Mesut Ozil recognises he should be scoring more goals, but insists he won’t start being selfish in front of goal just to boost his ego.
With 11 assists in 12 matches the German midfielder has consolidated his credentials as one of the Premier League’s most generous players, however, it’s his three recent strikes against Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Dinamo Zagreb that have strengthened suggestions he’s added a new dimension to his game.
Denying any suggestion he’s been seduced by the joy of scoring, Ozil told Sport 1: “I am an absolute team player. I don’t need goals for my ego. Whoever is positioned best in front of the goal should shoot. But I understand that I need to try to score myself from time to time. I do that now.”
“On top of it all, that I have my position as the No. 10 in midfield now. And you should also not forget that we’ve got a super team, and get along really well.
“We all know how the others play, and you also predict the running path of a teammate in a situation.”
Ozil, who on Thursday morning was described as a ‘bargain buy’ ‘bargain buy’ by Arsene Wenger, was also asked whether his fine form could be decisive in Arsenal’s chase for a first league title since 2004. His response played up the importance of the Gunners’ team belief.
“Not because of Mesut Ozil, but with Mesut Ozil. We’ve twice won the FA Cup, and won the Charity Shield this summer too. We definitely want to improve that. Should we continue like that, and become just a tiny bit more consistent, it can work out.”
He is performing well now but he does still deserve a lot of the criticism he got in the past. Still haven’t 100% forgiven him for that penalty miss but getting there.
As always – first comment here is laughing asses off.
Why are you always so negative? Is it your religion? In any event you don’t believe in the mighty Arsenal, that’s clear. Why do you bother posting on this site? Or are you a spud or a chav?
He is spuds who regret being spuds.
Oh for fuck’s sake.
Ozil is a visionary on the pitch ☺
Such a magnificent player.
In more ways than one!
Özil, can you assist my soon-to-be wife down the altar? Xoxo
Not everyones cup of tea on here but I’m more than happy if he just keeps ticking over with them assists!
I’d prefer him to get a bigger ego if that means he scores more goals!
It also means that defenders will have one more thing to think about (that he might score) and that may well make it easier for him to assist others.
I bet Owen has Mesut özil shirts, posters, towels, magazines in his basement.
I still can not believe he compared Mesut to Sterling.
I still cannot believe no one yet aside fro me can tell the difference when he passes into sleep and starts snoring during commentary
I’ve usually already fallen asleep or muted him by then
because Owen is an idiot, perhaps?
Because he is an idiot? Just a wild guess..
The current Arsenal squad is really good. They’re not just good technically, but as a team they’re lovely to watch on and off the pitch. There is so much love and respect between each player. If they win the league this year, I’m sure they will remember it for their entire life, as they would not be winning it as professionals but as “friends”. And that makes me happy! 🙂
I think this is what Wenger would have told Ozil when we signed him – ‘you are an amazing player but I can give you a role to perform even better’.
At Real Madrid he would have been stuck to assisting Ronaldo and Benzema (maybe I should say Bale…maybe not…have I?).
Here he has been liberated.
I think it’s to Wenger’s credit, as he has developed many super stars before. In this case of course, it wasn’t a rough diamond, he was dealing with a star to start with.
Mesut himself said that he was in Arsenal to improve under Wenger. Humility…
To be fair, Ozil may already been a star but he was a bit of a rough star even until this season. Wenger is really making him a consistent classy star.
Then LEGEND (*caugh* *caugh*) Thierry Henry said “Özil is not world class”… Yes, Titi, yes… Your hand for France against Ireland was, btw, world class!
I still have to pinch myself from time to time to realize that it’s not a dream that we have Özil and Sanchez in our team. Two absolute world-class players.
What a fucking dude
Ozil is just class and I’m glad he’s starting to consistently do his thing on the pitch. He looks happier and I’m very thankful he plays for us! On another note off topic, I also want to thank Bayern Munich for really taking that game seriously and not playing a kinda of B-team if you know what I mean. Huge respect to Guardiola for playing ‘proper’ football for the fans like Wenger and even Klopp would’ve done. You know if it was that tosspot chelsea manager he would’ve played with no creative players and asked the team to just draw… Read more »
Best in the league at the moment for me . The passing range on tuesday night was absolutely superb , beautiful to watch and it reminded me what a crying shame it is that we cant produce players like that in England .
Love the way they combined on Tuesday.. Sanchez turned provider when Ozil was in the right positions.. In a way they compliment each other quite well these days..
Funny to imagine people suggested they couldn’t play together at one point
Better than Bale?
That should be a statement not a question. Mesut is better than Bale
Better than Bale.
Can’t wait till Sunday! I just want to watch Ozil play.
Yeah manny, me too! I feel guilty tho!
Had a bit of a chat at the game in Tuesday with my fellow regular attendees and it was that we need a better sing now for Ozil. I came up with what you are unfortunately going to have inflicted on you now. I DO NOT think this should be adopted in the slightest, is very possibly one of the wankiest football chants ever written but I enjoyed jotting it down and Like it cos it’s mine. I’m prepared for the onslaught of downward facing thumbs… To the chorus of Betty Davis Eyes: And he’ll tease you, he’ll unease you… Read more »
Haha, it’s really not that bad. Had me humming along anyway.
Sorry to be a pedant, but the third line doesn’t scan properly. Must try harder!
Ha ha. It’s about how you slow down the words mid line, if I could upload a sound text I would, just for you.
Ozil = 40M- Bale= 90M
Bargain or extortion?
Both
He’s wrong. If he stays fit all season we may win it because of him.
I thumbed it up but yeah, hopefully it won’t catch on 😛
Doh! That was meant for you Dan.
His brain appears to be as balanced as His feet.
Anybody see Tim Stillman article today?
You shud read it.
Have a sneaky feeling. If we do qualify for the CL, we might just kick a team like RM out
Absolutely love Ozil’s football intelligence and creativity. I really enjoyed watching Fabregas when he was with us but Ozil is a definite upgrade in almost all areas. OK, he could track back a little more especially when he concedes possession, but he’s slowly adapting and learning to do so. Once Walcott and Ox can learn to make better decisions in their runs, I’m confident Ozil can exploit there pace and pick their timed runs to perfection with a pin point ball right to their running path. Alexis is starting to get on song with that but Theo and Ox are… Read more »
Fabregas was good at assists.But ozil is the best I have seen.He is an absolute ‘team player’. I have seen fabregas being selfish. But with ozil never. Truly one for the history books in terms of style. Very difficult to emulate ozil. He would walk into any team in the world.
I just love this – he’s finally getting the praise he deserves after changing his game to suit his team and the league – no doubt that Wenger has set him free! And, didn’t AW get just alittle bit of flack when he predicted Ozil for POTY some time ago? If he continues like this and I don’t see why not, there’s going to be afew who are going to be eating from the shit trough they so thoughtfully created for him in the media.
No. 11 shirt ordered and received!
Ever watched a Bergkamp compilation and wanted to cry? I hope my kid feels this way about Ozil 15 years from now. Bergkamp was by far the best 10 I’ve ever seen in Arsenal colours. Technically perfect. In tandem with Thierry, we had the best strike force in the planet. I always wonder how we didn’t win the Champions League in the five years they played together.
Daft Goalkeeping errors.
Goals win games. The more he can contribute to that end, be it directly (scoring), or in-directly (assisting) the better.
Moreover, football is a team game so the suppression of ego for the greater good should be a standard requirement for any successful team, no.
Oil’s ego might not need goals but the team does.
A successful team needs 3 or 4 regular goal scorers and at the moment we have 2, Sanchez and Giroud. If Ozil and who ever plays the right wing role consistently chip in with goals we’ll be there or there about come the end of the season. If not we will come up short again.
Nope. Having a consistent player to lay on chances from which to score goals is just as important.
You need both
You only need to look at last weeks game, we have 2 players who average 1 goal every 2 games (Alexis and Giroud) and that gives you an average of 1 goal a match which is what we got. We unfortunately let in 2, you can’t rely on players who score irregularly to make up the difference.
If we had 4 players who averaged 1 goal every 2 games we’d average 2 goals a game, it’s simple mathematics.
The rest of our team aren’t chipping in with enough goals.
Those disguised reverse passes that always catches everyone out are magnificent
You only need to look at last weeks game, we have 2 players who average 1 goal every 2 games (Alexis and Giroud) and that gives you an average of 1 goal a match which is what we got. We unfortunately let in 2, you can’t rely on players who score irregularly to make up the difference.
If we had 4 players who averaged 1 goal every 2 games we’d average 2 goals a game, it’s simple mathematics.
The rest of our team aren’t chipping in with enough goals.
Would love to see Santi get more goals. If only to see that wee infectious grin more often. He’s quite a lovable little bloke isn’t he. Not to mention Skilful as fuck