Ozil denies he has become more selfish

Forum 7 years ago

Ozil denies he has become more selfish

Arsenal playmaker, Mesut Ozil, has insisted he is not more selfish these days with the ball.

The German has become more of a goalscorer than an assist provider this season, nettng seven goals already, while providing only three assists.

Last season, he finished with 19 assists in the Premier League.


“I wouldn’t say I’m more selfish. As I said, I’d never change my playing style. I’m the kind of person who, if I see a teammate in a better position I will pass to them,” Ozil told the Arsenal official website.

“But I try to finish myself too, or to run into space so I can finish.”

The 28-year-old also revealed that advice from the manager, Arsene Wenger, has helped him gain more confidence in his finishing.

“The manager wants me to score lots of goals,” he said.


“He sees in training that when I have a chance, the ball mostly goes in. When we train on finishing, he sees that I score lots of goals. He knows that I’m ice cold in front of goal and he wants to see that in matches.

“I’m doing that now – I go forward and, while I haven’t changed my game, I’m focusing on scoring goals myself too.

“Every year he comes to me and says, ‘You need to score more than 10 goals this season — that needs to be your aim because you have the quality.’ I’m trying to take that on.”