Mesut Ozil: Out of form or a misjudged maestro?

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 26: Mesut Oezil of Arsenal is watched by Mark Noble of West Ham United during the Barclays Premier League match between West Ham United and Arsenal at Boleyn Ground on December 26, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Arsenal looked on the verge of a complete disaster of a transfer window when Arsene Wenger rescued the sinking ship by completing the club’s most expensive transfer ever and signing the German Playmaker and the “Assist Master” Mesut Özil for £42.5 million.

Mesut Özil was quick to settle down at Arsenal and he produced some delicate touches, some lovely moves and an assist to mark the beginning of his career at Arsenal. He would have had around 4 assists if Theo Walcott had not forgotten his finishing boots at home on his debut.

Fans rejoiced such a transfer and finally it looked like Arsenal had learnt to spend some money. His first match at the Emirates, against Stoke saw him produce 7 chances, 2 assists and also was involved in the first goal as the rebound from his free kick fell at Aaron Ramsey’s feet and he put it in the net.

But off late, according to many dear Gunners and other rivals, we have witnessed a dip in Mesut’s performance and he was performing better at Madrid. Gunners call him out of form and other rivals call him Overrated and say he was better at Madrid. So the question here is :- Is it what the fans think or not?

So far in 15 appearances for Arsenal, Mesut Özil has 4 goals and 7 assists for Arsenal with a passing accuracy of 88% and a shooting accuracy of 81%. If the question of him performing better at Madrid is there then to shed a bit of light on the issue Özil’s first 14 fixtures saw him produce 2 goals and 32 chances for Madrid.

The following tables compares stats from Özil’s first 14 matches for Madrid last year and first 15 matches for Arsenal in the league this year.

Mesut Özil playing for	Goals	Chances Created	Pass Accuracy	Shot Accuracy
Real Madrid	2	32	84%	83%
Arsenal	4	45	88%	82%

The table clearly shows that Mesut Özil has been performing on the same, maybe higher level then what he was performing last year for Madrid. He has 2.6 key passes for Arsenal per match with 63.6 passes on an average per match, clearly outmatching his total of 36.9 passes for Madrid. He has had more shots for Arsenal than Madrid in comparison and more number of dribbles too. So the question of overrated is answered.

If the question of out of form remains then in Arsenal’s last 5 matches he has created 16 chances and put in 2 goals. He has had a passing accuracy of 88%. He won all of his duels against Manchester City and provided an assist too, had all shots on target against Everton and scored against them too, and also created a chance in the match against Chelsea.

In the last match against West Ham, Özil had 8 chances created. Clearly these stats are not of a player that is out of form but who is constantly working for his team and playing to his level best.

So why is he being called out of form? The problem lies with Arsenal’s finishing. None of Özil’s 8 chances were converted into goals against West Ham. It isn’t his fault that he is not able to provide assists when he is creating so many chances.

Also it is the fans problem for calling him out of form when they need to voice their support for him. Even a player of Özil’s calibre single handily cannot lead his team to the league title or win all matches single handily. As the fans have been seeing Özil provide assists on a regular basis, they term this “assist-drought” period for him as being out of form which isn’t the case.

So the fans need to realize that Özil is doing his best to lead Arsenal to the title and should be behind his back all the time rather than calling him out of form when he is doing everything when he can.

NOTE:- Stats taken from Squawka and Whoscored, only league stats compared.