Mesut Ozil Slammed by Michael Ballack as Mikel Arteta Blasts Arsenal Flops

Former German international and Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack has criticised Mesut Ozil for failing to respond to the poor form he has shown of late.

The Arsenal midfielder has been largely awful so far this season and was desperately short of form as the Gunners lost 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, as Bild (via The Independent's Sam Wallace) damningly points out:

Ballack, talking on Sky Sports (h/t Hamish Mackay in the Daily Mail), believes the World Cup winner should not have moved from Real Madrid in 2013 and said he could not explain Ozil's form:

"

There must be something behind (the scenes) because his head is mostly down, the body language is not improving even with the world champion (medal) in the pocket. I don't really know what's happened over the last year since he moved from Madrid to Arsenal. A player like him with his ability should have tried to stay longer at Real Madrid. [...]

He got criticised here (at Arsenal), he's not at his best but I don't see a reaction. A player like him with his ability should show a reaction but he never was the strongest player in terms of fighting, body language. That's his weakness - especially in these situations now when he can't use his technique and his vision.

"

Indeed, while Ozil impressed in fits and starts in his first season at the Emirates in 2013-14—providing nine assists and scoring five in the Premier League per Whoscored.com—he failed to dazzle consistently.

The £42.4 million man has gone on to start the new term very badly after the summer's international triumph, but he may be suffering from being played out of position, per Jeremy Wilson in The Daily Telegraph:

He was certainly not the only Arsenal player to underperform against Dortmund, as the Bundesliga side dominated the Gunners to an unexpected extent.

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Skipper Mikel Arteta has slammed his side's performance at Signal Iduna Park, saying that Arsenal can forget competing for the Champions League unless they improve dramatically, per John Cross in the Daily Mirror:

"

If you make the mistakes that we did, against top sides, we know that there is no chance to win the Champions League. We encouraged them to do that by giving the ball away so many times in very difficult positions. They exploit the spaces very well and they put us under pressure. I am bitterly disappointed. I am very disappointed because we knew their strengths, what we had to avoid and what we did was encourage them to play their game.

"

Dortmund's convincing victory puts Arsenal immediately on the back foot in terms of qualifying well for the latter stages from a group that also includes Anderlecht and Galatasaray.

The Gunners have paid the price for coming second in their Champions League group in recent years, meeting European giants Bayern Munich twice and Barcelona once, subsequently falling at the first knockout hurdle as a result.

However, it will take some turnaround for them to come out on top of Group D this year despite only one game having been played so far.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger endured a very poor start to the Champions League on Tuesday—in more ways than one—and needs to improve matters quickly to avoid another season of European mediocrity for the Emirates outfit.

Switching Ozil to his favoured No. 10 position would make sense. He lacks the pace and crossing ability to play wide, so the German needs to play centrally to rediscover the form that made him a £40 million player.

It is clear from Tuesday's performance—and from Ballack and Arteta's comments—that Arsenal are still some way off competing at the very top level, but a reinvigorated Ozil would significantly boost their prospects.