Pundits and fans calling for Unai Emery to reinstate Mesut Ozil
If there is one player that divides Arsenal fans it is Mesut Ozil. In fact, fans and pundits often take contradictory positions with themselves such is the divide.
Only this week I watched a couple of videos on AFTV with two of their most well known “faces” calling for Ozil to be included. DT and Troopz both want Emery to bring the German back and they are not the only ones.
Former Gunner turned TV Pundit Paul Merson, writing in the Daily Star, is also calling for Ozil to be utilised more, writing: “He’s a luxury player, and the manager has obviously decided he can’t carry a player like that in a team that’s already one of the worst around without the ball,”
“With these games coming up, Arsenal are going to have 70% of the possession. He thrives in those situations.
“Unai Emery should bring him in from the cold. But he won’t.
“If he plays Ozil and they win, he has to keep playing him, and the manager doesn’t want that. The manager wants him out.
“And if that’s the plan. Then they are going to have to swallow a pill and get rid of him in January come what may.”
Not sure about the last part but Merson is echoing a lot of opinions on here and elsewhere that Emery should at least have the playmaker on the bench.
The thing is this, why does anyone think that all of a sudden Ozil will be a different player?
He simply does nothing when he does not have the ball and that is no good in this current Premier League. Teams are set up to press high up and trackback, neither of which Ozil is particularly fond of doing.
Will Emery bring Ozil back? I think he will but I also think his time is done at the Emirates. A parting of ways is inevitable now.
It’s quite simple really.If Emery has any desire to still be in his job next season then he needs to workout how to get Ozil into his starting line-up as quickly as possible.
But why? This back and sideways passing started well before Emery came into the picture and Ozil was a regular back then. Ozil didn’t save Wenger’s job. Even with the frenchman in charge he was already a divisive figure among the fans and questions were still being asked concerning BOTH his attacking and defensive contributions. Anyway, if Ozil were truly good, he would have adapted and found himself a new spot in the team when formation changed for example; to a deeper role in a 4-3-3 like Fabregas did at Chelsea and Barcelona. Ultimately, I believe this Ozil is special so he should be excluded from defensive duties argument will not fly with any modern coach.
Phil, Emery is responsible to the owners/management of Arsenal, who will decide, based on his set performance criteria, whether or not to extend Ozil’s contract into the third year.
Do you honestly believe that the omission of Ozil has been done without the sanction of management?
Didn’t anyone watch Ozil last season in his 35 appearances? Or the season before that, or before that? Why is it that we’re all happy enough to dismiss the likes of Miki, Xhaka, Mustafi, etc. They’re not good enough, they’ve had enough chances, and so on… Yet when it comes to Ozil, every excuse is used under the sun to absolve him of any responsibility for his consistently poor performances. So can we not apply the same to other players that are not contributing? Because it seems to be a different set of rules when it comes to Ozil.
As I keep saying, Ozil had been semi-retired for a while, and now has been in full blown retirement since signing his latest contract. Jogging around, making about one risky pass (if we’re lucky) per performance, is not what I would call…effective. Certainly isn’t fair on his team mates either, who are all busting a gut for the team.
Exactly. I don’t understand. The same fans that were critical of Ozil’s attitude especially in big games. I like him and I want him to improve but not at the expense of good results.
Against certain teams Ozil can be effective. The problem is as I see it (my opinion) I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…..Mezut has the skill to give you a 10 out of 10 moment in a game ( fewer and fewer moments ) but if for the rest of the game(s) he is producing very little and giving 1 or 2 out of 10 then you are effectively playing with 10 men.
It’s tiring reading articles here nowadays. sincerely all these Ozil articles have become tiring. Give us something different. This site is beginning to loose its appeal to me and I am sure am not the only one.
…. It’s not only you bro. Getting fed up of the Ozil talk. Raul has asked him to work harder in training if he wants to get back into the team and if an executive at the club could utter such publicly, then it’s either Ozil does what he has been asked to do or he will leave. There is a rumour that he has put his house up for sale too which are obvious signs to me.
…. I am surprised that there is no article on that here even up till now.
👍 👍 and the negativity!
He needs to play because at present we have zero creativity.
It’s not Ozil being dropped that is making us lose creativity, it’s been the backline that is the problem.
Can’t deal with a ball over the top or the FBs being out of position so the whole backline sits deep, then because our midfield has currently been all about filling those gaps in the defence they sit deep too which leaves a fekking big gap between the midfield and forwards. Add in Lacazette being injured, who has naturally been playing that connecting role from midfield to the forwards, and its not hard to see why we haven’t been so creative 🤷♂️
Not very often I find myself agreeing with Merse!! 😁
Ozil is finished at Arsenal.
my problem is not ozil,but emery,fije if you dont qant ozil,just come out and say so,stop been a coward…how can a coacb play boring football and still be a coward…ozil should sit his azz down till his contract ends…simple!!
Ozil is a very important player, so i do think he should be given a chance to improve
Most of us judge Ozil on past performances. The guy is not keen to prove himself when given the opportunity against weaker opposition. He is happy to sit and get his salary without earning it. His time is up. He is 30 and we cannot be talking about improvement. The guy is capable buy unwilling. Give others a chance.
Ozil is no more an Arsenal quality, this is the simple truth. This article on Ozil is taking another dimension and soon it will be getting unnecessary negative comments
Funny how people write off a creative player just like that. All this bulk excreta about Ozil’s work rate haven’t read the facts. If his positional play is at fault one can understand, but the guy is perfect there and why should he run around to please a mediocre coach like Emery?
Please drop this post-truth stuff, and check facts.
So instead Emery should abandon all thoughts of a pressing system just to fit Ozil into the squad?
Simple fact is that pressing takes the whole team and just one player not pulling their weight can make the whole system fail…. especially when that one person is in such a key spot in the team.
As for Ozil being perfect in what little he does do….. I assume you are devastated by the loss of Mhiki then as his creative numbers almost match/exceed Ozil’s in last few seasons despite playing less minutes and he had a much better defensive presence than Ozil 🤷♂️
@Viju
MH, tell me hand on heart, what kind of pressing system have we played without Ozil. Our pressing is just not there on the pitch, so it’s a bit rich to be benching creative players.
In the PL I agree no pressing but I’ve explained my take on that multiple times on various threads here, and why Ozil would have been more of a liability than an asset in that lineup 🤷♂️
In the UEL though there is pressing very much evident in the setup and its also painfully clear why Ozil won’t suit that system either…. Ozil needs us to have about 70% possession and be against a team that has a light press and won’t be too physical in order to succeed. How many teams do we come up against like that in the PL?
I hope you watched the two games he has played thus far.
One game in the cup where we had 67.7% possession, against a team that wasn’t pressing nor physical and he managed to create some chances, one game in the PL where he played the exact same 71 mins and created nothing even though the entire set up was relying on him to set the forwards going.
Kinda proves what I was saying don’t ya think?
Against Watford he was combining well with Ceballos and was controlling the midfield. Then the stupid Sokratis goal, 60th minute hooking of Ceballos.
I seriously think you should watch the game again, and read pundits like Keown talking about that game. Don’t let your confirmation bias take over .
Confirmation bias? 😂
I’ll admit that Ozil didn’t play as bad as he has in other games against Watford but let’s not make out he was a superhero in that match.
Our ‘creative genius’ by the numbers managed 52 touches, 44 passes(38 successful) 1 key pass, 1 cross, 0 through balls, 0 big chances created, 0 assists and 0 goals. He also failed to contribute a single thing to our defensive game.
Yet I’m the one being biased here? 🤔 😂
You conveniently forget that it was his first game of the EPL, and I see post truth at work, when stats are used to suit your narrative, but miss some important facts. Like, his first game together with Ceballos, and whether he was used as a conduit enough to provide the service…we all aren’t greenhorns, so I’ll tend err on the side of objective.
Well I’m no greenhorn either, nor am I just using stats to suit my argument – the stats are what they are.
Im well aware that it was his first PL match of the season, and his first alongside Ceballos and yes there were some things that looked good but in my opinion that wasn’t enough.
Ozil needs to be consistently putting out the same level of creativity (or better) as he did against Forest to make up for his weaknesses off the ball.
If he didn’t create a single opportunity nor make a single tackle, interception or clearance what exactly is he offering that we couldn’t get more from literally anyone else playing in his position?
Watch the matches again is what I’d say.
Emery plays pressing football 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Emery doesn’t understand impressive, tactical, defensive, bold and mature football. We play like children, mistakes everywhere, defensive calamities 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 low creativity. Aston Villa has better creativity record than us this season so far, the mighty Leicester!!! I miss good football.
@Viju… We will agree to disagree my friend but I’m not trying to say Ozil is useless, just pointing out he is not all that amazing and needs to be doing a lot more to counteract his weaknesses.
Personally I don’t think he can anymore but would be happy to be proved wrong.
@Pat – He does play a pressing game…. Its quite clearly evident in the UEL matches.
As for the PL, well the creativity is missing because we have such a big gap between midfield and the forwards caused by a woeful defence having to play deep to stop a simple ball over the top beating them, and there is not much Emery could do about that until players return from injury.
Everyone wants exciting football from us but no one has been able to tell me which backline they would trust to be open and exposed to the counter whilst we push forward 🤷♂️
Considering his options fit enough for the PL were out of AMN, Kola, Mustafi, Luiz and Sok he didn’t have many options available imo, so defensive football to try and not lose games was probably his best bet.
Before people start saying Chambers, yes he was available and has been fantastic when played and certainly deserves a starting spot, but to Emery he was untried and unproven just like any new face and he seems to be cautious with new players so think that’s why he wasn’t trusted in PL and why I didn’t include him in the options above.
Mad hatter, we have a very low average rating in all departments in the premier league this season so far. We are 8 in creative, we have higher goals conceded, etc. (You said creative is missing because of gaps), playing deep, big defensive errors, keeper must play from the back, Emery can not do anything about that?? Tell that to championship football managers. Emery and his coaching staff and you should go and ask Brendon Rogers how he is able to improve Leicester with their old players after losing Maguire. An average coach like Emery who can not balance the team while playing impressive defensive football will need someone like you to tell him what his mistakes are. Pressing football thrashed by Aston Villa and Watford.
What exactly is he meant to do?
We have a team that needs to be attacking but we have had a backline that can’t handle it. There is no attacking balance to be found when you have two FBs who can’t defend and nothing but error prone CBs to pick between.
He could have carried on attacking, like Wenger would have, but remember we only have Auba firing on all cylinders right now, Pepe is still finding his feet, Laca is injured and all our other options are youngsters. Asking them to go out and out score the opposition every match (like Lpool attempted during their rebuild before they sorted out the defence) is a tall order.
With the league being won or lost by the smallest of margins he decided to settle for taking one point rather than risk it all for the 3 and end up with none.
If he is still playing the same way when he actually has a fit squad to choose from I could understand all the hate, but for now he has tried to make the best of a shit situation and he hasn’t exactly done a bad job of it….. 3rd with just 1 loss and just a point of second, yep it could have been better but could have been so much worse too.
Nobody seems to take the UEL games into account either (some on here even refuse to watch it), just come out with the usual “weaker opposition/ 2nd tier comp/ Freddie did it” tripe rather than just looking at how the team itself is combining 🤷♂️
I don’t agree with every decision Emery makes and I’m not entirely convinced he is the man to take us back to the title, but he has done enough to at least be given this season to show us what he can actually do.
Give this team to a manager that has a better vision, you will be surprised. I said this through out last season and with so many people saying he will come good, sorry he didn’t. He just set us up so that other teams an have easy run on us. There is no defender that can survive the amount of chances Emery’s method allows other teams to create. Luiz caused two penalties in all his time (second) at Chelsea yet just few games he already caused as many. Sokratis is not a bad defender. Yet we create little because of his ego that is bigger than the whole of Emirates stadium. This man just doesn’t understand premier league and he doesn’t want to learn. His main purpose should be to utilise all our available asset and not put himself above our football. Ozil can not defend because our defenders don’t defend. Low quality football. Did you watch Chelsea against Liverpool MAN that was proper football even though Chelsea lost I still respect what lampard is doing with a mixture of youth and oldies. Emery’s football is headless!!!
I respectfully disagree, give the backline we had to work with to any manager and watch them struggle.
I agree some managers would have taken the risk and still played attacking football (which would have actually been my preference too) but, as proven last season when we actually had a better backline to pick from, that then turns into who can score more and in our situation right now we would and have struggled, so I’m not going to criticise the manager trying a different approach in the interim.
I don’t write off any of our players, not even Ozil (who I personally see little value in anymore) because I can see they will all do better once the squad is balanced, and by the same token I won’t write off the manager until he has actually had a fair chance.
To my mind, a season fitting square pegs into round holes, narrowly missing 4th and a Europa league final isn’t a bad start and us currently sitting in third despite the poor form is definitely not bad – it’s not like we are completely collapsing like Manu have 🤷♂️
If after the break, when people are fit we are still playing timid football then I’ll agree he needs to go but until he gets that chance the hate against him is unwarranted imo.
Does anyone realise that Emery has actually won the most games in his first 50 than any other manager we have ever had? Or that last season he won more games (60%)than Wenger did in his final season (53%)? Or that he scalped more points from our ‘Big 6’rivals than Wenger did in the equal number of last meetings?
No of course not….because he doesn’t play Ozil, he changes tactics rather than repeating the same thing expecting different results and sometimes that makes it boring to watch – that must mean that Emery is shite and there have been no improvements anywhere 🤦♂️😂
Look, a good coach for me , understands his players and then creates a formation and tactics that works best for the players he has! Emery came with this whole passing from the back idea, and pressing up higher! It’s a good tactics and idea as we all have seen The old Barcelona and The current Man city do with perfection! – thanks to Pep! But he was able to do that because he knew the team he had were capable of playing such! And when he came to Man city, he built that team to play that way. He got rid of players who couldn’t fit into that system! In arsenal, we do not have any player capable of playing confidently out of the back, or pressing up higher to win the ball! We don’t have good ball retainers or ball handlers! The number of technically gifted players in this currently Arsenal team might just be shockingly one! Which is Ozil! It used to be Ozil, Ramsey, Sanchez.. carzola! These are players that can retain the ball and dribble out of tight situations if pressurized! We DONT have such players anymore and that’s why Emery’s tactic isn’t working with this current Arsenal team!! Ozil is not his problem! And frankly, I do not see anyone in this Arsenal team, better than Ozil in that No 10 role! So why keep him out!!!? Yes they said he doesn’t work hard in training! We do not see the training! We only watch the games and from my prespectives, Arsenal work extremely hard to carve our chances to score goals! We have been lucky sitting on 3rd positions. All I am saying is, try to understand your team, know their strength and weaknesses and then build your tactics from that, other better still, sell and buy people you need! Emery is clueless! You want to play from the back yet you bought David Luis!??? You have Xhaka in the middle who gives away ball when put under pressure? And yet you bench Ozil who can unleash Pepe, lacazett and Auba from a single pass!? I don’t get the manager! PERIOD!
I believe we should stop hammering the Özil issue and put it to bed once and for all. Enough already! We do NOT need new posts about him, whether he plays or not. I, for one, have had it. His name will always come up in comments, both positive and negative, in any event. ADMIN, PLEASE NOTE!
Last season he played 24 matches and hit less assists than Bellerin. And the season before with Wenger he played 26 matches with similar results. The worst thing Wenger did was giving him an enormous salary. It’s made him lazy
He is extremely lazy on pitch too. Doesn’t defend or try to get the ball back. Mkhitaryan too. That’s why he isn’t with us this season
He isn’t exactly a liability but doesn’t help us either
Manager should not listen to fans. He has knowledge and experience that we don’t have
ozil is far better than these young players that emery is using everything.the like of willock and nelson whom dont have much experience than ozil.
Merse is talking b#ll#x !……………….if we need creativity we have Xhaka !………….I know this for a fact as The Prince of Darkness made him Captain and loves him deeply !
Le Coq Monster 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂. Prince of darkness???? 🤣🤣🤣🤣 my eyes are watery.
Wenger hardly played Podolski because he did not track back. Ozil has to work hard to fit into the coach’s team. Modern football is no longer about exceptional talent alone. It’s about total football……defend and attack as a team …..no coach wants to play with a player short ….,it’s not the coach’s reputation on the line but Ozil’s. The team is doing well without him and they have a decent substitute for him who actually tracks back.
I`ve tried three times to respond to this topic and each time my computer decides to have a fit so I can only assume the subject matter is not worth comment,if you can get 350k a week without working for it Mr Ozil, good luck to you, let me know your secret.
@MadHatter what pressing game is Emery playing?….Those playing now that deserve more to play , are they creating chance or assisting or scoring goals.Please tell us if the defense was the reason will had 2 shot on target.tell me also if pepe is pressing and what is xhaka job in that team