Arsenal: Has Arsene Wenger solved Mesut Ozil post-mortem?

Much like last season at Arsenal, Mesut Ozil is in the spotlight again, and not in a good way. But Arsene Wenger posited a theory that may be the long-lost answer.

Arsenal have spent years, years, years trying to figure Mesut Ozil out – trying to figure out what makes him his best and what inexplicable forces intervene when he’s at his best to knock him down to his worst.

Aside from his one season of 19 assists, Ozil has struggled for consistency. And even in that one season, Ozil achieved the bulk of his success in the first half of the season. The second half was disappointing, but it gets brushed under the rug for the overall season production.

There have been plenty of theories: He doesn’t care, he’s out of position, he needs more class around him, it’s just who he is, he wants the No. 10 shirt, he’d rather be elsewhere. So on and so forth, there are no shortages of theories.

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Arsene Wenger has given us another, and it’s one we actually haven’t heard in any great capacity before.

“Ozil is a guy who needs support, he doesn’t need controversy. When I watched him play, I could feel there were situations in the game where he could have moved forward, progressed and played more vertical. He played security. I was thinking come on, that is not the real Ozil I know, the guy who can kill.”

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There you have it. According to Wenger, Ozil needs support of he plays with security. Or timidity, if you prefer.

Could this be the problem? Could Ozil get mired down in the lack of support, or at least the unstable support, of Gooners and their undying enthusiasm to tear down their own players?

It’s quite possible. But if that is the case, then he is S.O.L. You’re not going to get support by needing it. You’re going to get support by earning it. It’s that simple. And that being that, it’s a bit of a Catch-22.

Granit Xhaka is another guy who doesn’t get a lot of support and it brings him down, but he lifts himself up. He pushes forward regardless of that everyone else is saying about him and uses it as inspiration to get better.

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If Ozil doesn’t, then Ozil doesn’t, and this is the life we are resigned to alongside the German playmaker.