Jens Lehmann has a theory on why Mesut Ozil was so poor in this summer's World Cup - and believes his Arsenal form is partly to blame.

Germany, who won the World Cup in 2014, were one of the favourites going into the tournament, but failed to get out of Group F following defeats by Mexico and South Korea.

Ozil represented his nation in their opening match - a 1-0 defeat by Mexico - before he was then dropped for the Sweden game, which they just about managed to win 2-1.

The Arsenal midfielder was returned to the starting XI for Germany's final group match, which they had to win to stand any chance of qualifying for the last-16.

(Image: DPA)

But was disappointing once again, and did little as Germany were thumped 2-0 by a team who had already failed to qualify.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Arsenal legend Lehmann discussed his compatriot's poor form and attempted to put his finger on the reason behind it.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

He said: "Obviously I saw that [criticism] from a very close distance last year.

Show Player

"And what comes out is that if you want to play a good World Cup it doesn't start two or three weeks before the World Cup.

(Image: Bongarts)

"It starts at the beginning of the season – you need to find your rhythm you need to have a good pre-season.

"You need to practice a lot, you need to participate and unfortunately Mesut has been prone to injury quite a lot.

(Image: AFP)

"I remember the last three games for Arsenal he couldn't play and couldn't train. In January and February in the winter he didn't have a lot of training sessions.

"If a player goes into a tournament like that then it's always a small disadvantage."