Love him or loathe him, Mesut is a magician... but he needs Unai’s golden touch to be a star on world stage
MESUT OZIL must be wondering what is going on – it is a month since he was blamed for anything.
Yep, a few weeks since the Premier League’s finest scapegoat has been well and truly hammered for one crime or another.
It is pretty certain that he is still getting a pummelling back in Germany, but there seems to have been a ceasefire here. It will not last, no way. Arsenal will lose, maybe at Craven Cottage today, and there will be a mighty good chance the cameras will pick up on some slopedshouldered insouciance and Ozil will be back in the firing line.
Indeed, a few of the more hardcore axe-grinders were trying to ping him on social media following the win against Qarabag.
Ozil, on as a substitute, appeared to have some sort of verbal exchange with Mohamed Elneny but the haters really were clutching at straws.
He is hardly setting the Premier League alight at the moment but is diligently going about business and his two goals represent half of last season’s tally.
After a tricky start – his long, surly, walk to the dugout after an hour or so at Chelsea being one of the lowlights – Ozil looks energised by Unai Emery, and has even contributed to the sprint statistics that have Arsenal up near the top of that particular table.
He certainly relished last weekend’s goal against Watford, posting photos of his celebration. ‘Definitely heading in the right direction’, he had typed above them.
And while the eight-game winning run has not featured scalps of the highest quality, Ozil is right.
Emery has been impressive since the opening, narrow defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea.
He has put no store in reputations from the previous era. That is why Ozil was hooked against Chelsea, that is why Aaron Ramsey was hooked against Watford.
And as the running figures demonstrate, Arsenal now look like a squad that gets worked properly in training rather than looking like a squad that plays five-a-side and crossbar challenges.
It IS a new era and feels like a new era – the three scorers on Thursday night never played a first-team game for Arsene Wenger.
But it is a totem of the old era that could yet prove to be the key to Emery’s fortunes. Ozil turns 30 a week today
and has the rest of this season and two more left to run on his extremely lucrative deal.
This coming week, after the engagement with Fulham, he will be resting up when many of his team-mates and opponents are away on international duty.
It seems certain his stellar career in the German national team is over, leaving him to concentrate on club duties.
While he has always been an easy target, particularly for the more communicative Arsenal sceptics, Ozil has enjoyed great support from the club and its fanbase.
They know he can be a game-changer. Under this immensely promising Emery regime (above), Ozil has a chance to flourish again.
He is a player who will never convince all, but Ozil remains a fantastic talent.
With Emery’s help, he can prove it once again to the Premier League.