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Do Arsenal want Mesut Ozil to be more selfish?

By Josh Sippie

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Mesut Ozil spoke out recently about the call to score more goals for Arsenal. After all, the team is clearly having some trouble scoring goals and wherever they can find help is certainly a boon for the squad. Here is what he had to say (via the Guardian): “I want to score more goals than in the last two seasons and that’s my aim for this season.” Supposedly, Wenger challenged Ozil to score 10 or more goals this year.

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The German maestro went on: “I think now and then I need to become a bit more selfish – then I’d definitely score more goals. But I’m a player who thinks for the team first and not for my own needs and that’s why I will carry on to play the way I always do. I think that’s one of my distinguishing characteristics.”

So the big question is whether or not Arsenal want Mesut Ozil to be more selfish in order to attain these goals.

Before answering that question, lets consider both sides of the argument. Mesut Ozil has never been that heavy of a goal scorer. He netted 27 times in three seasons at Real Madrid, making over 50 appearances in all three season (via WhoScored.com) for a goal clip of .17. Not bad for a midfielder.

At Arsenal, Mesut Ozil has netted 12 times in 74 appearances, which, believe it or not, is at a clip of .16, right in line with what he was producing at Madrid. Therefore it stands to reason that to ask Mesut Ozil to be more selfish would be to alter his gamecplay, seeing as how this is the rate at which he has been scoring at his entire life.

Another thing to consider is how much Arsenal value Ozil’s often-sublime passes. There are times where he sees things that no other human possibly could and it leads to unmissable chances at goal. Would that at all be sacrificed if he started looking towards goal more?

Given that it is Arsenal, those chances can be missed. So on that note we move on to why Mesut Ozil should be more selfish. Arsenal is not a team that likes to shoot freely. The perfect goal is constantly in production and barring the Ox, Aaron Ramsey and Alexis, no one on the team is overly willing to cut loose and let the ball fly. Mesut Ozil is one of those guys that looks to find a team mate before he considers that his best option is right in front of him.

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Ozil is a clinical footballer, he has ice in his veins and that can work wonders when it comes to scoring goals. We have seen him from free kicks, the guy is dauntless when firing at the goal. Therefore it makes total sense for him to shake some of the pass-first instincts and start looking at goal.

One line from Mesut Ozil’s statement struck me, and that was the bit about how he thinks about the team first. He needs to realize that the team needs goals, and if he wants to think about the team first, then he needs to find the back of the net and stop relying on his team mates to try for him.

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