Mesut Ozil ready to be the new Santi Cazorla for Arsenal

Mesut Ozil can become the new Santi Cazorla in a deeper midfield role for Arsenal.

Mesut Ozil is the most unlikely candidate to underpin a midfield. He’s languid and less than intimidating physically.

Yet it’s exactly the role Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is asking his laid-back schemer to perform. Wenger knows Ozil can play deeper and prove the doubters wrong, just like Santi Cazorla did when he made the same switch back in 2014.

Cazorla, a pint-sized attacking midfielder, transformed Arsenal’s season when he moved off the front into a deep-lying position. With Cazorla dictating possession in midfield, the Gunners finished third in the Premier League and retained the FA Cup.

The Spaniard’s ankle injury, which has ruled him out since late-2016, robbed the Gunners of their passing hub. However, Wenger may have finally found the solution by redefining Ozil’s role in the team.

Dropping Ozil deeper is another bold tactical ploy from Wenger, but one able to salvage Arsenal’s disappointing season in the league. Ozil moving into a deeper position has coincided with Wenger reverting to a back four.

The switch to three at the back worked wonders for Arsenal last season. It helped Wenger’s men win 10 of their last 11 matches, including the FA Cup final against Chelsea.

Yet the 3-4-2-1 shape the Gunners adopted didn’t succeed because of any inherent advantages of the formation. Instead, it worked because it helped freshen things up for a squad gone stale.

Any supposed advantages accrued from playing three at the back have disappeared this season. Arsenal have stumbled through most of their 18 league matches, with the back three gifting goals to the opposition.

WhoScored.com detailed the Gunners’ penchant for giving goals away:

Wenger responded by returning to a four-man defense for the goalless draw against West Ham United on Wednesday, Dec. 13. He stuck with it for Saturday’s 1-0 win over Newcastle United, a match enlivened by Ozil’s class.

Neither the Hammers nor the Magpies possess frightening talent in attacking areas. Yet it’s not a coincidence Arsenal have kept consecutive clean sheets since Wenger re-introduced the back four.

Tactically speaking, there’s nothing about a four-man defense which makes clean sheets inevitable. It’s more about what happens ahead of the defense, specifically, the shape Wenger has had his midfield adopt.

James Benge of the London Evening Standard outlined what the midfield looked like against West Ham:

It was noticeable against the Hammers how often Ozil dropped deeper while Jack Wilshere pushed forward. The pattern repeated itself against Newcastle.

Having Ozil drop deeper has created several advantages for Arsenal. First, it has allowed Wenger’s most gifted technician to get on the ball more often.

The manager explained why he likes to see Ozil more involved in possession, per Sky Sports:

"I think he takes responsibility and that’s what you want from him. He is more mature, he guides the team very well, he does a lot on the ball and your heart rate always goes down when he has the ball."

Ozil’s neat and intelligent distribution has improved Arsenal’s ability to keep the ball, a big reason for those clean sheets. His vision and eye for defense-splitting passes mean the ball is getting to the Gunners’ attacking players a lot quicker.

Just as important, having a player with Ozil’s appetite for the ball operate deeper is helping out Arsenal’s defense. Wenger’s loves his teams to build through steady possession from the back, but defenders such as center-back Laurent Koscielny need quick and available targets to aim for.

Next: Ozil downs Newcastle: 3 things we learned

Ozil is not only giving Koscielny and Co. a natural outlet. He is also presenting easier, safer passes to Granit Xhaka.

The latter is supposed to be the holding midfielder in this formation. While Xhaka can shield the defence, he does have a nasty habit of giving away possession too easily. Ozil’s presence closer to him can help Xhaka become a more efficient player.

Putting Ozil deeper into the mixer of the midfield meat grinder carries inherent risks. The 29-year-old is never going to be a ball-winner. Nor will he regularly track runners into the defensive third.

Making Ozil a success in his new role has demanded Wenger offer him subtle, yet significant, protection. Moving away from the back five of the previous formation has allowed him to do it.

Having another central midfielder on the pitch means Arsenal can bracket Ozil. Xhaka is behind him as the anchor, while Wilshere has been a terrier ahead of the German.

The latter has started the last two matches while Aaron Ramsey is out with a hamstring injury. While he’s been a useful creative force in the final third, Wilshere has also excelled pressing the opposition and winning the ball high up the pitch.

BBC Match of the Day recounted how successful Wilshere was as a ball-winner against Newcastle:

Wilshere’s appetite for tackling has relieved Ozil from getting more involved in the defensive side of the game, hardly his strength. Wilshere isn’t the only midfielder who has helped make life easier for Ozil, though.

Alex Iwobi has also started the last two matches, ostensibly as a right winger. Yet the Nigerian has been more of an inverted winger, thanks to his penchant for drifting into the middle.

It’s a trait helping the Gunners overload central areas and boss the ball the way they used to on Wenger’s watch. Having Iwobi join up with Wilshere and Xhaka centrally, has helped keep Ozil free to find and exploit space.

Iwobi still lacks an eye for goal, but as Goal’s Chris Wheatley pointed out, the 21-year-old has been a feature of Arsenal’s approach play:

Moving to a back four has let Wenger top up midfield, an advantage he explained to Connor Armstrong of the team’s official website: “it gives us one more player to go forward.”

Yet the change in Ozil’s role can make the difference to Arsenal’s season. It’s given the Gunners back the conductor they have missed while Cazorla’s been injured.

The switch could lead to Ozil, whose contract expires in 2018, signing a new deal. In the meantime, it will be fascinating to see if Wenger persists with a deeper Ozil and a back four for Friday’s crunch match against Liverpool.

Left-back Nacho Monreal may continue alongside Laurent Koscielny at the heart of defense to try and repel the pace of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah. But the key for Arsenal will be keeping the ball away from free-scoring Liverpool.

Ozil can make it happen in his new role.