Many Arsenal fans are patting Emery on the back for subbing Ozil last week and, if you believe some reports, dropping him completely at the weekend. The consensus is it’s not something Arsene Wenger would have done, a classic example of a player too comfortable under the previous reign.
It’s another example of gooners cheering change for the sake of change. What many have failed to mention following the German’s early withdrawal is it didn’t benefit us in any way. He left the pitch at Stamford Bridge with the scores level. Fair enough if the switch led to us getting a result but we went on to lose. Chelsea’s winner was the result of individuals not tracking back, full backs too far forward, and centre backs not comfortable building from the back.
This had been the case for the entire 90 minutes.
Some will have a black and white attitude. We won without him against West Ham but for large portions against the Hammers the bad habits were still apparent. That tells me it’s not just one man to blame. The reality is in the 3 matches so far, it’s the worse we have looked defensively in years.
Why do I think if Ozil played Saturday more would be mentioned about how we were skeptical to the counter attack? This was evidence that our issues are not exclusive to one individual. In fact it seems backwards that our most creative asset is under the most pressure to help our back 4. He is paid to be creative. Statistics suggest he’s very good at that. The idea of sacrificing someone with his assists record is not the cycle of change I was expecting. No manager should sacrifice his ethos but I expect a top coach to teach his values not make us weaker offensively.
It’s not like we have an owner who’s got any ambition. With a lack of investment we are simply not good enough to be not playing Ozil. Arsene Wenger wasn’t weak for not thinking so, it’s just common sense.
Again though fans will celebrate change for changes sake.
Dan Smith