Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has criticised his countryman Mesut Özil and urged him to start exhibiting his star quality regularly in big games.
“Everyone knows he can be a fantastic player. But you need to be a fantastic player in the big games,” Lehmann said to The Sun. “You don’t need to be a fantastic player in the small games and mediocre player in the big games.
“He can definitely do that but now he must prove it. You need to know how to think and how to programme yourself.”
Despite Lehmann’s comments, the 26-year-old who joined Arsenal two summers ago from Real Madrid has been going to the gym and bulking up after realising the need to deal with the physicality of the Premier League. The German star impressed in his second season at the Emirates after a difficult start where he was largely criticised by pundits and the media.
Lehmann acknowledges Özil’s efforts to adapt to English football and believes that Arsenal’s record signing can improve his technical game.
“Of course he can improve. You can’t get better on the day that you retire from football – but you can every day before that.”
