Mesut Ozil has a different style of play , he remains calm in front of goal and makes the stuff look easy which has made the pundits criticize him which we see very often with Arsenal, some say he does not try, Paul Scholes said that he took an easy option joining Arsenal but I totally disagree as this Arsenal team is currently the best Arsenal team in years and we will soon see this on paper too.With the likes of Alexis Sanchez- the guy with lots and lots of energy + hard work, Santi - who is in top form and the other Arsenal star, this team will prove deadly, ofcourse with the German playmaker looking good.SEE MORE : VIDEO : WHO IS MESUT OZIL'S ROLE MODEL
The German World Cup winner has often been criticized for supposedly lethargic and meek performances, but his subtle genius and deceptive influence goes criminally unnoticed.
Some see a languid, fawning passenger who flatters to deceive. Some see a cerebral, telepathic creator. Whichever side of the fence you sit, Mesut Ozil is inescapably English football’s ultimate 'marmite' player. That the jury is still out on a signing who cost 42.5 million pounds says much about how turbulent the German's time at Arsenal has been – or, perhaps, we've just not been watching him properly.
On the face of it, his 11 goals in 57 appearances is a modest return, while he has been accused of going missing in the moments that matter most. Rightly or wrongly, his price tag means more is expected of him than his teammates – all bar Alexis Sanchez, at least – and when Arsenal has floundered, often it has been Ozil who has flopped hardest, singled out for appearing apathetic and disinterested.
Paul Scholes, who has as many Premier League winner's medals as Ozil has goals for the Gunners, questioned his motivation and suggested he had chosen an easy option by joining the north Londoners, a club where he could be cherished without ever needing to extend himself and where a certain level of mediocrity, namely fourth place and no more, is accepted – reveled in, even, as the dressing room selfies attest.
But to look at Ozil in such a way is to entirely misunderstand a player who is half as lazy as he looks, and twice as influential as he is given credit for. The 26-year-old, a World Cup winner lest we forget, is a master of the unseen, of doing things that are hard to notice and even harder to quantify. The runs he makes, the space he creates – and vacates – all of it manipulating and maneuvering Arsenal's attack. When he is on the pitch, the pictures Arsenal paint are done on a canvas of his creation.
STATS DON'T LIE | Ozil has been accused of underperforming, yet no Arsenal player has picked up more assists since he joined the club in 2013
The opening goal against West Ham on Saturday was the perfect illustration of Ozil's impact. "It's the type of goal we love to score," enthused Arsene Wenger afterwards, and his record signing is the type of player that makes it happen. Yet, if you were not paying attention, you might not even have realized the role Ozil played. He did not score the goal, he did not register the assist and, unlike other unsung creators (the Luka Modrics of this world) he did not even assist the assister.
But he was integral. Escaping the clutches of West Ham's deep, tenacious midfield and finding space where there ought to have been none, he points the marauding Per Mertesacker in the direction of Aaron Ramsey. Then receiving the ball from the Welshman, he quickly turns it around the corner for Olivier Giroud, injecting the first thrust of tempo and menace into the move, and continues to draw claret and blue shirts away from his teammates with his sniping run into the box.
Giroud finished the move, and grabbed the acclaim, but Ozil started it. The two halves of Saturday's clash with the Hammers perfectly encapsulated the two sides of the German playmaker. In the first he was majestic, influencing every attack. In the second half he was less effective, his shoulder-shrugging body language representative of deeper frustrations, and many fans will have left the Emirates Stadium aghast at his decision making in one particular moment.
Breaking the offside trap and with only Adrian to beat, Ozil inexplicably opted to cross rather than shoot. It was a decision that elicited groans and head-shaking disbelief, appearing to highlight a player bereft of confidence in front of goal and incapable of taking responsibility himself, yet there was a genius to it, too.
Sometimes the pro-Ozil camp feels guilty of over exaggerating quite how innovative and unconventionally brilliant he is, delighting in a sideways glance here or an irrelevant feint there – like Patrick Bateman casting his eye over an eggshell business card in Romalian type – but it is impossible to escape the notion that he is the perfect Arsenal player. In that moment he did something no other player would have considered and attempted to conjure a goal that would have been lauded as the very embodiment of Wenger's philosophy.
WORK HARD, PLAY HARD | Far from being lazy, Ozil consistently covers more ground than his teammates and is ranked third for distance per game in Arsenal's squad
It did not come off, though, and instead he was ridiculed. But that is Ozil. From his outside-the-box thinking to his mannerisms and playing style, he is a misconception wrapped in an enigma. But Arsenal is a better team when he plays, more closely attuned to Wenger's core values. Scholes says the one-time Galactico picked the easy option joining the Gunners, but, really, he picked the only option, the only club – and manager – who would truly accommodate and harness his quirks.
This season, Arsenal has picked up more points per game and scored more freely (0.27 goals per match more) with Ozil in the side than without him. The club's stunning form in 2015, and ascent up the table, has exactly coincided with the reappearance of the club-record signing, winning eight of nine league games since he returned from injury – the only blip coming against Tottenham, though even then the German managed to score.
He used his time on the sidelines productively, too. "I wanted to be as fit as possible," explained Ozil. "I worked on my upper body as well as paying attention to my nutrition." He is fitter, sharper and stronger, even if it is not always noticeable. "You can be cheated a little bit by his style of play," says Wenger, "because he is fluent, easy, subtle and he does not look like he puts the effort in, but he does. He works much harder than his style shows."
The hard numbers may not suggest Ozil has repaid his huge transfer fee, but if you just watch him, the flickers of genius, the unnoticed sparks, the selfless runs that are appreciated only by his teammates, then he is worth every penny in pure, unpredictable entertainment. Great players do the things ordinary players wouldn't even attempt. Ozil does the things great players can't even imagine – we just need to notice it a little bit more often.Source Goal.com
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