Always thought he'd play most of the game. But I didn't watch him often enough at real madrid. This is for serious Internet debates in the works.
Posted Jul 26, 2015, 3:14 PM UTC
mourinho used to sub him out a lot around 70min, often for kaka if available. Ozil was never the type of guy who could run a lot
Ozil was a given substitution when playing for Real Madrid too, he'd normally go off around 60-70 minutes.
I don't know what to say about the majority of these comments, other than it is apparent that the majority of these posters never watched Oezil at Madrid.
To answer your question: he was a full 90 minute player when needed.
Oezil was fantastic in our 4-2-3-1 formation under Mourinho. If anything, it was perfectly suited for him because he was slotted in the 'number 10' position with minimal defensive responsibilities.
Behind him were Alonso and Khedira- Alonso held the midfield acting as a 'deep-lying-play-maker' while Khedira was a box-to-box midfielder, helping out on defense and offense. Khedira's responsibilities would often shift under Mourinho as a more defensive-minded player or sometimes deployed as a 'destroyer' further up the pitch depending on our opponents.
Now where does Oezil's job fit into all of this? Further up the pitch, near Ronaldo. If you ever wondered why Oezil had assisted Ronaldo the most while at Madrid it was largely due to them being near each other. All. The. Time. But back to our double pivot: Alonso and Khedira were incredible together and they took care of the defensive responsibilities, allowing Oezil and Ronaldo to not track back, because there was really no need for them to do any defensive work.
As for his fitness--and the times where he was left on during the full 90--I think Oezil not tracking back during a full 90 gave the illusion that he couldn't run, when in reality he didn't need to because it wasn't expected of him. At Arsenal, especially this previous season, Oezil runs a fuck ton. Like, a ridiculous amount that he never did at Madrid. He is clearly more fit physically in North London than he ever was at Madrid, and I think it is partly due to how Mourinho used all of his players compared to Wenger's current system. With that said, he'd still run the full 90 minutes when he was left on for important matches, but clearly not at the level that he is currently operating at in North London, I think that much is apparent.
That's actually a really useful little tool, thanks. Kind of what I went looking for before I posted here.
He was subbed off on a constant basis. Great passer though.
Often in the league Mou would bring on Kaka around the 70th minute but when it came to the Clasico's and the Champions League he would often play the full 90.
Even when he was on the field for 90 minutes he was only playing for 20 minutes.
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Yes...who else is he supposed to ask regarding the guy's performance playing on REAL MADRID? The best place to ask and get a quick answer is obviously a reddit forum with 9,000 Madridista subscribers. No, not being sarcastic.
ozil was a shit version of iniesta cos he never had any stamina
I don't really think he played like iniesta tbh
Not really sure about that. Very different creative types. Ozil has much better off the ball movement and moves a lot more throughout a game, he often leads in distance covered in a match and as a result he exhausts himself. In terms of on the ball skill, though, Iniesta has more control. Both are superb passers with fantastic vision but other than that their style of play brings something different to a team.
You must be new.
no
Ah. I'll go with poor judgement in my opinion.
Sorta Irrelevant, but Ozil at madrid was one of my favourite players ever. I don't care what anyone says because people said he would disappear often.
He used to just dribble so perfectly..you couldn't touch his ball. Then he would make this amazing perfect pinpoint pass.
I MISS YOU SO MUCH OZIL.
Also my most frustrated moment ever = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW4H4L3F_ho Why couldn't this have scored
This is the most frustrating shot I've ever seen Oezil take. If he had squared it to Ronaldo I'm sure we would have went through to the CL final.
That and the stupid penalty Alonso gave to Lewa in Dortmund. So many mistakes during that tie. Not to mention how Varane gave the worst performance in a Madrid shirt there... We were the better team, too. Too bad we didn't play like it.
I've never screamed so much in my life. I can't believe he didn't pass that.
SHIT. I DIDN'T HAD TO SEE THIS AGAIN. FML
Triggered
I agree. I think even Ronaldo was annoyed when he was sold because Ozil was the assist king at the time.
He was my favorite on the squad, too