Germany suffered a shock 1-0 defeat against Mexico in their opening World Cup 2018.
Former Arsenal midfielder Stewart Robson says the lack of speed in the Germany midfield, with Sami Khedira and Toni Kroos playing alongside Ozil was a problem.
Robson also decided to single out Ozil and criticise his defending.
“Mesut Ozil didn’t want to defend and that was the problem,” he said on ESPN FC.
“Mexico played brilliantly on the counter attack, they played at a pace that Germany didn’t want to play at. That’s why they won the game.
“If you’ve got Ozil, Khedira and Kroos as your midfield three and you lack that athleticism, when teams counter attack you, you’ve got a problem.”
Despite being heavily criticised the statistics showed that Ozil actually had a pretty decent team.
Ozil created four chances, 88 touches and 75 passes with 91 percent pass accuracy.
The 29-year-old came under fire for not doing a better defensive job trying to stop Mexico’s goal.
The playmaker of Turkish origin did at least try to track back, the same cannot be said for some of the defenders that went missing.
Ozil trying to defend ??? pic.twitter.com/ztPF65YTfX
— FootyYapper (@FootyYapper) June 17, 2018
Germany will take on Sweden next in Group F on Saturday.
The Swedish side beat South Korea 1-0 on Monday to join Mexico on three points.
