Holding him to a high standard is one thing, but when people go straight for him after losing 3-0 to a juggernaut like City as if he were somehow responsible it looks ridiculous.
People said he needed pace when we were stuck playing Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey and Rosicky on the wing and he was getting crowded out because of how congested it was the final third. Combine those line-ups filled with playermakers + Giroud up front and there's no way to utilise Özil on the break like Real did with players such as Benzema/Ronaldo/Higuain/AdM or Germany with Podolski/Muller wide + Klose as CF. Some of the team's better performances in Giroud's mixed first season came with Podolski and Walcott either side of him. He's shown that with France that if you get people running beyond him, he can be more effective.
As for the Aubameyang point, this team simply doesn't counter attack well enough to make use of his pace in those games. This isnt't like Real Madrid circa 2011 who were a well oiled machine on the break who could punish Barca despite having 30% possession, this team is filled with players who take too many touches before the break fizzles out. No use getting the ball to Özil when the other team have got back in position defensively.
It's not that I don't expect Özil to play well in the big games, the issue is that I didn't expect the team to succeed in those games towards the end of Wenger's time. The team has had very little control in midfield in many of those matches so it didn't make sense to expect a #10 to dominate when his team spends most of the game under duress.
What's funny about that? It's a manager's job to put his players in position to be successful. Once he realised that teams had become more adept at neutralising Özil in that role, he could have adapted the set-up like he did in that Chelsea game more often. De Bruyne is a very good example: He was getting a lot of criticism at the WC because Martinez played him in a deeper role that didn't suit him, however in the next game against Brazil he played further up the pitch almost in a false 9 role and put in a MOTM display.@ help him get involved. Wenger is gone and as we saw last weekend or the end of last season he gets involved when he feels like it. Tactics and starting position mean **** all without application (For another example see our CM/B2B/CF Aaron Ramsey). A manager can play you where he wants, tell you what he wants done, but at the end of the day its up to you to do something about it when you're on the pitch. I hate Ramsey as a footballer, but I give him credit for always trying to make things happen regardless of the situation or the type of game hes having. Thankfully we now have a manager that will yank you if you aren't even trying though as we saw with Özil over the weekend.
If the team setup is right, I do have confidence that Özil can be decisive in the final third yes. But I felt the same about Fabregas, he needed the right conditions to succeed as well. He needed protection in midfield because the team was too open defensively when he played in a two. I haven't pinned my hopes on one player since a prime Thierry Henry. Fabregas wasn't that guy either, there were plenty of big game batterings with him in the team; back then Denilson, Diaby, Arshavin and others took most of the blame for those. That was considered acceptable but if you did the same for Özil, you'd get accused of being an apologist.Just for clarification off your earlier reply, do you believe we have a chance against anyone we come up against with Özil or are you merely hopeful we dont lose? That to me is the difference between to two (Cesc and Özil or really to Özil and any other top/hell even merely good player we've had). Özil instills 0 belief in me to be the difference (ironically the name of an ad campaign hes was one of the faces for with Adidas
