What They Said: Wenger hails Ozil impact, Mourinho plays mind game with Liverpool

MourinhoStruggle
MourinhoStruggle

Mesut Ozil produced arguably his best performance of the season for Arsenal on Saturday against Everton, coming out with a goal and an assist to his name in the 4-1 win.

Following his outstanding performance, he was praised by Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who now feels Ozil has a chance to prove to the world how good he really is on Tuesday night.

Wenger admitted that the now infamous missed penalty against Bayern Munich has had a psychological impact on Ozil and it has taken time for him to recover.

Arsene Wenger

“I think it affected him mentally too much,” Wenger said as quoted in The Guardian.

“It was not only physical, it was mental. He had the feeling he let the team down at a very important moment of the game. That affected his performance very much.”

“Psychologically sometimes the wound is like a physical one. You can talk and talk and talk but it takes time. You just have to leave it to time. I think he is over it. He has a good opportunity to show on Tuesday night how good he is.”

Wenger has also challenged Ozil to score more goals for Arsenal, claiming that he wants to see the Germany international striking the right balance between being a provider and a finisher.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho is back to his old tricks, with the Chelsea boss continuing his title-race mind games as we head into the new week.

Jose Mourinho

With Brendan Rodgers’ side arguably now back in the title-race, it was only a matter of time before the Portuguese started up the mind-games with the Reds.

While he should be focusing on his side’s performance against Spurs, he instead spoke about Liverpool’s title chances and, for the umpteenth time this season, stressed that the Reds are enjoying a huge advantage over others.

Mourinho said: “When we speak about the Champions League and the title race, we have to speak about Liverpool.

“Because Liverpool, since the beginning of the season, have one match every week. They rest, they prepare, they recover, they prepare, they play, they have a day off. This is a big, big, big advantage.”

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