Game after game, week after week, and month after month, there are articles written about Mesut Ozil and how he is not performing for the team. Most of these articles are from people who are not Arsenal fans, milking the fact that the first time the Gunners splashed out on a player, appears to have backfired spectacularly. Journalists queue up with the statistics to back up their partisan views, "Lazy!" being the proffered adjective to back them up, but throughout all this, there have been a steadfast group of die hard fans who will not "jump on the bandwagon" or "criticize our players when they need support".
When Ozil arrived at the club, he was hailed as the start of something amazing; a starting point and an indication of how the club will progress; a world class player at an appropriate price. A bunch of assists (4 or 5 depending on the stats you choose to use) in his first few games seemed to indicate that Arsene Wenger had bought wisely, but then, everything seemed to go down hill. He finished the season with 12 assists, just 7 (or 8) more in the next 30+ games. Cesc Fabregas has 6 from his first 4 games at Chelsea! That would be the same Fabregas Wenger turned down the chance of re-signing because Ozil fulfilled that roll.
Arsene, you're wrong. Ozil doesn't fulfil that roll at Arsenal. Sure, he's employed to, but he certainly doesn't fulfil it. 31 touches last night in Germany from a £42 million pound player when you're losing for half the game, is not enough. It's the same story though in many of the games he plays. He runs, but is ineffectual. "Placid" would be a good word to describe his style although a similar sounding word, "flaccid" also seems far too easy to apply.
So now there is a problem. The new saviour of Arsenal, the massive signing that showed Wenger's new statement of intent, is now so ineffectual in games that in all honesty he should not be in the team. It's like starting the game with only 10 men but his purchase price elevated Ozil to iconic status before he'd kicked a ball. £42 million player to play for Arsenal? Unheard of! "This puts Arsenal back in the big league!", was the cry of the fans.
To then drop him, would be almost admitting that Arsenal picked the wrong player to start their revolution with, and call into question again if Wenger really is the right man to lead Arsenal forward. It certainly doesn't help that the player most Arsenal fans would've preferred to be in the number 10 roll has just broken the record for assists at the start of a season. And so Arsene persists, and much like Torres at Chelsea, Ozil gets games, continues to under-perform and risks coming to the point where the talisman that could have been, turns into the albatross around the club's neck.
I remember how the fans loved Emmanuel Eboue.... right up until they hated him. If Ozil performs at the Emirates like he did in Germany, he risks reaching that point, where even the die hard fans cease to cling to the idea that support will improve the player, and then the vitriol which follows will far outweigh that which forced Eboue to be substituted after having himself come on as a substitute, because, after all, the fall from grace of a right back is nothing in comparison to the death of a dream of a saviour.
Source: DSG
