Mesut Ozil set a Premier League best this season in creating 8 chances against Everton in the 5-2 win last weekend.
It was the first time the German had been deployed alongside both Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette, and it paid dividends for all concerned as they shared three goals and two assists between them.
The German has had a difficult start to the season, something Arsene Wenger has acknowledged, but he has challenged Ozil to show he impose himself on games with greater regularity now that he’s fully fit.
“He was not right at the start of the season because he had a knee problem,” said the manager, “but I didn’t rush him back and I thought that the best solution was for him to work hard.
“What is at stake is for him to show this kind of form week-in, week out. I believe he is in good physical shape and hopefully he will take advantage of that.”
Earlier, Ozil once more expressed his desire to play as a ‘number 10’ but insisted he’ll do his best regardless of where he’s played.
“Everyone knows my favourite position is the playmaker, the No 10, at the moment the coach plays me on the right and it’s a thing I need to accept and to show my quality in that position,” he said.
“Of course I’m happy to perform and give good performances individually, but it’s more important that we do that as a team.
“We know we have the quality, we just have to give our all and believe in ourselves. If we can do that I’m convinced we can win trophies.”
Ozil + Sanchez + Lacazette = lots of goals
Lacazette, özil, Sanchez = Lots, öf, Scores
wish it was “Lots Öf Seasons” too 🙁
I love Ozil
Blogs milking out from every inch of news he is able to gather down under on shitty wifi ?
Be nice, we only got internet down here 3 years ago, and that was to celebrate our 10th anniversary of achieving electricity
Wow. What were u doing with the electricity for 7 years though?
Gotta keep the beers cold
Ya flamin galah
Was that a snide dig at not being played #10? Just get on with it and bang some goals/assists in!
Look at what Germany does and you’ll see the difference and why Özil prefers being a real 10 and not a winger.
When u watch the game, did Wenger really deployed him as right wing?
Exactly. There’s Özil’s heatmap in today’s blog from the Everton game proving he doesn’t really spend that much time on the right flank and moves freely around the center:
https://arseblog.com/2017/10/last-weekends-starting-xi-crack-swansea/
This is why I totally disagree with people that say we need “Kante and Matic” for Ozil to produce his best for Arsenal, or that he doesn’t need to work harder in general. We know what he’s capable of when he pulls his finger out, he just needs to go do it game after game. For the first time in a while, it looked like he really “wanted it”, albeit against possibly the worst side in the league atm. Now he needs to keep it up instead of complaining about what is really a minor change in his position. I’d… Read more »
Consistency is the issue. If he can provide, he is a massive creative force for us particularly with teams content with sitting deep. Ditto Granit who’s long over the top balls are key to circumventing the sort of rigid two banks of four and five we normally have to break down. Quick release of ball to the forwards is essential.
I don’t know about a lot of goals just yet. We’ve been creating plenty of chances but we’ve been spurning them.
We need to start putting them away.
I hope he can maintain form anything like that he displayed at Everton (peaks and troughs are fine), and while I agree with the point that you should play your best players (…obviously), I also think if there are sustained periods of not carrying out his basic responsibilities for the team then he should be swapped for another player. It seems Wenger is not afraid to do this this season and I think its getting the best out of him. So credit to both. Long may it continue.