Mesut Özil wasn’t exactly one of the main architects of Arsenal’s 5-1 hammering in Munich the other night.
The player’s representative made this point after the game, claiming that his client was being made a “scapegoat” for his side’s thumping by Bayern.
“Criticism is normal if a player plays badly,” Dr Erkut Sogut told BBC Sport. “But Mesut feels people are not focusing on his performance; they are using him as a scapegoat for the team after bad results.”
All this said, it wasn’t the type of performance from Özil that will have convinced anyone that he’s worthy of an improved contract at the Emirates, and his lack of influence on the game – more so in the second half – was noted by many.
One man that’s unquestionably of the opinion that Özil doesn’t do enough in Arsenal’s big games is Graeme Souness, who pulled no punches when writing about Özil in his column for the Sunday Times.
‘The German is Arsenal in a nutshell,’ he writes. ‘Against the Crystal Palaces of this world, he is an absolute worldie player. Against the big boys of the Premier League and Europe, he is an absolute world away.
‘Just remember this is a £42million player we are discussing. Is this what Real Madrid saw when they decided to sell him? Had they spotted the flaw?
‘He was nearly 25 when he moved from The Bernabeu. That is when a player should be in his prime.’
