One of the major issues in playing both Ozil and Kaka is the question of where Di Maria then fits in – with the answer being on the bench more often than not. Yet Di Maria is an essential player for Real Madrid, and provides an outrageous amount of assists for his team mates, and is more than worthy of a starting place in the side – thus should either Ozil or Kaka be out of sorts, keeping Di Maria out of the line up simply cannot be justified.
It is not essential for either Kaka or Ozil to be overly concerned with the task of tracking back, although Ozil certainly makes more of an effort than Kaka does there, with Alonso and Khedira acting as a shield in front of the back four, and able to regain possession should the ball be lost further up the field. Yet any Jose Mourinho player will learn that the manager expects a strong work ethic from his players – laziness will not be tolerated, nor will sloppiness in possession, and as Joe Cole found out, even a sub can be taken off should Mourinho see something he does not like.
Perhaps it is this that is weighing so heavily on Ozil’s mind at the minute, causing the player’s form to dip – yet the age-old saying that form is permanent yet class is always there certainly applies to both Kaka and Ozil, with each having the ability to offer a great deal to the club, and especially in Kaka’s case, be that little bit of magic in big games that can make the difference.
Inevitably players will suffer dips in form, yet it is how they come back from this that counts, and Ozil has a ready-made example in Kaka on how to deal with this. In a team blessed perhaps more than any other with such a strength in depth there will always be competition for places, yet this can be used by the players to push themselves to new levels, and how Mourinho will be hoping this is the case with Kaka and Ozil – perhaps then they can finally get the better of Barcelona.
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