Three ways Arsenal could change their tactics to accommodate Mesut Ozil
Arsenal have gotten their campaign back on track with an impressive 3-1 victory over West Ham United after suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of Manchester City and Chelsea. Arsenal’s win against West Ham marked their first win under new manager Unai Emery. However, a player who wasn’t a part of the matchday squad against West ham was Mesut Ozil and the celebrations were somewhat overshadowed by the midfielder’s mysterious absence.
As The Independent puts it down, Emery had mentioned that Ozil missed the game due to an illness despite speculations about a rift between the duo.
Ozil is one of the players who has suffered largely under Emery’s philosophy of play which involves a lot of pressing and ball retention. He has been deployed in different positions in the attacking third but the German hasn’t been able to hit top gear.
Here is how Arsenal can extract the best out of the midfield ace, who currently earns wages in the region of £300,000-a-week.
1. Play Ozil as a No.10 with another midfielder for support
Emery deployed Ozil as a winger in the first game against Manchester City but shifted him to his conventional No.10 position against Chelsea. Although he was poor in the opening game, the German showed a few signs of improvement in the next one. His work rate was slightly better and he occasionally made a few good passes while making an effort to link up play with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, before he was taken off midway into the second half.
Emery could utilize Granit Xhaka to help Ozil out in the playmaker’s role with Matteo Guendouzi playing a bit deep. Xhaka’s physicality and range of passing would allow Ozil assume a free-roaming role in the attacking third.
That said, the former Real Madrid star must display greater agility and make aggressive forward runs if he is to successfully challenge Aaron Ramsey.
2. Play Ozil as a winger with an overlapping full-back
Ozil featured as a winger in Arsenal’s first game of the season with Ramsey as the No.10. He was far from his best in that game and gave away possession way too easily. However, Emery could persist with Ozil on one flank while deploying Mkhitaryan on the other.
Meanwhile, right-back Hector Bellerin is extremely quick and always tends to make aggressive forward runs on the overlap. This should allow Ozil to move a touch inside and narrow-up to link up play with Bellerin and the other midfielders.
This strategy should be useful as Ozil could then draw the defenders and use his technical abilities to release one of the attackers with his vision.
3. Use Ozil as super sub
If Ozil continues to struggle with Arsenal’s new style of play, the best that Emery could do is to utilize him as a substitute. In that case, Emery must start off with Ramsey as the No.10 and then introduce Ozil in the later stages of the match to extract the best out of him. He might not have the energy to maintain the intense level of pressing throughout the game but he should certainly be good enough to do it for a part of the match.
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Ozil can wreak havoc through the opposition’s defence when given a free role in the attacking third. Hence, if all else fails, Emery must deploy him as an impact substitute.
