Mertesacker reveals crisis meeting after Southampton defeat

On the aftermath of the Southampton defeat:

It was a bad start of the year. Maybe sometimes you need a wake-up call in certain times to realise what was really important. We had lots of meetings, especially on what we needed to focus on, and what was really the important things.

On the changes made:

Sometimes you can discuss a lot and you do not find any solutions, you have to find them on the pitch. You can talk so long, but you won't get the benefit. We had talked constantly about how to find our best way. But you have to show it on the pitch, otherwise everybody will doubt you if they cannot see any benefit. We worked a lot on our defensive shape, not just the back four, to avoid those dangerous free balls against us.

On going forward:

We looked much better and the best game defensively was against Manchester City – that was a bit of a change. After that 2-0 win at the Etihad, we promised ourselves to come out of that comfort zone and be a bit more focused.

On Mesut Özil coming back from injury:

It is good for him to get back his fitness. And maybe on the wing he is doing a bit more defensive work as well. We played before at Bremen as well as in the national team. He was always that promising talent, and now he is showing a lot more. He has had so much experience in his young career.

On what Özil should improve:

Sometimes I wish he is more selfish in front of the goal, as you can see when he breaks through the lines, he should have scored instead of looking for another player. You can see he is dangerous and has pace when he really wants he is so quick, and he caused a lot of trouble, and was always a threat. He suffered a bit at the end of the game, but he always looked dangerous, was always available, wants the ball and wants to create something.