Graeme Souness: Ozil Is Gifted, But He Still Goes Missing In Big Games

The former Liverpool boss couldn’t help but sneak some digs in after Ozil’s display against Leicester City…

Graeme Souness reiterated his sentiment on Mesut Ozil that the German goes missing in the big games despite dragging us to a 3-1 win in a tight Premier League game, the former Liverpool boss said on Monday Night Football.

Ozil has often been criticised for his demeanour when playing football with words such as “lazy” and “disinterested” labelled at him on more than one occasion.

For us fans, we’ve somewhat accepted that Ozil isn’t the type of player to charge around the pitch and engage in aggressive duels, but we all demand that he gets on the ball and dictates the game.

He did exactly that against Leicester City which is refreshing to see under a manager in Unai Emery who’s made it clear he wants intensity in everything we do.

However, for Souness, Ozil doesn’t do enough when faced against a team that puts us under more pressure out of possession.

“When Arsenal are not dominating games he’s absent,” the former Newcastle United boss said.

“With the utmost respect to Leicester, these are not the games that you want to be judging them on. The big games that really matter, where the big players are the ones who make the difference to win you those games and I don’t think in his career that he’s done that enough times. 

“His football was excellent, he’s got a football brain and technique that few people have. He does go missing in games where Arsenal don’t dominate the ball and in the big games I’d question if he’s turned up.”

Ozil certainly has a lot to live up to in the big games, but making such a blanket statement means you’re basically ignoring when he does dominate big games.

Last season, he was sensational in almost all our home games against our rivals, especially in the 2-0 win against Spurs and the 3-3 draw with Liverpool.

He can do better, but he also needed a more solid platform. He has that now.