Mesut Ozil is a wonderful talent but it is all about the team, claims Brendan Rodgers
With Mikel Arteta dropping Mesut Ozil from his Premier League squad, Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that he supports the Spaniard’s decision. The German star won’t be able to play football for the Gunners for the rest of the year with him also dropped from their European squad.
Mikel Arteta’s decision to drop Mesut Ozil from both his Premier League and Europa League squads has stunned the world with many shocked that the Spaniard dropped his former teammate. The German hasn’t played a minute for the North Londoners since football restarted after lockdown and was touted with a move away this summer. But with Ozil insisting on staying, the club has opted to freeze out the midfielder who took to social media to make his voice heard.
It saw Ozil hit out at Arteta via his statement across social media and the Spaniard has received a lot of backlasesh. However, with many against Arteta’s decision, Brendan Rodgers, in a recent interview, backed the Arsenal boss and admitted that players now need to contribute to both aspects of the game. Rodgers also revealed that while “Ozil is a wonderful talent”, managers need to figure out the best combination with it all about “marrying the individual qualities of a player into the team.”
"I’d be very much like Mikel. Ozil’s a talented player, but it depends on your structure. We need every player to contribute to the defensive aspect of the game as well as the attacking aspect. The team have to operate with one brain. They have to function and work together. There will be teams where there is more freedom, but less structure. Ozil’s a wonderful talent and very creative, absolutely. He can make the last pass, but it’s about the team," Rodgers said, reported Goal.
"It’s about marrying the individual qualities of the player into the team and if you feel that player can’t press the game or doesn’t want to press the game, it has an effect on your attacking structure and your defensive structure. If one person doesn’t do their job, then you can suffer. He’s a talent, but, as always with talent, you have to be a working talent."
"I always say to my attacking players, ‘Don’t run forward if you can’t run back’. You have to be able to do the dirty work. This is the highest level of the game and, at that level, you have to be able to do both sides. You think of any top team in the world and you think of some of the attacking players,” he added.