Arsenal: Mesut Ozil has to miss his buddy after that display

Arsenal’s draw against CSKA Moscow had numerous talking points, not least of all Mesut Ozil’s visible frustration. He needs his buddy back.

Arsenal were down one key man against CSKA Moscow, and that man was Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Given the ligament strain that he sustained in the first leg, he still figures to miss another couple of weeks before he’s able to return to action.

In the meantime, we saw what becomes of the team when they are without him. Despite the fact that it was his fill-in that sealed us passage to the semi-finals, the effects were clear. A lack of creativity in the first half led to Mesut Ozil compiling frustration upon frustration.

While Ozil did end up having a solid enough match, leading the team (as always) in chances created, it was clear throughout the match that he was annoyed. He lost the ball more times than usual and was left flailing his arms and putting on that dejected face that we all so hate to see.

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After the first leg, where Ozil was as dominant as he has ever been, I expected a continuation. Even without Mkhitaryan, which is probably where my mistake was. We have seen Ozil stranded and frustrated before, primarily before Mkhitaryan arrived.

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That’s what had lead to such polarizing opinions of the German maestro. Some matches he was unstoppable and some matches he was so easily stoppable.

But when Mkhitaryan arrived, he pulled the focus away from Ozil, at least enough to accomplish the goal of freeing up the German. That’s all we really needed from Mkhitaryan. There would be games, like the first leg, where Ozil didn’t necessarily need Mkhitaryan, but there would be far more games, like the second leg, where he did need him.

And again, it’s not like Ozil was bad in that second leg. He was quietly effective and, if anything, a bit understated. He was frustrated though, you could see it. he wasn’t able to do the things he wanted to do and that’s because CSKA Moscow were so keen on shutting him down because they knew the other creative outlet was Danny Welbeck.

In the creativity department, that isn’t much of a choice to make.

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As such, you have to imagine that Ozil is pining for Mkhitaryan to get back into the team. Anything to prevent the frustration that he clearly felt against a side that, let’s be honest, he shouldn’t have felt it against.