You have to give the new Arsenal coach Unai Emery credit for giving game-time to the players that he thinks are in form and the right style to fit into his game-plan, no matter what their reputation is in the wider world. This week it was Mesut Ozil that was dropped against Bournemouth, with Emery saying that he had expected “a very demanding match with physicality and intensity,”.
There are many fans saying that Ozil should play every time if he is fit, but being Mr Marmite a lot of fans think he should stay on the bench, but he just needs reminding that he isn’t undroppable sometimes. As Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said on Sky: “He has to put the manager in a position that he is the first one on that sheet,” Hasselbaink said of Ozil.
“And at the moment he is not doing that.
“He’s not creating enough, as we know he can. He has to start producing week in, week out.
“What this manager is bringing to Arsenal now is nobody is safe of a place.
“You have to produce and that’s why they are stronger.
“That’s why you see a kind of urgency in their game.
“And I think he is trying to give Ozil at times a kick under the bum.”
Without Ozil’s ‘silky skills’, we still managed to grind out a win at Bournemouth, so it would seem that Emery’s gamble (if it was a gamble?) to leave out our most highly-paid star has paid off. And if it has taught Ozil a lesson then it will all have been worth it.
The question is; Will Ozil take heed and up his game?
Darren N