Lining up on the left has not proved fruitful for Mesut Özil, the German World Cup winner

Mesut Özil has been subject to a mountain of criticism since the season began. Lining up on the left has not proved fruitful for the German World Cup winner. There were many calls for him to be dropped due to his poor form.Özil, whose natural position is behind the strikers in the 10 role, has struggled to adapt to a wide role, and it’s evident that he simply is not a winger. But is the German to blame, or should the finger be pointed at Arsène Wenger?Simply, Arsenal have too many number 10s, and rather than go for something orthodox, Wenger will play players out of position, to try and accommodate them all. We have seen Santi Cazorla played frequently on the left at his time at Arsenal. Then there was the failed experiment at trying Aaron Ramsey on the right. We won’t even talk about the horror story that was right back Emmanuel Eboue on the right wing. So, you would think he would learn, evidently not.

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Some Arsenal fans think he’s trying too hard to accommodate Jack Wilshere. The Englishman has his critics, and rightly so. He still has that streak of petulance about him, and at 22, it really should have been eradicated from his game by now. While his never say die attitude and high work rate cannot be faulted, he is lacking in some areas. He needs to know when to keep his mouth shut and not lunge in recklessly like we have seen.

But, with all of that, there is an undeniable talent there. His goal against Manchester City demonstrated he has the ability to dribble and take on players, and his touch, technique and vision is nothing to sneeze at – but should he be playing the 10 role ahead of someone like Mesut Özil? They’re both vying for the same position, and I’m not sure many would choose Wilshere over the German.

When Özil joined Arsenal, he was leading the assists category in all of Europe tied only with one other player – Lionel Messi. It’s evident that in the middle is where he flourishes.

Playing on the wing nullifies his best assets, and exposes his weaknesses. He’s not a player who works terribly hard (in fact I’m sure majority would say he’s rather lazy), nor is he the strongest of players. However, play him through the middle and you have a player blessed with wonderful vision and technique with the ability to pick out a pass that not many others in the world could.

On Saturday, at Aston Villa, we saw him running the show. A goal, and an assist showed that the centre was is where you’ll get the best out of him. His confidence was brimming, something we were yet to see this season, and there was a much more comfortable demeanour about him we saw than when he was playing out wide. Granted, Wilshere was not playing, and the much loathed 4-1-4-1 formation was switched to a more familiar 4-2-3-1.

He notched up an astonishing pass completion rate of 91.5 per cent while completing 54 forward passes – more than any other Arsenal player.

The question is though, will he be moved back to the left when Jack Wilshere returns to the line up, or has Wenger learned that playing Özil through the middle will benefit everyone?

It’s something Arsène Wenger needs to think long and hard about, and it’s not going to be easy to trying to make it all come together. He has too many central players vying for the same position, and ultimately, you can’t please everyone. It’s a situation which I am sure he is not envied for.