Ozil: I don´t care what critics think

Arsenal star Mesut Ozil insists he has never been concerned by critics and is proud of what he has achieved in his career.

The 28-year-old has won trophies with Werder Bremen, Real Madrid and the Gunners and lifted the World Cup with Germany in 2014.

The midfielder has rarely been far from the critical spotlight, however, with concerns raised about his ability to influence the biggest games for an Arsenal side that has enjoyed only fleeting success since his arrival in 2013.

But Ozil has little interest in the view of pundits, telling the Daily Mail: “I hear a lot, but I don’t give any worth to it. What the manager says is what’s important to me. What experts say doesn’t interest me and never will.

“I know what I can do. I’ve not been playing at the top level for nothing. I’ve been successful.

“The expectations are very high, as mine are for myself too. I have big expectations of myself.”

We loved these backheels by @MesutOzil1088 and @Alexis_Sanchez during #AFCvWHU

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— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) April 8, 2017

Ozil’s ambitions stretch as far as a Ballon d’Or or Best FIFA Men’s Player triumph, but he concedes that such a personal accolade is unlikely without victory in Europe’s top tournament.

“To do that, you have to win the Champions League, otherwise it’s very hard,” he said.

“I think every player wants to win that award but it’s not my goal. If it happens in my career, that will be nice, but for me titles with clubs are more important.”

Arsenal are locked in a battle to finish in the top four and were knocked out of the Champions League thanks to a 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the last 16, leaving the FA Cup as their only hope for silverware this season.

Those two defeats to the Bundesliga leaders came on a run of six losses in nine games in all competitions and Ozil admits that Arsenal too often suffer from a failure to move on from setbacks.

“Sometimes things don’t work as well in games as they have in previous games,” he said. “If you lose, or you give a goal away or don’t make an assist, you can’t think about it too much, can’t dwell on it.

“We need to realise as a team that if things don’t go for us, if we lose, we need to not dwell on it and focus on the next game. Sometimes you have the feeling when we lose, some players may lose self-confidence.

“When I look at the team, the players are ambitious enough and want to be successful. But sometimes you can’t implement that in games where opposition dominate and we think: ‘They are stronger than us’.

“Even when that is the case, we need to battle until the last second. If you believe in yourselves, you can achieve a lot.”