Arsenal: Mesut Ozil building himself a labyrinth of turned corners

Mesut Ozil has turned another corner for Arsenal, and this isn’t the first time. The man has built himself a labyrinth of all the corners he’s turned.

Seeing Mesut Ozil at his best against Manchester United was as refreshing a thing as we’ve seen all year. His time under Unai Emery has been tumultuous to the point that his future at Arsenal was put into question, with many fans proclaiming that he would simply never cut it under Emery due to what was asked of him as a player.

He had been wholly absent against top six clubs all year, not least of all because he was literally absent, Emery refused to use him, obviously seeing the high intensity of the match as unsuitable for Ozil’s skill set.

Against United, for the first time this season, Ozil was himself against a top six club. He led the team in chances created, he combined tremendously with the options around him and he was substituted off to a roaring ovation from the Emirates.

You could say that Ozil turned a corner. That these doubts of him ever performing against a top English club were put to bed because he did exactly that. But this wouldn’t mark the first time that Ozil has turned a corner.

Far from it.

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Ozil has been turning corners his entire stay at Arsenal. He first had to learn how to shoot the ball, because he was in the habit of literally passing up open nets in order to find the assist, which backfired more than it succeeded.

He turned that corner.

He had to learn to come back from an injury, and treated that time as an opportunity to bulk up to the physicality required in the Premier League.

He turned that corner.

Corner after corner he has turned until Unai Emery stepped up to take charge of the club. This was arguably the biggest corner yet, because he had to do everything he had just learned to do, and he had to do it with an increased work rate and better defensive help.

He turned that corner.

Now he had to do all of that against some of the best in the league.

He turned that corner too.

He’s been turning corners ever since he arrived at the club, learning to be better, to do more, to meet the needs of different minds.

Maybe that isn’t a labyrinth he’s building after all, but more of an escape from a labyrinth.