Arsenal: Mesut Ozil is still our best possible No. 10

Arsenal have had two games of varying optimism, but through it all, it must be said that Mesut Ozil still needs to be our defacto No. 10.

Two games is way too early to judge a manager, but Arsenal fans would be hoping that Unai Emery is not considering building a team with Aaron Ramsey as No. 10. Not even the most optimistic Gunner will be excited with that thought!

Especially when the club has players like Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil as options.

It is not Emery’s fault that the team is stuffed with No. 10s and wannabe No. 10s but he will be held responsible if he fails to pick the best out of the lot.

Ozil divides opinion but it is undeniable that there are very few players in the footballing world who can pick a pass like the German, provided he is given time on the ball. He is not the quickest on the pitch, but was the quickest to reach 50 assists in the Premier League, despite having an inconsistent career with Arsenal.

Even in Spain, he had a phenomenal record and had an enviable partnership with Ronaldo, which ripped apart opponents. There are two primary reasons why we haven’t seen the best of him, consistently. First of all, he has been played out of position quite a few times. Second of all, he never had decent options up front to feed.

In Madrid, he had Ronaldo to apply finishing touches to his glorious through balls but here, his options were primarily Giroud and then… Theo!

From CR7 to TW14! Think about it..

When the Gunners signed Ozil, a lot of pundits felt that now they will see the best of Theo. Years later, we can all see how it went (some other time…).

Ozil is not your dynamic No. 10, who will take on players, dribble past a few and smash in goals from outside the box. Don’t expect him to fall back consistently and put a defensive shift either. But offer him protection (Torreira + Guendouzi) and give him the ball in the final third of the pitch with a quick target man up front and he’ll be his best self.

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Call him one dimensional if you want, but that is what we have and that is the player that this club bought.

In Aubameyang, we finally have a No. 9 who matches Theo with his pace and, thankfully, comes nowhere close to him when it comes to finishing. A partnership of Ozil feeding Auba is finger-licking stuff for an Arsenal fan and will definitely keep any opposition in the world worried.

It is not sheer coincidence that both Ozil and Auba were ‘missing’ against City; because the formation didn’t allow them to form any sort of partnership.

Ozil shunted to the wings is often ineffective and one dimensional. The defending full-backs know that he is not going to get past them or put in any cross with his right foot. He will cut inside, make the pitch narrow and try to find a cross-field pass using his left foot. Lame and predictable! We have seen that many times in the past; recently remember how comfortable Mendy was in the last match.

Yes, Arsenal doesn’t have quality wide players but playing Ozil on the wings is not a workable solution. It has always been a bad idea and sacrificing him for Ramsey as no#10 is ridiculous.

Wenger did that few times in the past to fit all the No. 10s in the team but hope Emery wont repeat this in future.

A new manager should make ‘new’ mistakes, instead of repeating the old and painful ones.

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