PRAISING! Rodgers backs Mikel in row over Ozil spot
BRENDAN RODGERS has backed Mikel Arteta in his stand-off with Mesut Ozil. The Leicester City manager is standing squarely behind his opposite number at The Emirates as the row rumbles on about the former German international.
Ozil, 32, was omitted from the club’s Premier League squad and took to social media last week to express his unhappiness, saying, ‘Loyalty is hard to come by these days.’
Asked if there was a sadness that the playmaker wasn’t featuring, the Foxes chief said: “Not really. I’d be very much like Mikel.
“Ozil is a talented player but it depends on your structure.
“We need every player to contribute to the defensive aspect of the game as well as the attacking aspect. The team has to operate with one brain. They have to function and work together.
“There will be teams where there is more freedom but less structure. Ozil’s a wonderful talent and very creative. But it’s about the team.
“It’s about marrying the individual qualities of the player into the team and if you feel that player can’t press the game or doesn’t want to press the game, it has an effect on your attacking structure and your defensive structure because if one person doesn’t do their job then you can suffer. “He’s a talent but, as always with talent, you have to be a working talent.”
Rodgers speaks quietly but there is steel underneath with the Northern Irishman who famously chewed out Raheem Sterling when he was boss at Liverpool in front of a crew filming a documentary.
And, after taking Leicester to within touching distance of a top-four finish last term and with a string of successes behind him at Celtic, he has clear views on what it takes to make teams successful.
He added: “I always say to my attacking players, don’t run forward if you can’t run back. You have to be able to do the dirty work.
“You think of any top team in the world and you think of some of the attacking players. If you look at Bayern Munich, the current European champions, and you look at the likes of Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller for instance. The guys that play down the sides. Look at how hard they work.”
Rodgers has already experienced Arteta’s Arsenal – the sides played out a 1-1 draw three months ago before the Gunners won 2-0 away in the Carabao Cup in September.
He said: “Mikel has invested well, brought in good players. He’s given them a good structure. They have a good base from which to play their game.
“They are very clear in their roles and how they play and perform. He’s given them good organisation, a good start point.
“Then they have that bit of quality. In Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang they have a world-class striker.”