Jens Lehmann explains why Mesut Ozil flopped at FIFA World Cup

Moscow, June 29: After winning two major tournaments in the last four years, 2014 World Cup and 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, hopes were high from the defending champions Germany in Russia.However, following a sudden defeat at the hands of Mexico in their World Cup opener, Germany could not recover from the disappointment. They managed to edge past Sweden in the next game with an injury-time winner. However, Die Mannschaft couldnt reach the next stage in the last group stage game when they lost 2-0 against South Korea.Auf Wiedersehen Germany! Now who are the favourites? This is the first time in 80 years when Germany have bowed out in the group stage. Many German fans and pundits are slamming some of the big names of the team like Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller etc, however, one person who is getting the most slack is Mesut Ozil.The playmaker featured in two out of three games and Germany lost on both the occasions. During the match against South Korea, his performance was also not up to the mark just like the first game.And with the playmaker also coming into the tournament after a disappointing campaign for Arsenal, who finished outside top 4 and only managed a sixth spot, fans now have questioned Ozils calibre.However, former Germany and Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who also worked with Ozil last season as Arsenals backroom staff, has now shared his thought about Ozils form.The former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper Lehmann has suggested that he feels Ozil rsquo;s injuries last season had a negative impact on his performances as the playmaker only made just nine Premier League appearances in 2018. ldquo;Obviously I saw that (criticism) from a very close distance last year, Lehmann told talkSPORT. ldquo;And what comes out is that if you want to play a good World Cup it doesn rsquo;t start two or three weeks before the World Cup. ldquo;It starts actually at the beginning of the season ahead of the World Cup. You need to find your rhythm you need to have a good pre-season. ldquo;You need to practice a lot, you need to participate in training sessions, and unfortunately Mesut has been prone to injury quite a lot. ldquo;I remember the last three games for Arsenal he couldn rsquo;t play and he couldn rsquo;t even train. ldquo;In January and February in the winter he didn rsquo;t have a lot of training sessions. ldquo;And so if a player goes into a tournament like that then it rsquo;s always a small disadvantage. rdquo;Ozil signed a new Arsenal contract just last winter which now makes him the clubs highest earner. The player is now expected to join his new boss Unai Emery in the pre-season set-up when they travel to Singapore for International Champions Cup. It could be the ideal time where he can recharge himself to regain his form and fitness for the upcoming season.