Are they equal or who is better?

Ozil is definetely better player but Coutinho had better season. If Ozil had a real team he would be still best CAM in the world.

Ozil is overrated. Coutinho is better by a margin!

If you analyse Ozil's decision making in certain situation you would see it's not just the team around him that makes him play bad, although that is a factor. Tracking back is also a massive weak point for Ozil. Ozil does perform satisfactorily sometimes but these occasions are worth a lot as they are so rare! He goes missing in a lot of games.

Coutinho had a good season because he is good. He's is easily the most talented player at Liverpool in my opinion yet that doesn't make him play worse because the other players around him aren't as good as him! Yes he has off days too but his bad days are better than Ozil's bad days and his good days are stupidly better than Ozil's 'good' days.

Mind you De Bruyne and Eriksen beat them both at performing consistently at a sublime level!

ozil was good at madrid

If im not much mistaken @MESSI0 you used the word is as in 'currently' so what Ozil was at Madrid isn't really the point...is it?

Ozil's job is not to track back, Wenger's "non-existing" system makes him look worse. Apart from that one thing I hate on him is passing when he has clean goal scoring opportunity..

@quikzyyy most big teams use man marking so if the opposition is in possession and the man Ozil is supposed to be marking head towards arsenals goal it is Ozil's responsibility to track back. every player, even attacking ones are meant to track back when possession is lost. besides if the opposition breaks on the counter attack then it is every player on your teams responsibility to get back as fast as possible to break down the attack as your defenders may not be your quickest players.

passing when he has clean goal scoring opportunity

totally agree...it is very frustrating. Sometimes it is the correct decision but sometimes you have to be a bit selfish and just take it on yourself...no doubt coutinho would know when to pass and when to shoot in these situations. He seems quite good at making decisions like this.

How shitty does he have to play on a consistent basis until people finally notice that he's just not that good? Other players get crucified after a single bad performance, yet many people still consider Özil one of the best players in the world. Laughable.

Try to play attacking midfielder when the defensive midfielders who are supposed to stay behind you and defend are defensively absolutely useless, specially Ramsey, who thinks he thinks he is playing false 9. If we had someone like Kante/Matic he would be much better, but it's again on Wenger, who is tactically 10 years behind and thinks Ramsey is a good option for DM. Ask any Arsenal fan, he will tell you the same.

i m not sure how good he is now, nywas coutinho isnt coming so fuk liverpool

How come a player with 19 assists in single PL season can be "just not that good"? You can't blame single dude for fault of his own team, Ozil will obviously be main target because he is supposed to create chances, how come Alexis was never criticised outside of Arsenal fans? You really think Ramsey and Xhaka can make Ozil have his freedom which he actually deserves?

He averages over 100 chances created every season, that is insane for guy who is admitedelly inconsistent. When his team is on form he will have better stats. I didn't see de Bruyne bashed after bad games or someone claiming Hazard is "just not that good"? Because if we compare Ozil's last season with Hazard's 2015/16, Ozil was miles ahead, led Arsenal in CL group, he fucking had 8 goals and 9 assists in league and dip of form makes him "not good enough"? He is still top 5 playmakers in the world.

Ozil has a low workrate but he is a class above coutinho in all the remaining aspects.

Fully agreed with Chelsea8 and Croatian, Ozil is a class above Coutinho. I don't understand all this fuss about Countinho; I genuinely find him to be overrated. He's not a good play-maker, and neither is he unselfish. He's mostly a dribbler, which is what South American midfielders tend to be like.

I don't see Ozil playing 'poorly' when I watch Arsenal. I see wingers and forwards that don't make any runs, and a poor midfield next to Ozil that prevent him from receiving the ball at his feet as much as he would like. This is why Ozil was one of the best players in the world when he had a proper offense (Ronaldo, Higuain, di Maria) and a proper midfield (Khedira, Alonso) around him. There were guys who would make runs when Ozil had the ball at his feet, and other guys who would recover the ball and immediately give it to Ozil so that he could initiate the offense.

Wenger just has a sh*t system lol. It may suit individual players like Alexis, but systematic players like Ozil find themselves very frustrated by it. Send him to Bayern and watch his stock skyrocket.

And since when the hell do we judge an attacking midfielder by their willingness to track back??? Does this mean Isco is superior to James because Isco tracks back? No! That's not a quality required in an attacking midfielder, even if it is a nice thing to have. Just as how it is not a required quality in wingers or forwards!

Stop listening to this nonsense that the British media feeds you. They scapegoat Ozil for every Arsenal defeat because it's a convenient story that makes them money.

Okay.. This comparison is a tricky one.
Ozil is a technically gifted genius. Noone can deny that. Apart from talent, what is more important is the ruthless attitude and the street smartness one needs which clearly sets him apart from the likes of R9 and Zlatan..
Coutinho scores in this aspect considering the way he steps up in big games.. whereas Ozil goes missing in most of the big games..
Defensive abilities: you defend as a team. Lest concede as a team.. most of the goals get conceded as a result of lack of defensive heads of the forwards. Ofc Coutinho is better in this as well. The way Coutinho has contributed defensively for the last two seasons is immense.. i did not see that one coming.
I have never been a big fan of Ozil which you can perceive from the way i have written this answer.

Bottomline is: The likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern can benefit from Ozil. These teams can raise their standards substantially with Ozil than Coutinho. Coutinho is great for any EPL teams like Liverpool, Chelsea, Man utd or city..

@Dynast Well, defending in England often start from the front position but hey, I agree its not a reason to judge a attacking player. Personally, I think both player are class and that Ozil specific style is sometime less effective because of the way Arsenal and English team play in general. For me, the difference is that Coutinho does have the advantage of dribbling more and of scoring goal from afar, however, Ozil passing is more deadly in my opinion most of the time and he is more of a selfless playmaker. Both are good but of course Coutinho is gonna be considered as more hardworking in a system like Klopp where they got the Gegenpressing.

And since when the hell do we judge an attacking midfielder by their willingness to track back

this, million times. Next time people will compare strikers by their workrate of tracking 90 meters back.

I think Ozil has better vision but Coutinho has better finishing.
Ozil is also a better playmaker and can play more deeper while Coutinho has more pace and long range shot.
For free kick taking I rate them equal but I'm probably wrong...

Is this even a legitimate question?

I'd take Ozil any day. One of my favourite players. Build a system around him and he's unstoppable.