Friday, March 29, 2024

Opinion: Coquelin Is No Saviour – The Top Four Myths of Arsenal’s Season

4. Özil’s Improvement

http://gty.im/462492783

The vast majority of pundits stated that Mesut Özil showed a marked improvement last season, with many praising his impact on Arsenal’s biggest games of the 2014/15 season. Yes, Özil was terrific last season, but he was terrific in the 2013/14 season, too.

The reason that so many pundits shouted and raved about the German’s ‘improvement’ last season was because it was their ‘get out of jail free’ card. Mesut was outstanding in his first season in English football, despite putting in the odd poor performance here and there, but many fans and pundits were simply oblivious to the intricacies of the playmaker’s game. This caused them to make idiotic claims week in, week out, such as criticising the player for not putting in enough effort on the pitch, or for going unnoticed for long periods each game.

Instead of holding their hands up and admitting they were wrong about a player whose impact is becoming too obvious to ignore, they simply suggested that it was Özil who was improving, rather than their football knowledge banks.

“But he’s toughened himself up. He can get stuck into challenges now.” Yeah, and I bet you think Lionel Messi scores all his goals due to ‘hunger and desire’. Right-oh…

Do you agree with this article? Let us know in the comments below.

Explore more