Don Alfredo
Full Member
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2018
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- Germany
Cheers. I feared nobody would see itGreat tribute. Ozil was German player of the year 5 times (la), including a few times after 2014. That clown has no idea.
You made a relative assesment, not an absolute. What does it mean to be the worst player in a team full of world class players? Does it mean you are bad or could it mean you are decent while all the other players managed to reach their peak form?Özil was easily Germany's worst starter during their WC win. Got carried to the trophy.
Ozil wasn't great in 2014, but he certainly wasn't the worst with Mustafi starting many games and Lahm having some painfully average games in midfield. I think he was in the middle pack with guys like Klose, Goetze, Howedes. 2014 was just the one occasion where everything came together, where half a dozen players managed to play at a world class level simultaneously (Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Khedira, Muller, Hummels, Boateng, Neuer).
One factor was the system change to 433, which helped the midfielders immensely in terms of sharing the work load and the defenders very much in terms of protection. The 433 meant Ozil was shifted to the left wing, which disadvantaged him severely. I know he plays LW sometimes for Arsenal, but that is on the left of a 4231 and with an offensive LB behind him. In the WC, he had Howedes behind him and also Muller on the other side, another player who likes to come inside. The middle was already congested with 3 central midfielders, plus Muller coming inside and Lahm or Klose drifting into the middle as well because they like to be involved with the build-up. Ozil's role should have been to offer width on the left, but that is just not his game because he is not a winger. In some games, Germany played with 4 CBs on the back, which meant there was no width from the fullbacks at all. That made the middle look congested and Ozil had lesser options up front to play the ball into.