We’re off. Bounced back. Cech didn’t look fazed, knew he wouldn’t be affected by last week’s annual crisis. He’s a champion. The players looked up for a fight. Like we knew they would. It wasn’t an easy win, but you’d still have been surprised had Arsenal not turned up after the disappointment last week.
We’re very much a reactionary team. Not complaining. Three points is the goal and we scored. There’s even multiple players who could have been awarded Man of the Match. Sky gave it to our super Spaniard, not Arteta, who was great when he came on, but the other one, the magician. Santi Cazorla. He’s back to his old magic show, dazzling, twisting and turning. I could go down that route, but for me the player that showed his class, once again, is Mezut Ozil.
Santi did nothing wrong. He was probably immaculate. But through the opportunities created and first touches alone my pick of the week is all German. Mezut was outstanding. All good things in Arsenal’s attack stemmed from him, all link up play, all correct decisions and invention came from his wonderful mind. He’s an extraordinary player really. Plays on a different plane to everybody else and get’s stick for it, madness, utter madness. People who criticise Ozil should be nowhere near the sport, let alone be in charge of analysing it. He’s nearly always carving out chances every game and it’s no surprise that the opener came from him. It’s not one of his cute cuts through the defence, but just a simple, accurate, no fuss cross on Giroud’s big, left foot. Giroud dispatched emphatically. One nil to the Arsenal. Finally, our players reward Mezut Ozil for his constant stream of gifts. He’s not asking much from the team because he puts it on a plate every week. Get someone lethal in that penalty box, or let Theo run rampant, and these one-goal margins we’ll quickly shift into thrashings. We create so many chances, most of them from Mezut, that it’s quite poor how much sweat and anxiety Arsenal cause in these games. These players should bury teams.
Ozil put up a genuine challenge for Player of the Season last year, beat by his midfield conductor Santi Cazorla and the super star that is Alexis Sanchez. But he was hitting highs all through the second half of the season, it was a real improvement from him last year. This year has continued where he left off. A strong pre season suggested bigger things were to come from Ozil, and they are. He looks fit and strong, happier than ever, forever deadly, the casual assassin. Okay, we smashed our transfer record on him, which would provide some context as to why Wenger starts him every game. But consider the way Wenger jams players into square holes in order to incorporate the German. Arsene is building his football vision around Ozil, with the German acting as the brain to a free-flowing team aiming for Wengerball. Ozil should be one of the player’s of the season this year. He obviously won’t gain any plaudits outside of Arsenal, but it doesn’t matter, because we know, and Wenger knows. We see it every single week. His talent for football exceeds most. The German produced an impressive 98.2 % pass completion for Crystal Palace away. He controlled the game, wasted next to nothing, he was, as Wenger rightly put it, ‘Magnificent.’
On a quick note, we really need a smart defensive midfielder, a watchman. (Keep Coquelin as the fiery kicker.) Real shame we can’t get Arteta a fresh set of legs.