I don't think Ozil plays as a forward at all. He's frequently found very, very deep, which is a consequence of playing wingers who cut in and take up the space behind the striker between the two of them. So many problems would be solved by playing down the wings more instead of through the center. It puts less pressure on Coq and Cazorla, would create more space for Ozil, and would allow for a striker like Giroud.
The modern game, I feel, is about expansive attacking play and only overloading the middle of the park in defense. 3 at the back formations do this pretty naturally, because the wingbacks don't get sucked into the middle very often as the space is usually already covered.
To make our formation work, you just need to have good combination play down the wing with powerful B2B runners at FB and CM, with the winger looking to get to the byline at least as often as cutting inside. The "number 10" is going to be the player who facilitates the transition with an incisive forward pass, not the guy who drops deep to receive the ball under pressure and lay it back off to midfielder or centreback. The whole point of having strikers like Walcott or Giroud, as different as they are, is negated when we pack the midfield, and it makes the number 10 a short-passing drone by design, regardless of Ozil's qualities or intentions.
