Mythbuster: Is Wenger to blame for Ozil slump? Getty Images Featured Uefa Champions League Man City & Yaya fall short again Related Stories Transfer Zone Transfer Talk: Arsenal consider Lugano Uefa Champions League Manchester City deserved a draw against Bayern, says Hart Uefa Champions League Hazard lives up to Mourinho billing but killer instinct missing Uefa Champions League Mourinho: Struggling Costa can't play twice in three days Ireland Jagielka: McGeady can thrive under Martinez Previous 0 18 Sep 2014 07:17:00 The £42 million man played just 62 minutes in the 2-0 defeat by Borussia Dortmund, again prompting questions over his value to Arsenal and position in the starting XI Bet = AST £43.3 Draw £35 ARS £18.3 PaddyPower COMMENT By Jay Jaffa "Did not earn his money," screamed leading German sports newspaper Bild as it delivered a brutal, yet painfully accurate, assessment of Mesut Ozil's latest ineffectual performance in an Arsenal shirt against Borussia Dortmund. It gave Ozil the lowest mark in its player ratings, while the UK media have long been asking serious questions of a man who arrived in north London to much fanfare and billed as the figurehead of a new-look Arsenal. Ozil's slump can no longer be dismissed as a blip; it now resembles a systemic decline with no sign of light at the end of the tunnel. Excuses that were legitimate a year ago - no winter break, adapting to a new league, playing out of position, no pace in the team - are ringing increasingly hollow, if not totally redundant already. The blame for Ozil's decline has been laid at Arsene Wenger's door but there must come a time for the player to step back and accept responsibility. Ozil was an integral part of Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid title-winners and has regularly shone for Germany - so why is he struggling so much at Arsenal? Florentino Perez put forward the most plausible suggestion when he claimed that "Ozil could not stand the pressure of Madrid," immediately after the German signed for the Gunners in a £42 million deal. The idea that Ozil is a fragile figure is nothing new and quotes from former team-mates, managers and pundits all add weight to the claim that the 25-year-old melts into the periphery when the heat is turned up. Prior to the World Cup, Michael Ballack expressed his dismay at Ozil's "regression". Former Bayern Munich midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic said: "It is a big challenge for Ozil to banish this inconsistency from his game. I cannot explain why he goes missing this often," while German great Paul Breitner said that "nine men are torturing themselves for 90 minutes and he's going for a walk," when assessing Ozil's display in the last-16 win over Algeria. Thomas Muller sympathised with his compatriot citing the absence of a winter break in England as a problem, yet Wenger granted Ozil special dispensation last January to head off to Morocco for a holiday. It made little difference. Even Wenger commented on his state of mind, explaining in February: "It is difficult for him mentally to be confronted with that pressure every three days and in every single competition." But this is one of the foremost talents in the modern game - is this an acceptable excuse for a player who has experience of just about every major game a footballer could partake in? Naturally, Ozil rejects these claims which, given the intangible nature of mental attributes, leaves someone analysing the situation merely picking sides based on their own interpretation. Surely, however, there is no smoke without fire. It strikes as odd that the undoubted star of Germany's World Cup 2010 campaign and Mourinho's Madrid can find himself shunted out wide for club and country but, if two elite managers such as Joachim Low and Wenger feel that he is best deployed out wide, should we not look for other excuses? Ozil made it very clear that his relationship with Wenger was a big factor in his move to the Gunners, noting that conversations had started in the aftermath of his excellent World Cup 2010. Perhaps, then, Wenger's habit of lowering expectations for new signings has caused the 25-year-old to relax and slip into this slump. Afterall, Ozil made it clear that the only opinion in which he was interested as that of his manager, while also claiming that he was "satisfied" with his first season in England despite popular opinion to the contrary. Player Stats — Mesut Özil General Attack Defence Distribution Discipline General Games Played 26 Minutes Played 2,149 Starts 25 Interceptions 6 Substitution On 1 Substitution Off 11 Duels Won 44.5% 44.5% Aerial duels won 29.4% 29.4% Statistically speaking, Ozil's decline from the first 10 games of his Arsenal career make for grim reading. His shooting accuracy has dropped from 83.3 per cent to 60% in his following 19 games. He has registered three assists in this time, a drop from the six goals he created in that opening spell. He created 29 chances initially but that level has dropped to 54 in 19 games. The downward spiral has been gradual but worrying in equal abundance. Mourinho offered a character reference over the summer, explaining to Yahoo: "He's a very sensitive boy. He needs confidence. He needs trust. He needs to feel that people are with him." From what we have seen and heard from Wenger, it is very difficult to believe that Ozil has not been treated similarly at Arsenal. He has been given his own personal winter break. He was allowed an extended post-World Cup holiday, along with Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski, and was given ample periods of rest during last season. He works with his two German team-mates and is active on social media, posting regularly alongside friends within the Arsenal squad. There is no hint that this slump has been triggered by a failure to adjust off the pitch. And yet after almost 13 months at Arsenal, Ozil, the £42m record signing, is no longer trusted to be the architect at No.10 and has dropped so far down the pecking order of attacking midfielders you could safely argue that the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tomas Rosicky would both be more effective from wide, or through the middle. ARSENAL LATEST 11/1 Arsenal are 11/1 with bet365 to win the title this season The Czech Republic international has been underused this year, despite an enterprising 2013-14 campaign that saw him add thrust to the Arsenal midfield, including a couple of winners against Tottenham. It led to a new contract and yet he is still to appear under Wenger this season. Oxlade-Chamberlain has also shown in fits and starts that he is a dangerous wideman who can be equally effective through the middle. Performances for England and against Manchester City in the Community Shield have highlighted this. Yet he is another to have been marginalised to accommodate Ozil. Mourinho did warn Arsenal, though: "If you were expecting Ozil to be super-aggressive and to be running miles and miles from side to side and to show great enthusiasm and aggressiveness, this is not Mesut," he told Yahoo, while scouting reports did warn of his blase on-pitch attitude. Can you criticise Wenger here? Yes, if he expects Ozil to defend, track back and cover his full-back but this is not the impression that you get from watching Arsenal lately. Over the years Wenger has frequently shunted his big-name signings to the wide areas as a way to gently integrate them and, although he reversed that policy last year, playing Ozil through the centre, he looks to have reverted to this tactic - possibly a ploy to help him rediscover the magic away from the heat and intensity of a Premier League midfield battle. Clearly it is not working out but how much blame can be apportioned to Wenger? He will have watched Ozil's development and noted his evolution into a playmaker who can be incredibly effective from the flanks - see his 13 assists and 102 chances created from wide last year at Madrid as evidence. That he isn't doing it for the Gunners goes beyond merely playing him out of position. Wenger has his critics and the dissenting voices will be growing louder after the eviscerating 2-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund but Ozil's performance and his altogether underwhelming form for Arsenal despite the myriad ways in which he has been accommodated in north London cannot be laid at Wenger's door any longer. Opinion is turning on Ozil and it is down to the 25-year-old to justify his price-tag and reputation at the top end of the game. After all, this is a German World Cup winner. He has everything at his disposal, from the team-mates around him, the trust from his manager and the natural talent that coaxed £42m from the Arsenal coffers. It is time he takes responsibility for this decline and emerge as the star many expected when he moved to the Emirates Stadium last summer.
n pictures: Tartan Army get in the party mood ahead of Scotland's clash with Germany
Andy Rutherford, John Nicolson, German fan Vera Schleif, Bob
Burnett and David Wishart meet up in Dortmund ahead of the Germany V
Scotland international.
THOUSANDS of Tartan Army footsoldiers are limbering up in Germany by
performing major drinking manoeuvres in Dortmund’s main square.
Backers of Scottish independence slapped a “Yes” sticker on the beer tap of a pavement café.
One
blonde supporter from the home side was ‘captured’ for a photograph
with four beaming pals from all over Scotland, Perth, Dalkeith, Orkney
and the Isle of Skye.
Vera Schleif, 44, from Wuppertal said:”The Scots fans are great. I think the kilt is very sexy.
“I know all about Scotland because we went there on holiday last year and we went to see Celtic play Hibernian.
“The atmosphere in Dortmund is fantastic.”
John
Nicolson, 47, from Skye, said he meets up with mates Andy Rutherford,
Bob Burnett and David Wishart at all the Scotland ‘away’ games.
He
said:”The Germans love us. And we love Germany - the bars are magic,
the beer is cheap and the opposition ladies are gorgeous.”
Kelly
McMahon, Terry Hinley, Jen Meiklem and Sandra O’Connor donned mini kilts
and partied with thousands of fellow supporters with beer and sturdy
German food.
Kelly, 38, from Dunfermline in Fife, said:”We are having an amazing time – we always do with the Tartan Army.
“We have been staying in Cologne and were partying with the Germans last night. They’re great fun.”
Four mates had Bavarian T-shirts printed, complete with hairy chests and fake leather jackets, before the game to celebrate.
Not
all of the Scotland fans had berthed themselves in Dortmund. By
mid-afternoon, there was a stream of fans coming out of Dortmund
station, having travelled from Dusseldorf and Cologne, almost an hour
away.
Our Record snapper, Tony Nicoletti is in Dortmund with the
fans today and will be sending us his pictures throughout the evening.
See if you can spot yourself or friends and family in Germany with the
Tartan Army.
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