Arsene Wenger has defended Mesut Ozil after the player was criticised for his performances in the 2-1 loss against Manchester City.
Ozil failed to make an impact in successive games against Everton and Manchester City as Arsenal lost back to back matches for the first time this season. Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have been the most influential players for the Gunners this season. However, Ozil has often been criticised for his lack of efforts on the pitch.
Against Everton, it was Ozil’s fault that led to Ashley Williams’s goal. The German playmaker failed to close down Williams who headed home the winner. Ozil has 18 months left on his current contract and has been locked down in a contract negotiation with the Gunners for the past couple of days.
Wenger claimed that Ozil’s body language is the main cause for the criticism, “To be absolutely fair I did not listen to all the criticism we got, but we have to accept it. People analyse and have an opinion and that’s normal. We have to respond, and big players always respond to criticism on the pitch.
“I don’t give [Ozil] leeway – when the team has no possession he has to do his job like everybody else. Usually he does it well.
“He suffers more when we don’t have the ball and at City we didn’t have the ball enough, but unfortunately if you want the ball you have to win it back.
“He is a guy who works much harder than people think – his body language goes against him sometimes. We are a team who wins it back high up with Sanchez and Ozil, and he does his job very well.”
