Could Ozil cost Emery his job? by Dan Smith
Given he clearly doesn’t rate him, it’s ironic that Emery’s long-term future at Arsenal could be decided on how he handles Ozil. The owners will side with the manager, they too want a 350,000 pounds a week player off the wage bill.
The player is aware that if his employers had their way he would have been sold in the summer, and they will try to offload him again in January, even if it means contributing towards his salary. While our boss is quick to talk about what the World Cup winner does not offer, that doesn’t mean you ignore his strengths either.
There are only so many games you can walk away from bemoaning a lack of creativity while leaving a proven playmaker at home. In my opinion not having a man with a record amount of assists in your squad, then playing a DM in that role is a sackable offence.
Emery is also being paid lots of money with the criteria of getting the best out of what he has. If he thinks that Torreira is more likely to break down a defence, or Nelson has more confidence in the final third, then we have a right to question his judgement.
The other theory is he’s impressing the Kroenke’s by slashing outgoings, like he did when insisting Ramsey didn’t fit into his plans. Would Rambo not be a better option in a midfield three? Or worse he’s putting his personal feelings towards someone ahead of what’s best for the team. Ozil’s priority will be to ensure he doesn’t have to take any kind of pay cut and nor should he, it’s not his fault he’s been overpaid. A move to America for example would allow him to keep his current earnings, live in an even more lucrative country and still enjoy a quality lifestyle. After all, there’s only so long anyone will tolerate going to work and being ignored. Yet if he really has zero desire to move from London, which his agent insists is the case, then every time we produce a display like Monday is music to his ears.
He won’t admit it in public but every time fans bemoan zero creativity; it plays into his hands.
If we fail to qualify for the CL, of which there are no guarantees, he will be working with a new face who might rate him. Even if we squeezed into the top 4, I would want our owners to consider if there were a better option available. You see it’s not about Emery not rating Ozil, it’s what it represents. This is a man who had the same feelings towards Ben Arfa at PSG, who was never comfortable with the power Neymar had.
It’s not like Ceballos is playing instead, nor did he get the best out of Mkhitaryan. He simply doesn’t like flair. At Arsenal FC our ethos, principles, reputation is for playing beautiful football. Emery is showing he’s not the man to do that….
Dan Smith
Ludaridiculous; board are on money, imposing this to Emery, asking OZ to go! In forwardbefore disrespectful way Mr Wenger left.
Wenger should have left after selling rvp to manutd. If he wanted to go then sell him anywhere else but not united and not to win them a title!
Your mr Wenger had lost it a big time…. and should be happy how well he was treated during his time at Arsenal regarding all the wrongdoings regarding transfers (Gnabry), contracts and lots of other shit.
Gnabry was shit, had better players at the time, foresight is a wonderful thing, wenger changed the club, he had an amazing team 1998-2005 after that we didn’t really have amazing players like we did have the french euro and World Cup winners,
Fact checker:
Ganbry was out injured for 18 months, sent out loan to WB, didn’t work out well, so was brought back and was offered a contract extension as his last year was approaching, which he rejected, so he was sold. Otherwise he was anyways going for free.
Psst, please no facts. Wenger bad. Everything his fault.
Diogenes, 😁😁
Spot on!
With your comment you’re the one who’s lost any credibility!!
His tinkering and selecting his favourite players might cost him his job! Let’s hope Kolasinac isn’t one of his favourites or Tierney will be warming the bench.
Failure to reach the CL will cost Emery his job….As for the treatment of Ozil I think he has the support of the board….
Also Arsenal did not always play beautiful football during its history…. Arsenal under Arsene Wenger played beautiful football…
which was most succesful period in our history so quite important to point out
Honestly it was the beautiful football that attracted me to Arsenal as I was not following any team then.
Now sadly, it is only a fraction of it that is seen once in a blue moon.
Sadly the Wenger beautiful football era ended when Fabregas era came to an end in 2011.
We have not played any beautiful football since, all we have been doing in reply on individual performances (RVP, Cazorla, (Ozil /Giroud), Sanchez, now Auba etc).
When the Cesc era came to an end it took Wenger ball with it.
We have been playing some of the most boring, methodical no style no plan kind of football for the last 8 or so seasons.
According to Emery he doesn’t play well in training and doesn’t deserve to play. He is at training. We aren’t
Also Ozil played 24 matches under Emery last season and 26 matches under Wenger previous season and about 30 matches season before and still performed poorly. He’s been given plenty of opportunities. Emery has had enough.
There is also a possibility that people above Emery ie Kroenke don’t want him to play so that he will want to leave because his salary is so insanely high
I’m much happier with Ceballos and Wilock until we sign a better CAM.
Can you provide stats and not your confirmation bias?
The same Emery said Ozil wasn’t well, and now he says he doesn’t deserve, but the latter statement is the one you quote, and thus proves your pov.
Try and get understanding mate, sick people don’t deserve to be in any premier league team how much ,ore arsenal. The two statements are backingbthe same point, Ozil doesn’t deserve to be in the team.
Again, a random statement. Is there an official statement by the club that he is sick? So please don’t be passing rash statements.
Whether Emery said the previous week that he was sick, and this week he’s coming out again to say he’s not putting up well in training to deserve a place in the team. Now the few times I’ve seen Ozil play these few seasons he doesn’t look like someone who cares at all. He should be very ashamed for not putting in an equal work rate with his fat pay. Hrs just lost the fight. The only thing he wants is the money and arsenal is at a lose and it’s unfortunate.
That’s is your opinionated take, not based on facts or official statements. You may like a lot of drama on the pitch, which you won’t get with Ozil
Haha, careful your hypocritical bias is showing.
Xhaka has performed how good 40 games under Wenger and over 50 games under Emery?
Yet that stooge walks into starting 11?
Xhaka doesn’t deserve his chances in lineup, yet Ozil can’t buy one to prove his worth or worthlessness.
It’s that type inconsistency and hypocrisy from Emery that creates the problem.
Emery publicly defends Xhaka, says fans should support him despite fans fair criticisms.
Yet not a peep about Ozil. No mention of support or encouragement? He lectures fans for Xhaka, but nothing for Ozil.
Easy for Emery to say that and never offer Ozil chance to prove him wrong.
Au contraire, he said Ozil doesn’t deserve to be in the team.
hate Ozil all you want, he has the ability to change a game, I would rather Ozil in the side then not, half the arsenal team don’t deserve to be here and are not the quality that arsenal should have,
Durand your right l, there are certain players if there in the starting 11 I’m like we’re going to struggle that’s even against the low teams, Ozil makes other players fear him, he can dribble amazingly and pick a player out easy, Xhaka would struggle to get into a Watford side so why we got him, Ramsey was our fighting player always gave 100%, emery doesn’t deserve to be arsenal manager I would rather have Henry and give him time
We have forgotten that in most games or especially big matches Ozil never met up our expectations. Or better, not a 300k/w standard. That contract was just to have a big name around. He has passed his prime.
We have 11 players in the field. Everybody has its own contribution. Ozil is different and very creative allow him to play his game to help you. Do not impose on him to be a fighter. On many occasions he has proven to be the best assist in PL. What happened? I see there is an issue with Emery to handle big Football players that is happened in PSG too. He has to get it right. He should use the available resource to the maximum benefit of the organization. Killing the vision of Ozil? trust me he will payback
Well said.
xhaka does not have the ability or skill, not suitable for AFC style of football, but the dude has commitment, I am no fan of his and want him out as soon as possible but when fans question Unai over Xhaka/Ozil, Xhaka has the commitment!I would even consider Willock over Ozil.What did Ozil do on that European night in Baku which would be history for us fans? Game winner? Game changer? Sentiments aside, Ozil was a great footballer, now is just below average, needs to go just like Iwobi or Elneny or Jenks or Mkhitaryan or Teo or Jack or Gibbs or Frimpong or Arshavin or Dennilson.His present contributions are worse than those mentioned.Unai will loose his job for not making it to the UCL and a domestic cup, not because of Ozil.Consistent selection of Xhaka, Socrates and Luiz can be his downfall.
There you have it.
Mertesacker, Emery, Arsenal insiders, player etc all project the same thing.
Emery is an equal opportunity guy, he does not care if you are Social media celebrity wth 30 million cult followers. What we keep hearing is that Emery will only select those that are showing desire, hardwork and commitment on the training ground.
We might not rate the likes of Xhaka etc but what his teammates keep saying about him says it all. He is a very hardworking guy in training, he is always the one encouraging his teammates to be on time, he banters with them, stand up for them on the pitch etc.
We all might agree that Xhaka is a poor player not as talented like our Shirt Genius but applications, hardwork, the willingness to learn and adapt etc is why the likes of Xhaka and Jordan Henderson of Liverpool keep being picked by all managers even if fans don’t rate them.
Ancelotti had one look and said “No”
Wenger cuddled him so much that it became ridiculous, couldn’t get the best out of him.
Löw in Germany had enough of him.
Emery has tried all kinds of tricks to get him out if his shell but his Ego and Pride keep getting in the way.
Can it all not be everyone’s fault but for the first time the blame should be aimed at him?
No?
A long speel based on your dislike, nothing more. Back it up with stats, otherwise we are going nowhere.
Every manager says no to certain players when they are asked, and yes to others, so that doesn’t make any player bad. If Ancelotti was such a great coach why does he get sacked so often?
We can spin any argument with whataboutery…here the deal was simple. Ozil is our creative player & Emery isn’t using him. Result? The frontline is suffering. Take out the 7 Auba goals out of the 12 and you’ll know where we stand, so let’s get real
Dan, thanks for calling it the way it is. It’s not Ozil’s fault he isn’t performing, because he hadn’t been on the pitch for more than 70mins in EPL and it’s not his fault that his movements in games are not “in your face” type of scurrying around. In all this drama, what Emery achieved was letting Ramsey go for free and now significantly reducing the value of Ozil, which is to the detriment of our club.
Last season Tinkerman tried to make creative players out of Iwobi and Kolasinac, not forgetting playing Ramsey as #10 in a few matches, but yet will not use Ozil to his maximum “capacity”. For Emery, scurrying around and looking busy is capacity, not someone who in a split second will give us a goal scoring chance. Notice the two games when Emery hooked Ozil just when he was settled and moving the ball around.
Hope this situation gets resolved to the benefit of the club asap, as the only ones who are suffering are the fans and in the end, Arsenal. We losing fans around the globe quite rapidly these days.
Thank you! You put my thoughts into words.
Lol I saw somewhere in a certain amount of years we have spent roughly the same as Liverpool, but the only thing Liverpool do better is actually not let there players go for nothing like we do
Will his treatment of Xhaka cost him his Arsenal job?
Emery himself said he looks to create friction with certain players for reasons only he knows.
Ozil should get a run of games; if he can’t measure up then it’s on Ozil and he should go.
But Emery’s handling of the situation is hypocritical at the minimum.
Based on Emery’s reasoning, how do the 3 stooges (Xhaka, Luiz, and Sokratis) walk into starting 11 despite costly repeated mistakes?
What may cost Emery his job IMO is down to this
1. He doesn’t play to win, he sets team up not to lose; like 3 DM’s.
2. Converting good DM (Torreira) into B2B, when Willock is a better option.
3. Has not improved defense in 18 months, when he said he would.
4. Stubbornly plays from the back adding pressure and hurting team
5. In 18 months no identifiable style or philosophy
6. Rather than him adapting to Arsenal attacking DNA, he’s busy reinventing the wheel and failing.
7. Over £200 million invested in team, 12 new players, and are we truly better? Have we moved forward or still treading water?
Ozil is only a canary in the coalmine, a mere symptom of the larger affliction.
Fair or not, Arsenal fans expect to challenge for titles and trophies AND play attractive football.
Emery under massive pressure to deliver this year, and deflecting the focus to the “Ozil situation” won’t save either Ozil or Emery.
We should be about the badge and club, not a player or a manager. If neither can meet the Arsenal standard, then both should be bid farewell.
@Durand, the lad had just 141 minutes on the pitch spread over two games across two formats, and what must he do to prove?
Emery said the same about Neymar, Cavani, Daxler, DiMaria and here it is/was Ramsey, Ozil and Chambers.
I mean no disrespect to Ceballos and Willock but they aren’t creative playmakers, so to be benching the one player who can provide goal scoring chances is totally daft.
Soon after the Nottingham Forest game, I said that this game must be used as a template going forward and I believe we played the same on Thursday, but Emerybois were on to me with their inane comments while conveniently forgetting that Emery tanked 6 points for us with his stupidity. They need to ask the manager why he put out a team “not to win” in these three games. I won’t even mention the “diamond” he produced for us in Anfield.
I won’t disagree with you Viju Jacob. This is what got Emery sacked at PSG. I think his stubbornness will cost him his “coaching” job at Arsenal as well.
It’s such a self destructive operating procedure.
1. Create friction with players
2. Don’t play to win, rather not to lose
3. Try to shape club in his strange image rather than adapt or polish club philosophy fans recognize and cherish.
Sooner this Emery experiment is over the better. He is merely a placeholder until we find someone who understands the style and philosophy of Arsenal. Attacking, directness, slick passing, pride and a standard of performance.
I agree.
Viju Jacob,Please can you share me the link where Emery said the same about Neymar cavani Draxler Di Maria, am waiting thanks.
I’m sure you know how to search in Google.
Utter BS. Neymar called the shots at PSG. Emery did not have his contract extended at PSG, because he failed to win the Champions League. So far Thomas Tuchel has not out performed Emery at PSG and it will be interesting to see how long he is retained.
Ozziegunner, I didn’t say Emery got the sack, I talked about his ego tussles with star players. So if Neymar called the shots, Emery isn’t much of a big club manager then.
Xhaka is a suck-up based on what was said about his actions during training. The fact Emery likes people like that tells you something about him. But we don’t see everything, so possibly Xhaka’s an okay guy just not good enough for Arsenal.
Regarding your claim Emery has no style of play/philosophy: You just mentioned 2 key aspects of his philosophy yourself:
1. Always playing (comically) from the back
2. He sets the team up not to lose
But you forget:
3. Occasionally play a pathetic version of pressing where midfielders don’t contribute anything so the ball is suddenly in front of our 2 defenders.
“There are only so many games you can walk away from bemoaning a lack of creativity while leaving a proven playmaker at home. In my opinion not having a man with a record amount of assists in your squad, then playing a DM in that role is a sackable offence”, Ozil had 3 assist last season and he played with 2 good strikers, the season before I think he had 4 or 5 assists, so please where’s the “creativity” .The simple answer to your question is NO, because we are going to secure a top4 finish.
There weren’t two strikers on the pitch with him all the time. He had five matches alongside Auba+Laca+Ramsey and we won all the five. Try harder next time with facts
The ONLY thing I don’t like about Ozil is his body language – sulking and complaining more of the time than not. Apart from that he is an excellent player – though he plays bad occasionally.
He bores me to death with his sulking.
His demeanour is such, what to do.
Lenohappy I must commend you for always standing up to the ozil fans boys and emery out at all cost brigade. To them it don’t matter even if the club dont do well they just wanna be prove right about ozil inclusion and how bad emery is as a manager. Ozil is a good playmaker who can win you games by producing moments of magic. But let’s be honest he is indispensable to the team right from Wenger’s final season with us. Forgive me if I don’t miss ozil yet at all this season.
Provide facts, along with your put-downs please.
Lol so “world class” midfielder needs two strikers to perform, all those time that ozil had 19 assists it was due to giroud heading ability not ozil creativity, most of those assists was from either corners or free kicks, I really don’t know why a “class” player will divide opinion like this, David Silva is 33 I guess, and he’s been way more consistent than Ozil, we’ve had different excuses for Ozil, at first it’s giroud that’s slow and it good enough, then we get laca ans auba still he’s still poor, they turned the excuse again and said it’s because we don’t have a DM, then we get Torrera, and still he’s poor now is the coach who is not given him the chance, after playing over 20+ games last season you guys still say he’s not been given the chance to prove himself lol.
Assists means goals coming straight out of the pass…hope you understand this basic fact.
But we don’t have David Silva.
The point here is that we have Ozil and Ceballos as two players that can unlock defenses from their attacking midfielder position.
Only 2 and 4 competitions to play and Ozil isn’t playing?? That’s just foolish or stubborn.
And like I said, did Ceballos do anything meaningful defensively up to now or play well consistently? No, so at best he’s about as good as Ozil. Willock is great, but has very different qualities.
I think every smart fan agrees our first eleven should have:
1. Torreira as a DM
2. Guendouzi or Willock beside him.
3. Ceballos or Ozil for moments of creativity
Fact Ozil gives a 10 out of 10 moment every few games……. FACT for the rest of the time he gives 1 out of 10 thus effectively we are playing with 10 men. Open your eyes and watch!!!!!!!!!!!!
I watch and hence I’m commenting, not some random preconceived notions. You may think running into spaces isn’t working off the ball, but that’s part of the game.
@Lenohappy Nice try distorting the facts.
Emery is more comfortable playing with the types of squads that he featured in both the Carabao Cup, and Europa league on Thursday. They are more versatile, direct mid fielders that will fight for the ball, and then also have creativity. I’m not wild about him as a coach at this point, but partially understand what he’s trying to do with the squad. He’d prefer an all action Guendouzi to a creative if he has the ball Ozil any day of the week. If we look at Liverpool, do you see a true number 10 in the squad? Nope, just a group that in theory could do a bit of everything. He relies on the fullbacks and front 3 for creativity. I believe once we have Tierney and Bellerin back in as starters we could start pushing Liverpool and City, as we’ll have the same type of squad at that point. Look how good Tierney looked on Thursday, and the cup before. He’s a difference maker. My main concern with Emery is his obsession with Xhaka. I don’t get it. My last comment is why fans are moaning the fact of us being negative after we’ve shipped the number of goals we’ve shipped in the beginning of the season. Which is it, do you prefer to play wide open with our current defense, or play a bit more negatively to try and help the defense?
Emery has never been the right man for the job. Has no idea how to set up a defense
I think it’s disgusting how Ozil’s being left out of the squad, yet certain donkey (s) walk straight in to the team, week in, week out!
Resting him after 71 minutes of football, for the next game, which he never participated in! I mean come on!! As a coach, I understand you can have your favourites (& not so favourite!) But FFS it doesn’t have to be made common knowledge! There seems to be a pattern wherever Unai goes, of alienating a certain player.. and the way things are going, it’ll come back to bite him (but at least he’ll have Xhaka to high five with!)
I said the other day I didn’t like Rioch because of how things went with Wright, this is heading the same way…
Team news in for tomorrow Leno, x, x, x, x, x, Xhaka, x, x, x, Aubameyang should be good enough to beat Bournemouth 😂
As long as Xhaka’s in the team hey, Kev?! 😩
Haha oh he’s first in the lineup Sue 😅 Tierney will probably be Kolasinacs understudy as well and if that happens Emery must pack his bags! Kolasinac isn’t on the same level as Tierney!
He is and sure will start, no one else is sure to start, gendouzi, Torreira, Willock etc- can all be on bench, not Xhaka! Emery is board’s puppet, won’t sack him but use him to upset us…
Emery can’t handle very good players. He has big ego problems and so can only work with players like Xhaka, mediocre but obedient. And that’s the kind of team he’s building. Also, The rest of the team can’t play at the same level of finesse that Ozil does, which is vital to getting the best out of Ozil as synergy with other players is his greatest quality and Arsenal lack such players currently who can link and string passes with Ozil. And Emery very well knows that and instead goes for more defensively minded players, who may not excel at being creative but can at least contribute defensively if things go south and using Xhaka to try and play forward passes to the strikers from the deep to create chances. Safety over competence is what Emery goes with. But Emery is blurring the line of safety and cowardice in recent away games by fielding 3 CDMs. That just tells how much value he might have of Ozil and his skiils. He is too afraid of the physicality of EPL and can’t help but succumb to that and field 3 CDMs against bigger teams outta cowardice. He needs to get that balance right very soon as if you really watch the recent games Arsenal has won, Emery had been very lucky because of some brilliant individual performances rather than his management.
Speaking of Ozil, I wish he leaves coming January, maybe to Barca as there he can excel and there are players there who can link up with Ozil flawlessly. I hate the idea of not being able to see such a player play often more than him leaving Arsenal.
Take out Auba’s goals and I’m sure Emery would’ve been back in Spain by now.
Exactly.
Viju Jacob,That’s not a very wise comment, take out Salah and Mane goals, Liverpool won’t be at the top, take out Messi goals Barcelona won’t have won the league, we all see life after Ronaldo at Real Madrid, every club have that special player, so that’s not a really wise comment.
7 out of how many goals, I wanna ask you.
Secondly, how many of the 7 he had to do all by himself.
What then happens if we keep Auba’s goals and take out Leno’s saves?
You forget it is a team work. Making excuses just to hate Emery?
Martinez can be better, that’s my take.
You are coming out some bizarre binary here, comparing a goal scored to goal saved
Ozil has not been productive since the last two seasons under Wenger. I’m not a fan of UE but if you are a good player, you don’t need to depend on other special players to shine. We’ve had Santi, Van P single handedly carried us for 2 seasons, if Ozil is that good, we should at least see the brilliance even when things do not turn out well. If you’re earning the wage of about 5 players, you should at least put up exceptional fight for your employer.
Ozil has 19 assists in 2016-17 with Giroud as our striker.
Ozil had 13 assists in 2017-18 with Laca as our striker.
Santi performed well alongside Ozil, and these are facts off the top of my head
Daulat, you mean an ambitious Club like Barcelona should get that liability called Ozil….
Guys see, football has really evolved, Ozil may have the talent but football this days is more of running pressing and trying to make sure you hold on or try to recover the possession of the ball as fast as possible
its easy to get your team punished if you are not ready to meet all this demands…
ozil is more of a luxury player, a complete liability…
you all can see no big Club is ready to take him….
A dead Sanchez is far more productive than this current Ozil
i prefer that dead Alexis Sanchez
Rumours are that Barca are coming for him January, so that nicely settles it.
Like you said “rumor ” let’s wait till then.
@Kay Though I would certainly love to see a more offensive Ozil with trying to attempt for goals, and put occasional shots on goals, but that has never been and might never be his primary quality. It’s his vision, linking and possession of ball. He almost never loses the ball or misplaces one, it’s when he passes the ball to other teammates that the possession is lost either because of bad passes by them, bad abilities with the ball, or lack of smart movement, etc. Now, if that continues throughout 90 minutes, you might not see much influence of Ozil. Everyone rates KDV highly, I do, but how often do other mancity players lose possession because of errors, and stupid ball handling, or sheer lack of skill or mobility? They don’t lose the ball that often as Arsenal players do, and so KDV gets to be in the game for most of the game time, and so his influence can clearly be seen. Though, personally, I would certainly love to see Ozil take more initiative on the offense, attempting shots once in a while etc.
@Onu: What you call the evolution of football, I see as a smokescreen to hide mediocrity. To each his own, I guess. Also, high pressing game only works with teams with mediocre passing and poor individual ball playing abilities. No wonder we see more insistence on high pressing in EPL because majority of teams just suck at basic one touch passing. Barcelona at its peak tiki taka game in its glory days would eat current Liverpool pressing for breakfast any day. And regarding Ozil, he would fit better at Barca than you can imagine.
Daulat I laugh at your ignorance
No team does more of the pressings and runnings more than Barcelona in the world ever since Guardiola replaced Frank Rijkaard….
Even the great Messi presses and works hard off the ball…..
No Team can take any risk in accommodating a luxury player this days, its suicidal…
Ozil should only play if Willock Ceballos Guendouzi and Emile Smith Rowe are all injured….
we all know this is not possible…
Your liability is moving to MLS this January
Ozil fanboys get prepared to wish him goodbye
Barcelona plays a passing game -tikataka, not high energy pressing. Huge difference.
@ONU Good one touch passing > any kind of pressing ever, because primary physics tells that a football can travel at a much faster speed than a human player ever can, however fast that player may be. So the growth of high pressing football in EPL masks a clear weakness. All a team has to do in EPL is work on their one touch pass, and they will destroy these champions that we have today.
Btw go watch Xhaka in his training video clip today, he misplaced a pass to Auba and Auba scored. He is practicing assisting opponent players everyday in the training. The kind of players who will apparently represent Arsenal in the future. A player of skills your footballing intellect can comprehend. But hey, he can go and foul the opponent player in the name of work rate so all hope is not lost, eh?
So much talk about this ‘pressing game’. How many clean sheets have we kept? Has our defending improved? Are we scoring more goals? Has the team play improved? The answer is no. So is that still Ozil’s laziness or an incompetent egocentric coach? Emery is taking Arsenal nowhere, he is a coach with a complex, hates super stars.
“The rest of the team can’t play at the same level of finesse that Ozil does”
Interesting!
If Arsenal lacks players that can string passes with Ozil, why do you then insist on fielding Ozil. Will that not be setting us up for failure?
He will be better of at Barca. Arsenal should allow him to even go free.
Arsenal has the players now who can work very well with Ozil, and that is the issue. In the Watford game, as he was building a neat partnership with Ceballos, where they were seamlessly interchanging and controlling the midfield, Ceballos gets hooked at the 60th minutes, and for the next 11 minutes no one played through Ozil and he gets taken off. What sort of a team doesn’t play through their creative player? It happened last year too.
Personally I think UE is not the right man to take us to where we want, however, Ozil has not done enough to earn a place in the starting, but so are Xhaka, Sacatis and Kolasnac. I just hope UE and Ozil will be gone by January, I’m yet to recover from the shock of Pepe for 72m when he could have gotten Frazer for just 27m or even Ferik. The guy is a joke
@Kay, to be fair, the responsibility of buying players did not rest with the Emery. In the shakeup post Wenger, there is no more Manager, but just a coach who only provides inputs.
Clearly, Emery has shown against the top six teams that he is not the man for Arsenal job. I have never seen us play with more than one dm,before his arrival.Against a below par Manchester United team,that idiot,played 3dm in the first half,what a waste.Please get rid of Emery before it’s too late,and make Freddie the head coach. Emery is a clueless and boring coach, who does not like creative players. If ,you look up his past,you’ll see,he has no respect for players like Neymar etc. Emery is too cautious and reactive to the other teams style of play.It’s time Arsenal start to impose their vast talents on the weaker teams in particular,and stop bottom of the table teams taking 30 shots at us in one game.
This is a comment from a blogging friend I have blogged with for about 8 years who I respect. We know plenty who class themselves as ITK`s, but this man personally knows David Dein……………………….
” I have a family member who works with a number of players at Arsnal several times a week and I assure you that several players want out and the main reason is the head coach and there is a serious problem with Ozil which is a mixture of his immune system, mental health and his connection with Emery.
All this leads to disharmony on the field and a lack of consistency besides the fact that some players just aren’t good enough and I strongly believe Emery hasn’t got much of a clue about defending in the PL and for all those reasons I believe he will be gone by Xmas”.
Yes, he could be wrong about Emery going as Emery might get us far in the cups and cement 3rd or 4th, but this is a relevent comment as to the post.
I`ll add myself that Ozil has probably also been effected by the robbery attempt !.
Oh geez, hope the lad isn’t affected by all the shit going on in his life as he seems to be the quiet, non talkative types. The only solution is him on the pitch and coping up with the rest.
I feel bad that there seems to be a vicious campaign to malign him and forcing him to leave…
£350k per week does not make Ozil immune from depression or mental health problems.
Sad to know.
What then can Emery do? Ozil cannot walk the hype
I am not impressed with Emery so far but I support him in not playing Ozil. People keep mentioning his creativity, but in the last 3 seasons, his assists stats tell a different story. His best season with us was when we had Giroud as our striker yet his fanboys blamed O.G for Ozil’s failure to break Henry’s assist record. Fast forward, we have arguably the best finisher in EPL (Auba) and King Laca yet Ozil has not been able to reach ten assists a season for the last 3 years. The sooner we all accept that Ozil is finished the better.
Ten assists that last three seasons? Really?
It is even 4 seasons out of the 5 so far. Not 3.
Jo, do you have the facts, or are you trolling? Can you read up his facts from the time he joined our club?
And tomorrow, we’ll see xhaka, sokratis, luiz and kolasinac starting 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡
Daulat I laugh at your ignorance
No team does more of the pressings and runnings more than Barcelona in the world ever since Guardiola replaced Frank Rijkaard….
Even the great Messi presses and works hard off the ball…..
No Team can take any risk in accommodating a luxury player this days, its suicidal…
Ozil should only play if Willock Ceballos Guendouzi and Emile Smith Rowe are all injured….
we all know this is not possible…
Your liability is moving to MLS this January
Ozil fanboys get prepared to wish him goodbye
Keep hoping mate, keep at it.
What a brilliant article. Someone tgats is saying it like it is. Makes a change from ppl who follow the negative club and media narratives, who dislike özil for one reason ot another i.e coz he earns 350k or he is german etc
I am not a fan of Emery but anyone who thinks that Ozil is being left out because of football reasons is just not seeing the bigger picture. The board & the new management are behind it all. We can hate Emery all we want for his tactics, but for this one issue, I’ll not point a gun at him.
I like Ozil, but he’s just not been at his best for quite some time. People keep saying that we lack his creativity but Ozil has achieved double assist figures in the PL only once in his time at Arsenal.
2018/2019: 24 PL games, 2 assists.
2017/2018: 26 PL games, 8 assists.
2016/2017: 33 PL games, 9 assists.
2015/2016: 35 PL games, 19 assists.
2014/2015: 22 PL games, 5 assists.
This is by no means about bashing Ozil, but with such figures, we’ve needed a lot more from him. I stopped making excuses for him after Giroud went to Chelsea.
Some keep saying that we need flair & finesse, that’s our DNA, My question is, what has that gotten us in the last 14 years despite 3 FA cups(no offense, it’s better than nothing).
I want Arsenal to win the CL/PL & I want each Arsenal player to perform & work hard on the pitch. Attractive football is a bonus to me & it takes a special manager to make that happen on a consistent basis.
No player/manager is/should be bigger than the club. They are paid well to do their jobs & if they don’t perform well, I won’t make any excuses for them.
Finally, can we just stop with all the negativity all the time. I understand the frustration with Emery’s lineups & tactics at times(He’s pissed me off so many times especially with Xhaka), but we have a reason to hope for the best. These young guns are a joy to watch, we have Bellerin, Holding & Tierney back from injury & for once in a very long time we are having serious competition in all positions. The management is also trying to do things in a much better way & I believe that Emery will be gone soon if he doesn’t perform well.
Excellent comment; the naivety of people on here believing that the omission of Ozil is the coach’s decision only without the support of owner/management is astounding.
As Kevin Campbell stated in a recent interview regarding Ozil, he is a luxury player and a team can’t carry any passengers in the EPL.
No player or coach is bigger than Arsenal FC. It is Arsenal FC not Ozil FC, Emery FC or Wenger FC. If Emery does not follow the instructions of the owner/management at Arsenal or meet the performance criteria set in his contract, his contract will not be extended into the third year.
While you keep saying all this, our fanbase is reducing around the globe, because we aren’t seeing Arsenal way of playing anymore.
Viju, on what basis do you make this statement about the reducing fan base?
I see just as many Arsenal shirts in Australian cities I visit as I ever saw.
I do see more Manchester City shirts than I saw previously because of their recent success. In Australia Manchester United and Liverpool have always been strongly supported, in the case of Liverpool even in their lean years. I have friends who are Spurs supporters, despite their lack of success.
Being a supporter means retaining that support through thick and thin. Who wants “plastic supporters” who disappear when times are tough, as they have at times with Arsenal over the 57 years I have been a fan?
These days money is plastic too…I live in Dubai and with Emirates involved with Arsenal, the support base has dwindled so bad that we are only two gooners at the Arsenal home pub.
I know from back home in India and this Nigerian gentleman tells me the same.
Fanbase reducing saids who please?
Jo, where do you live? Do you even know the figures earned through television revenue? Merchandise sales? These are all fan based across the globe.
Emery is not good coach i dont like him.His system is not going anywere we lile Ozil;Ozil still is our best player.
Ozil is never our best player. How?
Aubameyang is our best player. I wonder whether Ozil will appear in the top 5
In some place you say it’s teamwork, now you say Auba is our best player. Auba is a best goal scorer and he has been bought to do just that, not keep goals. Laca is more rounded that Auba.
Please please don’t setup with 3DM’s tomorrow, make Torreria a CM to accomodate Xhaka, or play Willock on the wing.
Second the diamond is an epic fail with this team, deny your ego Emery please.
I find most of the discussions here and elsewhere are based on the assumption that Ozil is desperate to get back into the team and play under Emery. Is it really so?
Ozil may be just happy to fulfill whatever terms in his contract to maximise his income, then sit back and go through the last 2 years of his contract in leisure. Afterall, getting paid 350K weekly to bear with someone he don’t respect is not that difficult a job!
The decent and correct way to deal with this situation is to negotiate a golden handshake with Ozil, release him and get a replacement in January. The longer this saga drags on, there will be only one winner – Ozil himself.
Let’s get OVER the Özil issue. Whether he plays or nor will have nothing to do Emery’s future. The player just does not fit into the game plan and how many times do we have to repeat that you cannot keep a player in the team that coasts around doing nothimg but slow the game down, giving the opppsition time to reorganise their defence, on top of losing the ball all the time to more physical players and not cover back in defence, and so I could go on. All this just in the hope that he will provide a defence splitting pass every 20th game or so. He may have been one of the best in the world once, but he is not now, so Emery has my full suppprt in this particular case, huge salary or not. As a fanatic ManU suppprter said to me more than 2 years ago:” Arsenal’s biggest problemnis Mezut Özil”. I agreed with him then and still do.
Found this comparison online Mar2018👇
Mesut Ozil Andrés Iniesta
29 Yrs old 33 Yrs old
529 Appearances 653
95 Goals 65 Goals
202 Assists 108 Assists
We all know how good Iniesta was in all his time in Barcelona and I myself was surprised.
I also found that he was second only to Monreal in distance covered.
So much for lazy Ozil eh?!
my bro viju….that’s the stat have known for a long time….comparing him with the great Xavi is oven worse off…. you can try Google that….only Fabregas has more assist than Ozil in recent football if not all time….we all know fab is on another level when it comes to assist….even the so called David Silva don’t have as much assist as Ozil…isn’t that interesting. that’s just to react to you comment viju….
now to my own comment on the issue…. right from last season I knew this Mr Emery is not good enough for Arsenal…. but I was willing to give him that first season as by….games Against crystal palace at home and the final against Chelsea…it’s all evident that Mr Emery is nothing but a middle table team coach…he is bringing the mentality of the sevilas and valencias of this world to Arsenal….imagine prioritising Europa league over premier league last season… that’s speaks it all….going on defensive mode against any decent team….all these are attribute of a semi scaled coach….now am giving him this season….if he doesn’t perform ….he better get out of the club…. definition of hypocrisy is playing the likes of xhaka, Sokratis,mustafi,Luiz,Nelson and even guendozi, and leaving Ozil out….now tell me any of those players merit playing week in week out based on their performances….yet he benches Ozil for games making him match rusty and play him for 70mins hoping he gives Messi like performance…and if he doesn’t…he points out at him….tell me how the you perform when there is no match fitness or consistency….our best patch last season was when Ozil and Ramsey were playing… immediately he stopped playing them…. performances declined…Wenger once said Ozil is a world class player and to get the best out of him you should always show him love….he is not the expressive type like guen…. that doesn’t make him a bad personality or he doesn’t care….we have people that are reserved like that….you guys should learn not to take people like that for granted….the fact that they don’t run around like headless chicken on the field doesn’t mean they are not quality…we all saw fab play and love him….tell me when have you ever seen fab chasing opponent down….and it’s not like Ozil doesn’t at all….it’s just the facial expression of these guy that cause these reaction from fans….you guys need to take a chill pill on him….and as for Emery…am not surprised he is not playing him….dude like to get the job done the hard way…. and what baffles me is…the team is even nothing to write home about without and with Ozil…. that shows how ineptitude he is as a coach…. with over 200m spent….no improvement as far as am concern…good day Gooners… hoping we win today..
You are telling all this to an Ozil supporter?!?!
The stats I posted show how Ozil’s numbers are better. I think you missed the point and I know all of Ozil’s traits that you’ve written there. I’ve been following from his time in Germany
And how many assists and goals has he made after years of joining us?
It is like someone did so well 6 years ago therefore, must be guaranteed a place today
Someone up the thread has posted and I believe it adds up to 52. Can you please Google and Premier League stats are available online and they break it down to several areas of play.
@ Viju…… replying to your comment at 11.23pm last night re watching Ozil.
Respect most of your comments but your blind love of Ozil is in my opinion and many many others Wrong!
You can spout on about fact and figures all you like but ( and nothing to do with the money he’s on ) if I went to work for 8 hours and produced some good work for 10 minutes but then for the rest of the day I just sat there staring at the ceiling, checking my Phone, replying to your comments, checking the news and sky sports, I would expect to be called out and be told to give my best all day…….. If I continued in this same way over and over again I would expect to be demoted or sacked.
Ozil if he has personal problems then I’m sorry for him but based on his performances he doesn’t deserve a place in the starting line up or even in the match day squad!!!!!
Is that why the distance he covered was second to only Monreal? Please, don’t just quote your confirmation bias. All the opta stats are available for all of us to read. Yes he doesn’t go into tackles and so do a few players all over the world, but other than that, kindly read all the stats. He isn’t great in all areas, but he is really good in creating big chances, threading passes etc.
Opinionated slants against him is amplified all the time to make him look terrible, but I’m one of those who don’t buy it, as they are all motivated.
I also believe that Xhaka isn’t as terrible as he is playing now and all he needs is time off from EPL and play himself into form.
This slagging off our players need to stop.
Ozil is not my kid to have blind love for, so please save me from such inane dialogues.
What performances are you talking about? He had a very good preseason, as we all know and then extraneous issues kept him out of the first game and all he got was 141 minutes spread over two games in two formats. What performance, or lack of it, can be deduced? 8 defence splitting passes are not enough, I know, so tell me more.
Ceballos played 35 games over two seasons, with zero assists and zero goals, in case you didn’t know
Just My opinion Viju, I think Ozil has been awful for the past couple of seasons, and running around in my opinion doesn’t make you a good player. I think we as supporters ( me since 1974 ) and I go home and away have our player dislikes…… Ozil is mine, I honestly don’t see what exactly he brings to the table. There are plenty of other players that in my opinion aren’t doing the business…… Xhaka, Pepe ( needs time ) and yes Cabellos needs to up his game! I also don’t believe that Emery is the man to take us forward…….. Maybe a new man can get the best out of Ozil and if he does I’ll give him my total support!!
Just my opinion
Tony, I didn’t mean to upset anyone, bit this tarnishing of a playing based on conjecture is bad, and it is to the detriment of our club. Those who don’t like him just say he isn’t good, so I’m putting out facts, and then I’m told he is just running around, when the single major complaint against him is that he doesn’t run. Even in terms of pace he is somewhere near the top.
Just because he is languid and moves around without drama, doesn’t mean he isn’t a good player.
Yes I’m also a fan from the 70s.
I’m not upset Viju, just like you I have opinions and we are equally entitled to do so. We have obviously both supported this wonderful club for many years and having lived through the dross that was being served up over the years especially in the 80’s
we are currently in a far better position than we were then but like you I believe we could and should be doing so much better. COYG’s
Thanks Tony, COYG.
There is one Wenger & Ozil hater who says “come on you the Arsenal”. I kid you not.
Ozil was badly used from last season and that’s also a fact. The number of goal scoring passes off him that were missed tells us a story too.
In Wenger’s last year collectively everyone was bad, but why must Ozil be singled out?
@Tony, your case is correct for most people, but if it is the creative director of a big advertising agency or design house, that “good work for 10 minutes” can worth millions and the bosses will be happy for him to fishing for the rest of the week.
But I believe that we should let Ozil leave. This is not a matter of talent or effort, he is just a square peg in Emery’s round hole. It will be good for him, Emery and the dressing room. Mistreating him like the current situation will in fact undermine Emery’s leadership.
Sure we lack his creativity and I think Emery is failing if he cant get ozil to do exactly what he wants, (work rate with an improved body language).
I never forget the day ozil got brushed off the ball and sat on the floor with hands in the air for the ref for ages moaning like a spilt child. Camera pans to Emery ‘if looks could kill’ ozil was finished that say I believe or at least made his proving himself to Emery even more difficult.
Then compare willock the other getting barged off the pitch and getting up to sprint back catch the player and make an excellent tackle, cue enery punching the air!!
Its clear to see what he wants from his players, fight desire heart never say due attitude etc.
When you consider these two separate incidents and what enery sees every day in training I must say I agree with him completely!
I know players like messi dont do all the donkey work in fact he spends large parts of his game walking and doing nothing but that is so he can burst in to life and effext the game as he often does, ozil when he does burst into life he doesnt always effect games and his head goes down if not. Also ozil is not anywhere close to messi!!
Saying all this to not have him on the bench is crazy when chasing s game if we need him late on, to come on and play a ball no one else could through to Saka pepe or auba then we should use him this way.
i am adamant it is the hierarchy decision: they are inciting him to move on, by not playing, he is likely to start looking for a way out NOW. We cannot afford him, he took the club to ransom, Ramsey moved, he should too. That simple.