Mesut Ozil Works Harder Than People Realize – Alex Iwobi

Alex Iwobi has defended Mesut Ozil’s work-rate and even named him as one of the top players he had ever played with.

Ozil is often criticised for his lack of effort on the pitch, portraying a lacklustre attitude, especially on the defensive end.

The German has done well to rehabilitate that image under Mikel Arteta but overall, still has the tag of a lazy genius. Iwobi refuted those criticisms when he went live on Instagram. The former Gunner said, “He was crazy. Obviously, because of his body language, people think he’s not working hard. But he actually works hard, people judge it wrong.”

Iwobi named Santi Cazorla, Chuba Akpom, Glen Kamara and Francis Coquelin other than Ozil in his list of top 5 players he has been teammates with. It was interesting to note that reports had surfaced about Arsenal even looking to recall Kamara after this season.

While the Gunners did manage to stop their downward slump, their top-four hopes were still left hanging after a Europa League exit against Olympiakos. Arteta’s men simply could not do enough and an 8-point game between them and fourth-placed Chelsea might be hard to overcome across 9 games.

Ozil has enjoyed regular playing under the Spaniard, even so at his preferred number ten role. However, his creativity and attacking leadership has taken a huge hit, brandishing just one assist in 18 Premier League games this season.