Arsenal fans have had weeks and weeks of dodgy news about Mesut Ozil being upset with Unai Emery and his constant backache, but the Ozil lovers on here carried on saying he was undroppable and obviously only injured, which is why he wasn’t playing. But yesterday’s team selection by Emery against Tottenham, our biggest rivals, showed that he really is not rated by our manager, or he really does have a problem with the German playmaker. When asked why Ozil wasn’t even in the squad on Arsenal.com, Emery was totally honest at last. “It’s a tactical decision because I thought that the players that were with us today were the best choices for this match.
“We are thinking of every player. We have 24 or 25 players and when they are playing one game and not in another, it’s the decision. Today it was tactical.”
When asked about whether he would let Ozil go in January, he easily dodged the question. “My focus now is analysing this match and also Saturday against Burnley is very important. We are going to assess every player, how they are tomorrow in training and for a difficult match against Burnley on Saturday.”
And when asked about Ozil’s future, he was even more evasive. “I am thinking about the match on Saturday, and not thinking about another situation.” he replied.
This interview was very telling. There was no mention of backache or any other imaginary injury. He was not even on the bench, with Iwobi, Elney and Willock preferred to our highest paid player for emergency situations. So a couple of weeks ago, when Mr Admin wrote there was something fishy about the Ozil situation he was told it was fabrication. And then when I highlighted Mertesacker’s quote about Ozil, I was told I was bashing Ozil.
So what do JustArsenal readers think now? Do we have a serious problem or not?
Darren N