Press conference

‘I’m pleased Ozil took the gamble to finish’

Mesut Ozil

When Newcastle cleared Alexis’ header as far as Mesut Ozil, many people, including Arsène Wenger, thought he would bring the ball down and look for a team-mate - but this time he didn’t.

The Germany playmaker set himself before firing an unstoppable first-time volley into the roof of the net. Wenger was asked about Ozil’s performance, his goal and his future after the game. 

Here’s what he said:

on Ozil’s goal…

It's superb, he can deliver that. It's important for him that he takes the risk to do what he did. Usually he is a guy who, 99 per cent of the time, in this position, he controls the ball and gives it to somebody else, so I'm pleased he took the gamble to finish and I'm happy as well that he scored a very important goal.

on Ozil needing to step up and shoot more…

You would think that today you are always very quickly under pressure as a football player. When you do not score for one or two games everyone asks why it hasn't happened. But if you look historically it happens every year. The finishing is a bit cyclic, sometimes you will score three or four, with every chance, and sometimes like today you will have six or seven chances and score only one. It's part of it, and you need to live with it. I'm know people are not happy with it, but it's part of the game.

 

on whether he will stay…

I'm confident, yes, but what does that mean? I don't know.

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