Mesut Ozil must start delivering for Arsenal in the coming days even though some of criticism of him has been “irrelevant”, according to former Gunners striker Ian Wright.
Arsenal’s record signing came in for criticism after his indifferent display in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, a match in which he created only one chance and failed to take a single shot on goal.
Ozil’s languid style of play has often brought him a host of detractors but he picked a particularly poor time to go missing in a big game amid contract negotiations where he and Alexis Sanchez are targeting pay rises to take their salaries to £290,000-a-week.
Wright agrees that Ozil has not been hitting the heights in recent weeks but believes that criticising the playmaker for “walking” offers little insight.
“Mesut Ozil in particular has come in for tons of stick — and there has got to be a reaction from him to that,” Wright wrote in his Sun column.
“We all know the quality he’s got, so there can be no excuse for the performance he served up at the Etihad.
“I’m not interested in all the stuff being chucked around about how he was walking. That’s pretty much irrelevant.
“He does need to start delivering more than he is right now, though, because frankly he is letting down all those fans who continue to fight his corner.
“But while Ozil needs to buck his ideas up, he’s far from the only one. The problem for Arsenal is a collective one, not individual.”
