Arsenal World Cup update: Mesut Ozil and unbalanced midfield

Mesut Ozil started for Germany in the 2018 World Cup on Sunday against Mexico. The Arsenal midfielder showed how he can unbalance a midfield.

It was a frustrating day for Germany. They opened their World Cup defence on Sunday afternoon against an underrated Mexico, ultimately falling 1-0 to the scrappy Central Americans. Arsenal midfielder Mesut Ozil started in the classic, central attacking-midfield role that he has forever played for Germany. It was not the afternoon he would have been looking for.

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Most notably, it was Germany’s lack of balance in midfield that upset their performance. In the first half especially, the speedy counter-attacks of Mexico unhinged the German defence time and time again.

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The goal, for instance, saw Ozil track pacy winger Hirving Lozano into a deep-right position because of the advanced positioning of Joshua Kimmich and the lack of balance that was present in the midfield — Sami Khedira was especially poor, often wandering into advanced positions, abandoning both his defensive responsibility and his midfield partner, Toni Kroos, who lacked the speed to cover the vast spaces that Mexico were consistently driving into.

It was a painfully Arsenal-like performance. The possession was slow, ponderous and lacking incision; the midfield was overpowered and too similar; the defensive line was too deep, meaning that the midfield had too much ground to cover; the counter-attack from Mexico carved open the utterly exposed Germany defence time and time again — with better decision-making, distribution and finishing, they could have scored four or five quite comfortably.

And it points to a key lesson to learn regarding the role of Ozil. Oftentimes, when Arsene Wenger entrusted him in his most preferred role, the number 10, as it is most commonly known, the Arsenal midfield, like the German midfield here, became overly-weighted.

It comes from the freedom that Ozil wants in that role. He does not want to be shackled by defensive or width-providing responsibility. He is at his best when he is afforded the license to roam throughout the pitch, picking out those pockets of space in and around the penalty area without having to be restricted to one particular area of the pitch.

But his movement can upset the structure of the team. The two holding midfielders must shoulder too much, they can be overrun in central areas, and the counter-attack is utterly vicious, especially when the full-backs are pushed forward, as they are for the Gunners and were for Germany here.

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It is a conundrum for Unai Emery, not Wenger, now to solve. But had he been watching this German performance, there was much food for thought, because the problem that Ozil creates is not easily answered.