Arsenal: Mesut Ozil eking closer to his usual self

Arsenal needed help against Sheffield United, but there was one place we really couldn’t look for it, meaning that Mesut Ozil may be back to normal.

Here’s my problem. I’m too optimistic at times. I see someone have a good match and I think that he’s turned the corner and he’s ticketed to being one of the best in the world. This is a problem when it comes to Arsenal, where nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

I got sucked into believing that Mesut Ozil was coming back around again. That after five year of struggling to acclimate, Mikel Arteta had finally figured it out and devised a way to make Mesut Ozil what he had always failed to be—consistent.

I live by the saying once is luck, twice is a fluke and three times is reality. Mesut Ozil played three straight consistent matches under Mikel Arteta and, since it was working for everyone else, I assumed it was working for Ozil too.

Now, however, we’ve had two matches in a row of Ozil not be consistent at all, but more of a ghost. And no, I do not take any joy in using that word again.

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Again, once is luck (or unlucky, in this case), twice is a fluke, three times is… reality. So maybe I should shut up until we see if it’s going to be reality, but in the meantime, there is concern here.

Mesut Ozil did one thing right against Sheffield United—he created chances. That’s something we’ve always known he could do. Aside form those chances, he couldn’t establish a foothold on the match. He couldn’t figure out the right weight of his passes. He couldn’t figure out a lot of things. And that’s two matches now.

Even when Ozil was still clicking, I believed it was best to sell him. To move on without. But it’s disappointing to see that that little glimpse of hope may not have been the best place to put my optimism.

This is what we’ve come to expect of him though, isn’t it? This is what Unai Emery struggled with. This is what Arsene Wenger struggled with. It only makes sense that Mikel Arteta would struggle with it too.

If anything, it reminds us that we do need to move on. We’ve needed to for awhile. And I do hope that doesn’t involve suffering too much more ineffectiveness.