Like I have said in the past about Mikhi, it is vital that he gets going. That was a vital win and he was a major part of it. He could be difference coming down the stretch. He could get Auba firing again. We know how inconsistent Ozil, and Iwobi can be. We need at least one of them on their job every game.
I think people place far too much responsibility for performance on a player and don't give enough credit to the opposition when a player has a quiet game. This was certainly true of Beckham when he played for England for example. He was a star player in a very lack-lustre team and the opposition knew that nullifying Beckham was key to defeating England. They would make sure that he couldn't hurt them. It would persuade managers to drop Beckham and then England would do even worse.
I think Ozil has the same issue. I don't think Ozil is a no show in big games, or is inconsistent, I think the managers of big teams realize that they would rather Iwobi get the ball 5 times, than Ozil get the ball once. I really feel Bournemouth were guilty of believing in Ozil's demise. They didn't mark Ozil out of the game and he got enough space that he murdered them. I don't think Pochettino is going to make the same mistake.
As I have said before, this isn't golf, what the opposition does matters. You can shut a player down in a match, particularly a midfielder. You can do it in almost every team sport, but it comes at a cost, and it is up to Ozil's team-mates to step up and take advantage of the space, the extra marking Ozil gets, costs the opposition.
His offensive threat even contributes to defense in a way, because even though Ozil doesn't press well, he often has a midfielder "staying at home" to make sure he doesn't break, so that is one less midfielder the other side has to attack with. What I haven't figured out is if Emery looks at the match ups and makes a rational decision whether the trade off, Ozil for whoever marks him, is a good one, or whether he just thinks Ozil is inconsistent, and can't press. I really hope it is the former.
There is a lot going on tactically at the top level, and I think as fans we take a too simplistic view of tactics, and players. There is a lot more going on, and unpacking it all is difficult. I was surprised in the Bournmouth game how like Mustafi, Sokratis looked. He had the ball played in behind him a number of times. Similarly Ghendouzi got caught on the ball as badly as Xhaka has ever done. So how much of that is the player? And how much is it the role, the tactical part they are playing, and how much they are targeted by the opposition? I think it is tough to say.
I think we are way to quick to condemn players on our own team for things that are perhaps far from being entirely their own fault.
