) he was solid last night. Not a box to box match winner, no, but he never has been. His passing was mostly very good, very intelligent, and some of it absolutely class. I think people need to see him for what he is; a very technically gifted player, but not a worker. He appears lazy, but I'd say that is down to his footballing intelligence - he won't chase pointless causes around the pitch like a headless chicken. He ain't Robbie Savage FFS.
He is what they call an economical player. I maintain if we signed 2 or 3 other world class players on a similar level as him we would get the best from him week in week out. I always look back to the perceived "improvement" in Bergkamp when he went from playing with Selley, Hartson, McGolderick and Hillier to playing with Vieira, Overmars, Petit and later Henry and Pires. Bergkamp always had the genius but suddenly he had players that could think and play on the same level. Ozil is similar.
People are getting a bit precious about ozil if they think that criticism of ozil is ozil bashing - can a players performance not be analysed without it being perceived as a personal attack on him ? I dont think anybody on here doubts that ozil is world class but it isnt enough to have world class ability in your locker if most of the time you turn in "solid" performances (not especially picking on your phrases DB10 but that one suits this point the best) ? I have yet to meet a Gooner anywhere who would describe barbietov as anything other than lazy so why the difference with ozil ? I know that he was never in ozil's level of class but he was still technically superior to most players and nobody defended his lazyness on the basis of his ability made him exempt from working hard