The main talking point amongst Arsenal fans in the last few weeks has been about the ongoing spat between Unai Emery and Mesut Ozil. The Spanish coach made it clear before yesterday’s game that wanted Ozil to stop missing training with his undefined illnesses and buckle down with the squad. Emery said: “Now, this week is good for all the players, because we are in a big, important moment for the season and I look at him [Ozil] doing the training like we want.
“I know he wants, but we need to be consistent and available in training and the matches without the injuries and without being sick. Like that, we can find and see the best Mesut with us.”
So the Boss finally picked Ozil for last night’s win over BATE, and he admitted after the game that our extremely well-paid playmaker has finally got the hint and has rejoined the squad, although he also said that Ozil can’t expect to an automatic starter every week. “Well, I said to him to carry on and be available like today and the last two weeks to continue training and helping us. Today I am happy and this is the way we want with him.”
And when pushed on whether he wanted Ozil to play like this consistently, he said: “Yes, he needs to be available and carry on. He wants to do this and today he showed what he wants. If he is available, like the last two weeks, we are going to play a lot of matches and maybe sometimes we need him in the starting XI and sometimes on the bench because we have a lot of players to also help us. His spirit like today is good and his quality and capacity and combination with some players is good, like with Guendouzi and Micki and Iwobi in the attacking third. I think we need every player and today playing Mesut was important and positive.”
As many of the writers have said lately, we really need Ozil to be playing to the highest level regularly to justify his wages, and hopefully now that he has started following Emery’s instructions we will see a lot more of him this season…
Admin