Arsenal: Mesut Ozil is justifying the final hurdle

Mesut Ozil’s final criticism was that he was only playing well for a new contract, whether it be at Arsenal or another club. Well, since he has signed that new contract, his performance perhaps justify that very hurdle.

Mesut Ozil’s career at Arsenal has been a turbulent and tempestuous ride. Littered with moments of real despair, contrasted to some other-worldly displays of footballing grace, intelligence, and creativity, his four-and-a-half year tenure has been a perfect representation of setting expectations, both positive and negative, and then defying them, both positively and negatively.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast here

The criticisms have been fast and fiery. His lethargic, languid style was often accused of belying his interest; his shying away from the moment in the big games was highlighted as proof that he lacked the mental resolve and commitment to ever rally this team behind him; his defensive work-rate has been questioned; his will to win has been scrutinised; and his performances away from home during the winter months have also been exposed by the more raucous of his detractors.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

However, gradually, and especially this season, Ozil has challenged each one of those accusations, dispelling the majority, if not all of them. In fact, by the time January came around, having just won two Player of the Month awards in succession and enjoying some of the best football of his North-London tenure, there were few waiting to bite down on the German’s less glamourous shortcomings. Praise was flowing; reverence was gushing. And so, the news of an astonishing new contract on transfer deadline day was the quite the welcome development.

That contract is the richest that this club has ever agreed to. £350,000-a-week is an ordinate amount to pay any player, even one as talented and influential as Ozil. But it did raise a very valid question: Was Ozil playing well because he wanted the new contract, whether it be at Arsenal or another club, or was he playing well out a genuine and sincere desire to win?

This, I believe, was his final hurdle. He had slowly scraped down the other walls around his talent, brick by brick, person by person. But there were still some who wanted to cast doubt on his achievements and his performances. They did so by going after his morals and motivations. They might just have been right.

Since signing the contract, Arsenal have won just two games. One was against a hapless Everton side. The other was against the equally hapless and outmatched FK Ostersunds in the Europa League. They have also conspired to lose the other four games, scoring just once across all four, Sead Kolasinac’s powerful finish against in the return, shock 2-1 loss to Ostersunds.

Ozil, in that time, played in five of the six games. He registered zero goals and zero assists. Against Spurs in the North London derby, both he and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were utterly anonymous, completely sounded out of the game by a suffocating Spurs’ pressing system. Similarly, in Thursday night’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City, Ozil was extremely quiet. He couldn’t find space for himself, even though he was afforded a free-roaming role to do so, and even when he did receive the ball, his passing was wayward, his decision-making was unusually poor, and his play lacked the attacking drive of a few months prior.

Next: Arsenal Vs Manchester City: 5 things we learned

The question of playing for money, then, seems like a fair one. Six games — five for Ozil — is hardly enough to base an irrefutable case on. Players naturally dip in and out of form. But when Arsenal needed Ozil most, he slipped back into the shadows. Perhaps that final hurdle, that final question, that final criticism, was the right one. Perhaps Mesut Ozil was only interested in the money.

Home/Arsenal News