Unai Emery has revealed what he thought of Mesut Ozil and why he did not play him.
After replacing Arsene Wenger, Emery led Arsenal to the Europa League final in his first season in charge, they also narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification.
His second season was expected to be better but thing began to unravel quickly and the results became bad.
Arsenal struggled to win games and one player who Unai Emery didn’t trust often enough was Mesut Ozil.
The German midfielder struggled in the few games that he played under Emery this season and the Spanish manager came under fire often for not starting Ozil.
Emery recently opened up on his complicated relationship with Ozil and revealed why he didn’t start the former Real Madrid man that often.
Emery told Marca per The Mirror: “He’s a very good player, that’s clear. But the physical demands in the Premier League are high.
“His performances are unpredictable. He’s a bit below the top players at the moment.
“Sometimes Arsenal play better with him but other times he doesn’t make such a difference.”
For balance, Mesut Ozil has previously had his say on what it was like for him under Emery and how things have changed under new manager Mikel Arteta.
“I had a hard time, especially with the previous coach Unai Emery, but now everything has changed, and I am very happy with everything,” Ozil said.
Quite damning comments from Emery, however, I will leave it up to others how they interpret what the Spaniard had to say and whether he is right in his assessment of the mercurial German playmaker.
Obviously Emery didn’t rate Ozil and Ozil didn’t rate Emery. Nothing new there. For me, it’s up to Ozil to prove Emery wrong and back up his words with actually proving his worth now he has gone. If he doesn’t Emery was right, if he doesn’t Emery was wrong, simples.
Nothing to rate…
Ozil is the best in his position
not for strength so he doesn’t have to prove physical strength to anybody..
but for whom he is… Come and see his skills and good football play…
No he isn’t.
Seriously, which matches do you watch? Some of us are just too proud to admit that they are wrong. Ozil was good but now finished. You can’t even compare him with most of No 10s in EPL to talk of in Europe. Wake up bro
It will be interesting to see how long Ozil’s honeymoon period with Arteta lasts. Now that Ozil’s performance as Arsenal’s highest profile player, impacts on team performance and Head Coach Arteta’s match day results, the confidence of Arteta in Ozil may wane.
I think he was implying Ozil is the best in his position at Arsenal and thus should have been played more.
At least I hope that’s what he was saying.
And to be fair, Ceballos thus far has been worse than Mesut on average.
Ha ha last line, if he “does” Emery was wrong
Lolz… Same old story
Still its funny to know that ozil has created the most chances under him while not starting so regularly.
And its not only the ozil situation under him, we know what happened to torreira,xhaka etc.I dont want to talk about the other areas where it went wrong for him because everybody knows it but i am grateful for him to what he did for us in the first season and i was rooting for him until he was sacked…
he is a very good coach.A proven coach.I wish him all the best.
but would you want him back?
He would be right in the eyes of many of us here, but in my own eyes, he was an arsenal manager then, so he made the best decisions known to him,
I still watched arseanl matches, but I never really enjoyed matches without ozil there…
If ozil was lacking in physical strength, a manager must know how to manage his skills and limited strength all to help the team..
Ozil is not Sanchez is not Kante, he is ozil with his own special skills, he likes it cool, he does beautiful things that made him ozil..
If u expect him to be bulldozer player, then sell him, or push him out and buy kelvin D.B.
I love arsenal
Nice comment
Thank you
Gunners one love
You’re correct man!!
Beautiful comment.
…he does beautiful things that made him ozil.. I like this.
Emery thinks even Neymar is not good enough
Oh yeah I thought he’d tell us why he said he Torreira as a better player upfront in the no 10 role and why Xhaka got so much worse under him.
Let’s not pretend Xhaka was a terrible terrible player under Wenger, he had his flaws, slow? yes but it got worse under Emery… Suddenly he’s better under Arteta again, and really anyone would expect me to believe players like Torreira and Xhaka were the problems to their own growth?.
He’s a good coach no doubt, he said the right things about Ozil, Ozil said what he felt bout him… Two grown àss men who never agreed on the same issues. That’s all there is to it.
He’s gone, the future is all I look forward to now
How could Ozil shine being treated like Emery treated him? Arteta never pulls a player down, even though we supporters know the a player may not be all that. Mustafi for example. Emery was not a man manager and did not know how to give confidence. He did trust the kids and that what he has done at Arsenal, brought the young ones to the fore. He seemed to be confused and never had a clear plan the fans could tune into.
In Emerys first season he played his Four best attacking players in Five games.Guess what? He won them all. Sort of says it all don’t you think?
Just for the record the four players were Aibamanyang, Lacazette, Ozil and Ramsey.
Did we not lose our first 2 matches in Emery’s first season?
We did-but he didn’t have his best four players in the side
How did Emery pass his interview? The guy had no idea who the players were, he made so many substitute blunders, his tactics were sick and his explanations even more stupid… It’s gonna take us at least 3 seasons to rectify the mess that guy caused… I’m sorry but I’ve never been a fan of Emery, if he couldn’t win the Champions league with Cavani, Neymar and co., what can he win with our defence he never even tried to fix…
Just keep this guy far from Arsenal please,I dont even want to see him in the opposition dug out, he remind me of a bad nightmare…
I’m looking forward to seeing him give a breakdown on every player he dropped, played out of position, had trouble with and couldn’t control….thats another 24 articles sorted out then.
👍😀
I can only hope so, will make my life easier sourcing stories.
You’re damn right..
But that’s It though Ken don’t you believe? He didn’t mention the fact that when things went completely tits-up for us after that ridiculously mis-leading 22 game unbeaten run he very quickly found a starting place for Ozil again did he not?
These comments seem so in character with Emery. As Eddie indicates, he has completely failed to mention how he decided Torriera was better employed further up the field.And how his tactics allowed Watford to have 32 attempts on goal against us.And his persistence in playing out from the back with players clearly unsuited to the role costs us how many points? Why Cech was preferred in goal in Bako. Why he thought we needed Five Captains when there wasn’t a single leader in the whole squad.
The list is endless.How that clown was ever appointed Manager when there were so many other candidates who would have been far more qualified and better suited to the role I will never ever know
Phil, your preaching go the converted and, if we take Ozil out of the equation, the completely wasted time with UE has been shown with just one of the players you mentioned, Torerria under MA versus under UE.
It seems his problem with Ozil is still carrying on, just as it is with the fanbase. I’m just going to go with whatever MA decides with every player under his control aand support him to the hilt.
Clearly delusional and absent minded.dame ozil that’s been missing for 3yrs?? Have no clue about football
So your obviously suggesting MA is delusional for picking Ozil for EVERY Premier League game since he’s been Manager. Says everything PAL
I loathe this guy, his style of football was the true definition of dreary. Jeez! UE starting to sound like a scorned lover someone tell him it’s all water under the bridge now time to move on!
Scorned lover – 😂😂👍
I expect to see Agu Eman in this article. Where is he anyone knows??
Ozil has struggled with every manager, it’s just that they handle him with velvet gloves.
If all players were treated equally, Ozil and Xhaka will not be playing in first team