Arsenal: It wasn’t Mesut Ozil’s goal that got my attention

Arsenal made it seven straight against Watford, and Mesut Ozil was a gold star. But not just for the goal. There was something else there.

I have grown tired of criticizing Mesut Ozil. Very tired. The Arsenal man has had a rough go since he arrived at the club, never being able to find his consistent boots, never being able to live up to the massive expectations that were heaped on him.

But no matter how much the hard stats don’t always stack up for him, the one thing that has been a constant point of criticism is his lackadaisical attitude. His flappy arms every time he loses the ball, his refusal to play anything resembling reliable defense.

When you couple that with the lack of hard stats, you get what the start of this season looked like for him. It’s been rough and there really haven’t been many redeeming qualities.

Against Newcastle, he snuck in a goal, despite being pretty poor all match long. Against Watford, he was again irrelevant for the first 45 minutes. He and Aaron Ramsey just don’t seem to jive and their inability to play consistent football is either a boom or bust, but rarely anything in between.

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Ozil did manage to put a fantastic finish on the ball late on for the second goal that sealed the seventh consecutive win for the Gunners and it was a fantastically taken effort, cool as can be, never a doubt.

But it wasn’t Ozil’s goal that I get to praise him for. Or, rather, not just his goal. Ozil was fired up for this game, mainly in the second half. One instance in particular involved him absolutely freaking out when Aubameyang played in a poor pass that Ozil had zero chance to get to.

This may sound strange, but I was so happy to see Ozil on the fritz after that pass. Maybe it was unfair. No, it was absolutely unfair. But the point is that Ozil was fired up. He was hungry for that opportunity, he wanted to make something for the team and when he wasn’t given the chance, he was pissed off.

And when Ozil did score? What a celebration! It was just as fun to watch as the actual goal. He was thrilled out of his mind and I couldn’t have been happier. Emotionless Ozil is so much more enjoyable when he shows that he cares.

I literally love singing Ozil’s praises, on the rare chance that I get to. Hopefully this won’t be such a rarity going forward.