Arsenal need to be more open over Mesut Ozil claims former England man

Owen Hargreaves ask for more transparency from Arsenal over Mesut Ozil treatment.

Former England midfielder, Owen Hargreaves believes Arsenal need to be more transparent with their fans over the situation of Mesut Ozil at the club.

Ozil has been ostracized this term after starting just two games for the club. He has also not started the last five games and couldn’t even make the last two squads.

Arsenal has struggled for creativity in his absence and Owen Hargreaves believes there could be more to his absence than meets the eye.

Unai Emery was asked about the German’s continued absence in the matchday squads and refused to discuss the subject.

Ozil also believes that he would outlast Emery and has decided against seeking a temporary move away from the Emirates.

The club’s fans are divided in their opinion of who is right between Ozil and Emery. Hargreaves believes they deserve to be in the know about why the German is not starting games despite being their highest earner.

Arsenal’s one shot on target against Sheffield United would have been better with Ozil in the team according to Hargreaves.

Speaking on BT Sport, Hargreaves said: ‘They only had one shot on target against Sheffield United. You know you’re going to dominate possession, you could play Mesut, couldn’t you?

‘You can play him in the hole and let him pick the killer pass. In certain games, you can play him. He obviously doesn’t trust him or fancy him for whatever reason.

‘But Mesut in a team that functions when the balance is good is one of the best creators in the Premier League.

‘They need to be more open with what the issue is.’

31 Comments

  1. When all these EPL legends, Pundits, Reporters and fans say that Ozil can make a difference to our shambolic performance then I believe that the problem we have is Emery. We can’t assume that all these people have never watched Ozil play before hence with that in mind, am satisfied that indeed, he should be given a chance to prove himself. What’s Soo hard about it? I don’t see any of these players playing any better and all Emery says is that they are improving. So if they are let to play and improve why not the same for Ozil? It’s disturbing.
    Emery is getting petty on this and that’s unprofessional of him. The team clearly lacks creativity- we got one of the most creative players with us yet we can’t use him to the connect the missing piece. What’s wrong with Emery? It’s clear this has nothing to do with performance. It’s personnal and everyone should see this clearly.

    1. How do you know Emery is getting petty on this?

      For all we know Emery and Ozil could simply hate each other. It is quite common for 2 people to not get along and it is also common for Managers to not like certain members of their staff and vice versa.

      I saw first hand from inside the tunnel recently, how Ozil behaves and that was when he was starting the match as captain. He is clearly unhappy and showed no interest, he couldn’t even be bothered to give my son his autograph.

      I believe in January he will leave, just not sure if it will be permanent or temporary. He quite clearly needs to work under a different manager. If I was him, I would ask to drop down to the under 23’s just so I could play under a different match and play regularly,until the window re-opens, but I know his own ego won’t allow that.

      I am pretty certain too that Mavropanos, Mustafi and Macey will head out in January. I think we could also see the departures of Kolasinac, Xhaka and Sokratis in the summer.

      However, if Emery fails to finish top 4 or win the Europa League, he too will be shown the door.

      1. What people should understand is that Emery and even Arsenal fC has more to lose than Ozil has. You clearly said Emery dislikes him. So is it his fault that a manager dislikes him? Ozil will be 33 when his contract ends! So he clearly has nothing to lose. He has won what none of our players has ever won both as a team and individually .why then not see his contract off?! He isn’t a national team player and even if he played like Ronaldo apart from China clubs no other top league club would give him a contract Worth half of what he is currently on because of his age. And I tell you he will see his contract off and he will get a good team in Turkey that will sign him for his two year retirement contract. Emery and Arsenal management better sort this out reasonably but it will never work by false. If anything, they will end up loosing value for their 350k Per week and still loose him for free.If I were Ozil, I won’t allow people to bully and push me around. I will never find fault for Ozil as far as this whole saga is concerned. Even if it was happening to Xhaka a player I clearly dislike such that no matter how good he plays I struggle to accept it apart from his lovely long range goals(once in a year) , I would still support him with heart. Am a diplomatic person and will never side with ignorance and incompetence.

  2. That killer pass has been absent for many months. If a player thinks only through-balls, crosses and set-pieces can open up a defense in EPL, he is either too naive or too lazy to lead his team’s offense

    Ceballos is also inconsistent, but he hasn’t been a regular starter for the no 10 position and at least he showed willingness to steal the ball

    Pepe has improved his work rate as well in Sheffield and I hope to see similar work ethics from him again today

    1. exactly

      Pepe is new to the country, city, club and the league

      quality is there but he needs time to adapt

      some player can adapt fast while some are slower

    2. I agree on Ceballos, he’s good but for the number 10 position he still has a long way to go, he hasn’t at the level Ozil was yet.
      Remember a one-touch long pass with his backheel that enabled Giroud to run in behind centre backs? It’s Giroud mind you.
      It was so remarkable, he was expressing his creativity and displaying high level technique with ease. The opponents were caught off guard, they literally stood on their feet and reacted seconds later.
      People are slating Ozil nowadays, can’t argue with that. Still, in my opinion he set a high bar that he himself has found it hard to surpass.

      1. Kenyanfan, do you honestly believe that Emery’s non selection of Ozil has been done without the approval and connivance of Arsenal’s owner/board/management.
        Ozil will sit out his contract, while Emery should he fail to achieve Champions League, will not have the option for his contract to be extended into the third year taken up by Arsenal. He will then be the convenient fall guy.
        Did anybody ask Owen Hargreaves why he thinks Ozil was dropped by German coach Lowe?

    3. I wouldn’t say I’m an oil hater.i no what he can do we all do..do people forget why he was sold by Madrid to us by his then manager Ancelotti. His last manager sold him & this is the killer punch.because he was LAZY. NOW I’d not mind to much if he gave that killer pass every game..& we all no he hasnt had a killer pass in ages.he was given chances time & time again. Eitheir match up to your wages or ship out. Simple isnt it

  3. One thing we hav failled to bring to our sight is wat the silly emery did durring his services as a manager at paris based club. ozil is gr8t, starting willock in number ten position in place of mesut despite knowing shefield’s records against arsenal

  4. Hey,didn’t Ozil vertually hold Arsenal to ransom over his wages,didn’t Ozil withdraw his services to the German national team.
    This guy has missed over 100 games with various excuses and when he does turn up goes missing every 7 outta 10 games.
    Messi,Ronaldo are superstars,rarely sick or injured,always trying,Ozil is absolutely overrated and what is happening is karma.

    1. @Stan
      Dude!!! I was thinking the exact same thing! This is Karma. Ozil was really ruthless with the board and was relentless when he was extorting his 350k a week. Now Emery is ruthless with him and has refused to be reasonable about him. Even Mustafi who was publicly told to disappear from the club has been given a second chance… but not Ozil. This is karma.

  5. What makes me laugh, is that I could understand all this interest, and speculation, if Ozil was a world class player, in fantastic form at the time of Emery’s arrival. But we’re constantly discussing a player who has had more than enough opportunities under two different managers, and he’s been poor for years! He’s injury prone (or tired), and coming towards the end of his career.

    For many fans, it’s obvious Ozil’s reputation is more important than his form, or what’s best for Arsenal.

  6. As much as Ozil probably deserves what he is getting, he has already made it clear he is not leaving. It is thus pointless keeping a player of his capability and wage out of the team. I believe had he been brought in by the 60th or 70th minute vs Sheffield, we would have salvaged at least a point. They were sitting back defending deep, desperate to protect their precious goal. The exact scenario Ozil thrives in.. no midfield battles or defensive duties for him, just unlocking the defence. Ultimately Ozil is not entirely useless as Emery is trying to make it seem, he can be trusted.

    1. Ozil’s and his avid fans’ ideas of unlocking the defense is his through-balls and short-crosses. They can wait for those perfect passes forever

      The real creative attackers like Messi and the prime Sanchez don’t waste their time for those chances, nor do they focus on the “chances-created” stats. Messi worked hard to steal the ball/ to force the opponents to make errors and Sanchez followed his playing style, as seen during his time at Arsenal

      Another reason of Ozil’s ineffectiveness is he played with the likes of Giroud, Walcott, Xhaka, Mustafi and Iwobi. However, Ozil played with Aubameyang and Lacazette in the last two seasons, yet he produced less assists

      1. @Gotanidea, last PL match we had an overabundance of possesion, no need for another worker. What missing is the real number 10. No movements to either flanks to overload the areas and draw in markers. No movement to the space between the fullback and center back (D.Silva, Sterling, B.Silva exploited that space a lot, found themselves on the dangerous position just before the goal line and near the goal post). What I saw Ceballos is fixed on the center, both fullbacks on the flanks, too predictable.

        As for why Ozil played with Auba and Laca yet produced less assists, I believe it’s Emery’s instruction. In his tactics, midfielders are limited to the center of the pitch. Either flanks are exclusive for fullbacks and wide strikers. It’s rigid positioning compared to Wenger’s free flowing movement and often switching position, hence the lack of fluidity under Emery’s reign. That’s why we often see midfielders deliver passes to wide areas and then fullbacks cross the ball. Fun fact, last season PL total number of assists by fullbacks, we are second behind Liverpool.

        Emery rigid structure is supposedly to make it harder for our opponents to break our defence. But how many clean sheet has he achieved so far? The numbers showed that we are worse defensively than when we were under Wenger. I believe Emery is the bigger problem than Ozil.

      2. at least, he is still a better player than the Willock and saka/Nelson. no matter the form he is in. perhaps we can’t even judge the form he is in because he has not been playing. let’s be honest with ourselves Unai Emery is not a fan of creativity and is killing our performance because that is what we are use to, in his 1 and half years now, he has only brought in 2attacking players in Pepe and Martineli most of his signings are defensive players yet we keep leaking goals every match.

        he is bought Torrera,luiz,lichsterner,sokrat,tierney,Gwendouzi,Saliba etc. he has shown most of creative players the exit door, iwobi, mikhitaryn,carzola,ramsey,wilshere and now with Ozil , even ceballos is on the bench in some matches and prefer Willock or Torrera in the 10 role. let’s open our eyes.

        until we have a better no 10, Ozil still the best creative player in this team which I believe the creativity aspect is what we lack. Ozil might not get the assist but what about the pre-assist he made, example to AMN against Watford for our 2nd goal, that is so sublime.

        that is the only game we have seen a 2goal lead in a match, you could the control we have with the creativity of Ceballos and Ozil but this naive coach brought on his players Willock and Nelson for cebalos and ozil in the 2nd half and Watford came back to life, we couldn’t control the midfield anymore, the took control of the midfield and almost won the match. I found it so difficult to understanfld a coach putting a Willock or torrera in the n0 10 role while Ozil is not even making the squad or on the bench this is so criminal no matter the form Ozil is in , until we have a better creative player he is still the best in this position in our squad

  7. ‘But Mesut in a team that functions when the balance is good is one of the best creators in the Premier League. But he has been playing alongside xhaka,Mustafi, giroud,Walcott, iwobi and co and under delusional Emery. Even messi won’t shine under this circumstances. It’s like having jack Johnson of Blackish as ur partner in monopoly

    1. If those were the Spartan king’s men he wouldn’t have been so confident also. Just saying I hate Emery, bring back my old arsenal that could dominate opponents with gallas and lord bendtner as our only strike option, heck I’d say we played slick football when sanogo was our point man

  8. How many matches did Ozil play last season and how many defense splitting passes did we see? How many Assist?

    We sold Iwobi and loaned Mhiky for what, being worse that Ozil?

    Dude plays a 5-0 match but can’t get an assist, oh … Most goals came after he was subbed.

    We blamed Walcott, Giroud, etc for being low quality compared to Ozil… Now we’re blaming Emery for Ozil, makes sense.

  9. Is he so useless that he has NOTHING (apologies for that)to bring to this clueless team? Nothing at all? And we are compelled to pay him 350k per week? For doing nothing? That’s a whole lot of money to pay for nothing.

    What kind of vendetta makes you don’t that to yourself? Cut the bullsh*t and get the best out of the ugly scenario. Play him when you should and stop kicking up a fuss about whatever. This is a very expensive tantrum and the team is losing out.

    I said it before that it is a game of Russian Roulette. Who is going to blink first. Ozul has us where he wants us and he’s only taking advantage of the fact that he has a contract that we are obligated to respect. Simple.

    I think Emery is being silly, along whoever is backing him, for not playing Ozil. Play him, and get as much as you can from the ugly situation and when it’s time, let him go.

    You can’t tell him that Ozil has nothing to contribute anymore. All this talk of he’s not trying hard enough is rubbish. There is more to it. Arsenal (and Emery too) is just being economical with the truth.

    I love Ozil when he is in his elements. But this is really a bad situation. No need to demonized the man when you don’t know all the facts. Whatever is reason for the club’s stand, it is possible that they will be embarrassed if the whole truth comes out. So, they are probably being vindictive.

    He has us over the barrel. Shame.

    1. Is this how it feels to be a small team?? I don’t like it one bit. At least with Wenger I never felt like I supported a small team and I had something to be proud of and look forward to. Now it’s just mehhh am angry at dilusionalmary or emery

    2. Yeah, I understand if he’s started in few matches and prove that his performances are absolute rubbish then I understand the treatment. So far his cameo appearances have been good.
      Also how can Emery turned a blind eye to absolute horror shows by his center backs and midfielders? Because they work hard in training and obediently follow a carrot hanging in front of them?
      This moment everyone is racing with their Ferarris meanwhile Emery parked his and has settled for Honda Civics.

  10. When Father and mother fight, children go hungry. I implore Emery as the arsenal family father to reconcile with his other half so she can continue cooking for us Thanksgiving style meal every day. At the moment we are getting very hungry. We should be bullying carcasses like Sheffield to submition, instead we are letting them sneak a lucky punch which is very painful by the way and run away. That is unacceptable and unfair, we are a big bully with no brains comical

  11. Owen Hargreaves is another former Man U player (after the reports about Paul Scholes) casting a lustful eye in Ozil’s direction. I don’t know if there is something there but then, you never know.

    All these attempts to demonise the man is just like scratching the surface. It is all a case of calling a dog a bad name just because you want to hang it.

  12. ThirdMan said it: What is the fascination with this player who is at most very aversge at this stage of his career. ARE WE GOING TO POST EVERY SINGLE COMMENT, EVEN WHEN MADE BY THE LINCOLN CITY TRAIN STATION FLOOR SWEEPER about how the player needs to be fired or, alternatively, needs too play because he will transform the team?

    Stop the rubbish and character assassination. JUST LEAVE IT ALONE. IT IS BECOMING SICKENING.

    We are fans of a great club. Lets not get dragged into the gutter. Who agrees that this matter has had enough exposure to last a lifetime? There is absokutely nothing that anyone can contribute that had not said before.

    1. I understand that this is pointless because Emery has made his mind on the matter. Yet, we can’t help but thinking why wouldn’t he toss a coin and possibly be saved rather than settled for the status quo when it’s already clear it’s not working. Of course we can’t know for sure if he will improve our situation or not. He has to play first then fair play if he is dropped later on.
      The best we can do is try, 350k pw whether he plays or not.

  13. I always say that unai is a useless coach and any other person backing him to freeze ozil out of the team…no doubt ozil is lazy but as a coach put some ruthless players behind him bcos ozil can create up to five chances per game for our in form strikers…oh my world Emery is a poor watch arsenal today… arsenal will likely drop points today against the eagles

  14. Well said @Femi. If we look at Pirlo’s last two seasons with Juve, he was allowed a free role devoid of marking. He had two markers behind him. I expected Emery to think in that direction. It only shows that he is inept tactically. Personally, Wenger with this present team would play better attacking football. We don’t boss games like before. All deficiencies under Wenger are still evident, present and worse under Emery. For me, if we can’t get Luis Enrique, Mikel Arteta or Masillimo Allegro, then let’s get Arsene Wenger back. Just reduce his powers. He is a better coach than Emery. The break he has taken from management, am certain would have refreshed him. Gunners for life.

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