To be fair to the Arsenal and Germany international star, I can appreciate that a lot of his game is focused on the creative side of the game; using his passing, movement and vision to make the team flow and stretch the opposition before spotting the killer ball that will unlock the defence.
As long as the Gunners are banging in the goals and winning games, Mesut Ozil´s contribution is a vital one and is well appreciated bu his team mates and the fans. But when we are not scoring, you start to get the critics analysing his game and the football media is never slow to attack the languid looking play maker.
Gary Neville laid into him again on Monday night for not taking responsibility and maybe Ozil has taken that on, because he has been talking to Arsenal Player this week about his need to be more selfish and go for goal more often himself rather than looking for one of the strikers.
Ozil said, “I want to score more goals than in the last two seasons and that’s my aim for this season. What’s important firstly is that we are successful as a team.
“That’s most crucial for us and as I said, for me it’s not just goals and assists that mean everything, what’s more important is that we’re successful as a team.
“My aim is to help the team and I’ll do all I can to achieve that. In truth I’m more the sort of player who doesn’t really go for goal, I tend to look for my team-mates and think, ‘Can I play this pass?’
“I think now and then I need to become a bit more selfish – then I’d definitely score more goals.
“But I’m a player who thinks for the team first and not for my own needs and that’s why I will carry on to play the way I always do. I think that’s one of my distinguishing characteristics.”
It might not be a natural thing for the midfielder to do but he gets into some brilliant positions and if he can start to finish a few of them off then it will help the team and also make it harder for the opposing players to guess what he will do.
Can you see Ozil getting more goals this season?