Mesut Ozil has admitted that the knee injury he picked up earlier in the season was a big negative for him, and says that the team’s results are far more important than his own individual performances.
Nevertheless, the German international has been in good form since returning in January, scoring twice and creating 22 chances in the Premier League and a further 3 in the two Champions League games.
It hasn’t shielded him from criticism from certain quarters, but the former Real Madrid isn’t paying much attention as he looks to help Arsenal to another trophy winning season.
“If you look at the league and my performances, I’m really satisfied,” he told the official site.
“I’ve missed a lot of football and I think it shows on the pitch that I worked very hard during that time. So now I just want to help the team and I’m on the right path.”
The Gunners are on an excellent run of form, having won 14 of 17 games since the turn of the year, and Ozil is determined to play his part.
“The most important thing is that we win games as a team,” he said. “Of course it’s nice if I can give an assist or score a goal, but really, what’s most important is that we are successful as a team.
“We’re rightfully near the top of the table and in the semi-finals of the FA Cup again. I think we can win trophies again this year, and if we do that, we will be satisfied.”
The main man Mesut!
Oh that he is, to think that we have in a team containing Santi Cazorla, Alexis and arguably the most in form striker in the world right now. We have been brilliant since the New Year and I find it to be no coincidence that Ozil has been part of our stronger team. We’ve had 3 hiccups, (Saints, Spurs and Monaco), but won all the rest. What I find absolutely sickening however is how much stick Ozil is getting from our own contingent. These are those same fans who 5 years ago, moaned about how we didn’t buy any great… Read more »
Lets not for get the super chavs who boo Cesc against Saints. As fickle as they are classless.
I didn’t, I don’t deem those morons as being fans. They are more like 40,000 pissed up, overly aggressive, wife beating racists who all have a meet up once a fortnight, which they choose to do so at Stamford Bridge.
They sure as shit don’t pay for a season ticket to go and watch 11 superstars totaling more than £500m sit behind the half way line and play anti football every week. Disgraceful bunch.
Get over yourself you arrogant prick. just because someone has the audacity to criticize Ozil, does not mean they “know nothing about football”. Ozil is subject to criticism just as much as any other player who steps on the field and you’re delusional if you think a) Ozil has so far justified his price tag & b) he has hit his top form yet. Ozil gets criticized so much because we know that he is so much more capable of better things than he currently does in an arsenal shirt. In his 50 odd games with the club there have… Read more »
I like how he places assisting above scoring, it explains that almost inexplicable squared ball the other week.
I think he puts it first because that’s his job. Like a defender has clean sheets as their top priority.
I’m just happy to be alive and see Mesut Özil in our beautiful colours.
I think he does it because he had a shot off target 5 minutes before and was lacking the confidence. And if you were not deluding yourself so would you. Class player, normally top class decision maker, but wrong choice trying to find a player on that occssion
When Ozil is contribute, Ozil is contribute.
You’re stoned man…
I love your reply. Please remind your child, the spurs is always shite.
Lay off the weed Stoner that made no sense.
Stop squaring it all the time and fucking shoot, man!
You’re right. What he needs to do is square root it. Bloody Jerries.
The reason that Jose Mourinho stated that he was the best no. 10 in the world and why Ronaldo went apeshit when they sold him is because he is in the team to create chances. He turns nothing into a chance routinely and it’s the forwards jobs to convert them to goals. He has never been a natural goal scorer, it’s simply not part of his game. People judge him poorly due to expect him to net a goal every week. Those fans simply do not understand what his role is, he creates chances in the blink of an eye… Read more »
Ozil still has much to prove. So far he hasn’t justified his 42 million quid transfer fee. Tell you what: why don’t we approach Real Madrid and offer to swap him in exchange for Gareth Bale? I’ve heard that the fans of Los Blancos have fallen out of love with the Welsh wizard. Bale could take us to another level.
I have an issue with this notion of players having to justify their price. A player’s price has never been so loosely connected to their actual worth to a team as it is today. It is largely dictated by a foolish market: see Falcao, Carroll, di Maria, etc. Just remove Ozil from the price pedestal and enjoy the amazing skill he puts on display. One need only adjust their expectations to truly appreciate this player. He’s not my preferred type of player (I’m more of an Alexis persuasion) but I’ve never enjoyed watching him as much as I do today.
Unfortunately, that level is downwards.
fak off yeh
Nice, that’s some good bait. Using a previous Spurs player was a nice touch.
Fatgooner is half right on this ! Ozil is a very good asset for Arsenal but has only delivered 70% of the benefit expected so far (not bad). I am a bit concerned with his quick self congratulatory attitude. Great players are never satisfied by nature. He seems to satisfy himself too easily and never forgets the big name he has had in the football world. He”s been good lately but we want more. I do not understand the systematic praise or criticism that he gets. Let’s stick to facts otherwise it is not healthy.
Well, I wouldn’t say no to him doing more but he should feel a sense of satisfaction in his performances, because they’ve been good. I’d say that being left unsatisfied by any performance is pretty unhealthy, everyone shoud strive to improve but if you’ve given everything (as he obviously ha been doing) you should feel a sense of a job well done.
You really are a numpty. You criticise Ozil because he doesn’t justify his price tag (something that he has no involvement with) and then you cite Bale as an upgrade?
I’d take Ozil in a heartbeat, every single time.
Spot on Rozza. A little to quick to congratulate himself when we have won nothing so far. Still think he is overated and unprofessional.
70% eh? It’d be interesting to see that weighted table of coefficients for ROI 😉
Thanks but no thanks. I’ll keep my Ozil. Comic Gold to mention Bale in the same paragraph that says Ozil hasn’t justified his transfer fee.
I’ll be deciding for myself if I think he’s been worth it, and I do. There are so many permutations of “worth it” that it is a matter of opinion. By all means share it, that’s what we’re here for, but let’s not try to claim a paragraph of opinions and generalizations are facts.
Ozil’s stats are pretty much double to Bale’s in almost every single area. Over 90 minutes, Ozil makes twice as many passes than Bale (Ozil: 60 / Bale: 30), twice as many forward passes than Bale (Ozil: 34 / Bale: 16), twice as many successful passes than Bale (Ozil: 52 / Bale: 24), twice as many chances created than Bale (Ozil: 2.78 / Bale: 1.44), twice as many key passes than Bale (Ozil: 2.39 / Bale: 1.23) and twice as many assists as Bale (Ozil: 0.39 / Bale: 0.21), per game. You could argue that Bale’s game is more about… Read more »
Why not swap him for TGSTEL instead…The Lord scored a hattrick for his national side the other day!! (-;
Well said, fatgooner tells it as it is yet again
I have no intrinsic problem with taking an ex-Spurs player (anyone remember Sol Campbell, Pat Jennings or Willie Young?) but I wouldn’t swap Özil for Bale. Could Bale improve our squad? Honestly? Probably, yes.
Just as I had started to warm to you a little bit you go and post THAT!
Gooner stoner is REALLY stoned 😉
Brilliant attacking midfielder we’ve got
Back from your Yoda-impersonating course, are you?
Is it just me or recently does he appear to have lost some of the muscle he put on during his kneehabilitation?
Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem to have had a detrimental effect on his performances so keep up the good work you unconventionally beautiful bastard.
COYG!
This guy thinks he can win the ballon d’iore?
He’s not even the best player in Arsenal’s midfield, let alone their team.
Dream on Ozil, if you think your anywhere near the worlds elite your completely detached from reality.
Ignore trolls, they love down votes.
Real Madrid, Arsenal, World Cup winner, sounds elite to me.
Do World Cup winners who played every minute of the World Cup and who were voted the best player in the team by almost every German news paper mean he is not part of the World’s Elite?
He isn’t on the same level as Messi or Ronaldo, but he’s certainly on the level below them with a handful of others. The only one who seems to be detached from reality is yourself, pal.
He has got more world cups then Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Suarez, Bale and Benzema put together.
You could probably even go so far as saying that he has more World Cups than 99.9999% of all the professional footballers in the history of football. Dunno about you Rich, but that sounds like a rather elite group.
He also has more Wotld Cups than Dennis Bergkamp, as does Stefan Guivarch. So I guess it means fuck all
Now THAT’S rich….
Ok Rich … Clearly u confused this site with A Chel$y or Manche$yet one …
Or alternatively he does not have a big wolly coat, hooves and capable of independent thought
Rich is detached from humanity!!!
Detached from reality surely. Humanity? Maybe.
Don’t pay any attention to him. Rich is a well-known troll whose (perhaps unintentionally) humourous insights are eagerly awaited by the actual Arsenal supporters on this site. We get a good laugh whenever he posts something, and some of the responses are top notch. Great entertainment.
I think he wanted walcott to get on the score sheet to help his confidence. If it was someone else out wide he might have decided to go for goal himself.
We love you, Man!
Keep it up Mesut!
Would a 2nd/3rd place finish (no CL qualifying round) and an FA Cup victory be enough to satisfy Arsenal fans this season? I know I think it would be an improvement on last season, but some fans are pretty fickle.
Why not
at least let the man be positive look at the change of quality at Arsenal’s from three years ago…I think We are heading into the right direction 🙂
My timezone is GMT + 6hrs or sth. I still remember that particular deadline day. We were in real trouble, our team looked so fickle, Higuain never arrived and neither did any other of our targets. But still there was a least bit of hope saved for the deadline day. I couldn’t get a sleep at all, kept reloading the guardian transfer deadline live page, arsenal.com, BBC and some other “more reliable” sites over and over again. Our local facebook fanpage was loaded with disappointments, blasts against Wenger and outrage against the club in general. And suddenly around 3AM local… Read more »
Look at the space he creates, the little touches that give others somewhere to run into, the passes that leave someone else in a great position. It’s all about that space.
I’m with you buddy, I remember that transfer deadline day very well. I honestly thought it was going to be a massive waste of time as it usually was (half expecting some mad dash of good, but not great players). Like you, I was flicking through the news feeds, resigning myself to another disappointing transfer window. Then I heard a source that Real Madrid were open to Ozil leaving due to them getting Bale and that Ozil was in Germany getting a medical to join us. I let out a childish squeal of excitement, only to have the voice in… Read more »
Nice to read somebody admitting they have been critical of myMesut in the past for the wrong reasons, so to speak. He has been a great influence and hopefully will continue to be so for a long time. Much has been said about his “lackadaisical” style, his finishing etc., so I wont go into it and feed the trolls. When I used to play footy as a kid and when playing ProEvo these days I always want to assist, rather than score. Always thought it was way “cooler” (in a kid’s way) to be the one pulling the strings in… Read more »
Considering his age 25yrs, he has his best football to come! These days players tend to peak later (look at Santi!)
There is no reason to believe Ozil cannot get better and it is a true testament to his ambition tha he feels he can one day win the Balon’ D’Or. We need this sort of winning mentality. Setting limits or calling judgement early is for losers.
Does Ozil have his own song? If he has, what is it? If not, we need to create one. We need to have a song for one of our main guys the next couple of seasons. I think they will be memorable!
PS: I have not been on a game for one and a half year, and I can not remember he had a song by then.
Trophie*s*. Gotta love Özil’s use of the plural there.
Özil is my favourite Arsenal player. I love his style, his apparent lackadaisical demeanour, it adds to the overall ninja type of footballer he is, controlling games from the shadows, creating spaces for movements not otherwise available… He is a genius and his absence is more noticeable than his presence8 the team, which adds to his brilliance. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but Özil is a master of creativity.
We do have an awful lot of Arsenal hating ‘arsenal fans’ on here, eh?! Ozil is genius, just accept it.