Arsenal: Mesut Ozil might help, but he won’t save us

Mesut Ozil made an impactful start against Wolverhampton, but while he may actually help Arsenal, he will certainly not save them.

Arsenal managed to drop more points at home, this time to incredibly mid-table Wolverhampton, who pulled out a late equalizer to sent Gooners into a massive boo-fest, this time with Granit Xhaka. And this time… with Mesut Ozil.

At least for 65 minutes.

Against all odds, Unai Emery opted to start the German playmaker in his favorite No. 10 role at the top of a midfield diamond… or at least, that’s where he was supposed to be. But the diamond got all kinds of disjointed. I digress.

It was nice to see Ozil in this capacity, because it definitely wasn’t an easy match, and this definitely wasn’t his best performance. Yet he was far from a problem, instead proving to be one of our better performers on the day.

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Ozil created three chances, which was tied for the team lead, and he was secure with the ball, losing it only twice despite touching the ball more than anyone else on the pitch. That’s a big testament to his involvement.

But like I said, it wasn’t his best game, which makes me even more excited. For the longest time, it was all or nothing for Ozil, majority of the time skewing towards the latter. He’s never had the benefit of consistency, and this match looked like the kind of thing that may be somewhat sustainable. I’m hesitant to suggest such a thing, but if he can put in those kinds of performances on a regular basis, just being a steady creative presence, not necessary changing the world, then he may have a lot yet to say in helping the club move forward.

He won’t save us though. He’s not in a position to do so anymore. Under Wenger, there were times when I really thought he would be the savior of the squad, but he never proved to be. Then I transitioned to thinking he was a liability.

Now, with little else left to believe in, I can confidently say that Ozil might be person we need to help introduce a little consistency in the attack. And maybe that’s a little diluted, since we’ve given him so many chances, but what else do we have to believe in?

Whatever goes on behind him is still a mess, but maybe the attack can find some joy yet.