Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey is better than Mesut Ozil, face it

Arsenal have had trouble getting started this season, but it’s creeping in, and Aaron Ramsey has had a much bigger role than Mesut Ozil.

I’ve spent a lot of time expressing my distaste for Mesut Ozil’s start to this Arsenal season. And let me say again that it doesn’t even have so much to do with his inability to gel with the attack. That was always going to take time and I’m happy to give him that time.

It has to do with the attitude. The moping when he comes off the pitch. I thought we got rid of that when we sold Alexis to Manchester United, but now it has resurfaced in the form of the German maestro and it’s having the exact same, negative effect.

When he came off for Aaron Ramsey against Chelsea, I saw all I needed to see regarding who is more important on this team. As Ozil moped away, completely oblivious to how his team was still in the match, Ramsey came on, not looking bitter at all after having been unjustly benched. He was hopping around, energetic and positive.

Ozil has yet to look positive this season, and yes, I mean that. His body language has always been in question, but it’s worse now than it’s ever been.

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Meanwhile, Ramsey’s body language has never been up for question, and when you compare what he’s doing to what Ozil is doing, it’s like night and day. Ozil doesn’t have high energy, he can be a passenger at times, and with an attack that is struggling to get going, he needs someone else to jumpstart it before he can be a useful member of it.

Ramsey is never a passenger. He is a jumpstarter who can make something out of nothing, he radiates positivity and you will never see him pouting like Ozil pouts. That alone should be all we need to hear. This club needs positivity right now because they are in such a fragile state. They need a sense of belief. There are new players here, young and old, who need confidence, who, when they look around at their teammates, should not see a droopy face and slouched shoulders.

They need to see Ramsey, a proactive, gung-ho, ‘let’s build our own destiny’ kind of a guy. And for that, I heartily say that he should be starting over Ozil, if that is what the question is. I don’t care if he can be a bit of a loose cannon. I’d rather him instigate things and lose out on a couple of opportunities because he was overzealous than I would Ozil disappear for 90 whole minutes.

It’s still early in the season, so it’s not like we need to hit any panic buttons. But that doesn’t mean that changes can’t be made before they become a real problem.