The Ozil Effect

Ozil is the embodiment of ball-control, vision, creativity, finesse and improvisation. His magical left-foot can unlock any defence and his stats show him to be Europe’s most prolific provider in recent years.

Starring in the Bundesliga and with the Germany Under-21 side saw him make the step up and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa ensured that he was placed among Europe’s top young talents, with Real Madrid wasting little time in signing the playmaker ahead of the 2010-11 season.

Three successful seasons at Madrid saw Ozil establish himself as one of Europe’s finest footballers; he produced assists after assists thus earning himself the nickname of “The Assist King”. His statistics of the last four seasons at a glance:

Season   Total Starts for club and country   Goals     Assists                    
2009/10   49   11 20
2010/11   60   12 31
2011/12   54   13 26
2012/13   59   16 35

So he had a mind boggling 112 assists (28 per season) during that time and also 72 League assists in the last 5 seasons which is more than any other player in the top 5 leagues in Europe. He had also created 353 chances from open play in that time, also highest among all players in Europe. As we can clearly see, Ozil is one of the most creative players in world football.  But more impressive is that he has maintained that high level for four years staying consistently in the top of both leagues for assists and chances created. Ozil also continued to shine on the international stage with Germany, so it came as a surprise for both his Real Madrid team mates and fans worldwide when Madrid let him leave on transfer deadline day in September 2013.

However, Real’s loss was Arsenal’s gain as the Gunners smashed their club record transfer fee, paying £42.4 million to bring Ozil to the Emirates and Ozil has started to show his every penny worth in the 3 matches he had played for Arsenal till now. Also it did not take Ozil long enough to endear himself to the Arsenal fans. As soon as Mesut Ozil took to the field to make his Premier League debut against Sunderland, they were awestruck. His immaculate first-touch, instinctive dribbling and incisive passing won Gunners fans’ hearts within moments. After just 11 minutes, the Arsenal fans saw why he is called the technician of European football as Ozil controlled a long ball with an immaculate first touch sprinting down the left wing and squaring expertly for Olivier Giroud to score. The love affair was thus complete; Arsenal’s fans knew that a wizard has just arrived for them to take Arsenal again to the former glory days, to help Arsenal to become a genuine title challenger after what seemed like an eternity for them. And it is not that only the fans have been reinvigorated.  The Arsenal players seem to have been given a lift as well. Ozil’s presence in their midst has let his teammates to step up their game and all of a sudden Arsenal looks like a formidable team.

Ozil’s aesthetic excellence, graceful stride, unparalleled vision and superlative technique all came to fore again last weekend when he produced a master class and had a hand in all three Arsenal goals as they comfortably beat Stoke 3-1. Aaron Ramsey notched his seventh goal in eight games by knocking in after Asmir Begovic fumbled Ozil’s free-kick. Per Mertesacker and Bacary Sagna then headed in Ozil masterful set-pieces as Arsenal moved to the top of the Premier League. The way Ozil is playing it looks like he has been in the Arsenal side for years rather than only three weeks. And what is more amazing about Arsenal’s victory over Stoke was that he performed a slight twist on this match by contributing to the type of goals usually associated with Arsenal’s opponents. All three of Arsenal’s goals against Stoke came from set pieces and Stoke is arguably the most difficult team in the Premier League to score against from set pieces. So an Arsenal team which scored 12 goals from set pieces the entire last season has scored 3 in one match only. Thus the “Ozil Effect” cannot be more evident.

Ozil’s 3 assist in the League thus far means he has an assist every 53 minutes (he has played 159 minutes so far). Also, he has created 10 scoring opportunities in the 2 matches he has played so far. The bad news for Arsenal’s opponents is that he has still not adapted fully to the English game. He will only get better when he fully integrates into the pace of the English game.