finding such quick success with powerhouse Real Madrid and juggernaut Germany, but whatever the case, this is the man Arsenal and their fans wanted.

I’m not going to berate him anymore for this behavior because it isn’t going to change. He’s 29 years old, he’s being paid a crap ton of money and when he is clicking, few are better. Obviously I’d love for him to buck up and cut the moping, but it’s just not something we should be looking for anymore. Once we signed him to a new deal, that became clear.

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It may not be fun, but we should be familiar with this feeling. We should know that Ozil cares, even if he is in a tantrum like he was. It may not be worth much, but there it is.