Mesut Ozil says the secret to his success is bringing a “surprise effect” to his play.
The World Cup winner had a fine season for Arsenal and played a starring role in the FA Cup final victory against Aston Villa.
Ozil’s impressive form continued with a hat-trick assists in Germany’s recent victory against Gibraltar and he puts it all down to playing on instinct.
“Sometimes I see passes and other players might be surprised and wonder how I saw it,” he told Arsenal Player. “My aim is to have that surprise effect on the pitch and find gaps that only very few players can.
“When you have that surprise instinct on the pitch, it’s tough for the opposition to stop the passes.
“It’s important to have that and it’s why I sometimes see spaces to pass into, because I’ve already thought about where my team-mates could run and how I can make the most of that millisecond, think a tick faster than the opposition and find the gap.
“A while ago I was on Instagram and saw that a fan had made a graphic showing what other players see and what I see. I found that really interesting.
“I think the things that I sometimes see come from an instinct and you can’t really learn that, though you can work hard at passing. I spontaneously decide on what I’m going to do and maybe see spaces that other players don’t.”
