When Arsene Wenger was the Arsenal manager, he famously said on a regular basis that the team player -with the handbrake on-, whatever that means. In my opinion in means they were not playing with their heart in the game because of fear of the other team, or because they didn’t really care about the result of the game.
Now it would seem that he thinks that Mesut Ozil at the World Cup, despite having great stats, was not playing to his full potential. Wenger said: “I know Ozil well, he is a fantastic, exceptional footballer but him and Gundogan suffered from what happened before the World Cup,”
“They have been vilified in Germany. Ozil is a guy who needs support, he doesn’t need controversy.
‘When I watched him play, I could feel that there were situations in the game where he could have moved forward, progressed more vertically. But he played safely.
“I was always thinking; ‘Come on, that’s not the real Ozil I know, the guy who can kill’.
‘He did play alright, but I think he didn’t play with the complete freedom, he played a little bit with the handbrake on at this World Cup.’
To be honest Wenger makes Ozil sound like a bit of a wimp, that doesn’t want to play unless everyone adores him. In my opinion, a player, any player, that earns fortunes like he does, should be playing his heart out no matter what the external circumstances are. You are playing for your club, for your country, for everyone’s dreams. If you decide to do the opposite then you shouldn’t even be on the field as far as I’m concerned..
Darren N