Mirth wrote:Always find it strange that players like Ozil, Hleb, Iniesta and Fabregas (in his early days) were not more prolific.
Crazy, innit. A guy like Özil has played for some of the best managers in the modern game and none of them have told him to shoot.
My theory is that it's because we've done away with the second striker. In the past, the #10 used to be guys like Bergkamp, Laudrup or Del Piero... strikers who got pushed down in the field and adjusted their game to act as playmakers. These days it's attacking midfielders who are pushed up instead, and they just don't have the same fundamental instinct in front of goal. Their game is geared more towards dribbling and passing than finishing.
To his credit, Wenger is pretty good at reschooling midfielders and make goal threats out of them. Guys like Fabregas and Nasri became good scorers for us. Ljungberg is another example from the era just before that. Makes you think there's good hope that Özil will improve.
