Mesut Ozil comes under more fire than any other creative player on the planet despite his stats consistently being amongst the best.
If you compare the press that Mesut Ozil and David Silva get, it as if you are talking about one of the worst players in the world versus one of the best.
As we should, we consistently hear about all the wonders David Silva brings to this world but have to listen to pundits reel off a tiresome list of Ozil’s supposed flaws.
Given that is the case, you’d think that the Manchester City had been consistently outshining Ozil over the course of their careers, but when you look at their goals and assists from the past 10 seasons (all competitions), a different picture emerges:
David Silva vs. Mesut Özil.
10 seasons. #MCFC #AFC pic.twitter.com/VTv0CWxr6N
— 23 (@MercuriaI23) August 21, 2018
Silva, who is three years older than Ozil, has consistently been outperformed by Ozil in terms of direct goal involvement. Just look at those last three seasons when Manchester City were becoming one of the best teams on the planet while Arsenal were, well, we still don’t really know what they were doing.
I’m not trying to say anything negative about Silva, nor am I getting into a pissing contest over who is the better player. Silva is a fabulous player who deserves every bit of praise he regularly receives.
I just find it curious that there is a Mesut Ozil-specific narrative that’s completely independent of any facts or stats and so many are blind to that.