Unai Emery has categorically denied a rift with Mesut Ozil and confirmed that the Germany international is fit to face Cardiff on Sunday having missed the win over West Ham with illness.
Rumours circulated last weekend that the midfielder had fallen out with the Gunners new head coach in training and subsequently been dropped. The Spaniard in his post-match press conference dismissed that suggestion and ahead of the trip to Wales reiterated his stance.
Asked about the situation, he told Sky Sports: “Throughout my career I have respect for the media, for newspaper, radio, TV.
“But there are a lot of people in the media and at not every moment is the information real.
“It isn’t true the news [about a bust-up]. It’s easy for me to say it’s not true, our one is true, and I need to be quiet or say it.
“For me that is one thing; I don’t stop during my career for everything that the news says about me or the players.
“But in this situation with Mesut Ozil it is clear, he is OK, he has the commitment we want, he is a very important player for us and we want to help him to give us the best performance in each match and each moment.”
It’s not been an easy week for Emery or an easy few months for Ozil, but it looks as though there’s light at the end of the tunnel. The coach just needs to decide which position best suits the 29-year-old’s qualities.
“He’s OK,” he told print journalists on Friday. “After this, it’s about where he is better for us and also about the opposition’s style of play.
“I spoke with him about his best position on the pitch, and I know he can play on the right and as a No. 10 player, and he wants [me] to use him for two positions.
“Mesut in his career, he played as No. 10 and he played on the right. When he played in Spain [for Real Madrid], I remember a lot of matches with him playing on the right. His quality is for playing between the lines of the attacking and midfield players.
“I like the possibility to have the player play in different positions on the pitch. So we are going to continue to do that. After, it’s [about] where he is better for us and where he is better also thinking [about] the opposition’s style of play.
“Our demands are very high, very great, but I want to ask every player every day to give us more,” he added.
“Not just Mesut, the team, the squad. We need to push, we need to have ambition, we need to have desire to improve every day. This is my message for the team, for the squad and for every player.”
Please sell the overpaid and overrated wimp.
No one’s in the market for you, champ.
its funny how quick i was to get his voice into my head whenever i read an interview from emery.
so…maybe there was a bustup…maybe not…we might never know so we should get over this. In all due respect to the following opponents the following games can be games for players like mesut, auba, ramsey to put a stamp on it and recover from their form.
Great mantra. Ambition, improve every day.
He is awful,but I like him.
The Dick Emery jokes are getting boring
Using Ozil on the right, clearly doesnt work against top teams, and against smaller sides, you might aswell us him in a number 10 role. I really feel like the only reason he is being used in this Arsenal team is to make up for the ridicoules contract we offered him. But i guess this is what the fans wanted, use money on big players to show we are still ambitious eventhough we are lacking in so many other positions.
using ozil against top teams doesn,t work full stop, ha ha ha
Yep, please continue to cater to me, I might be alone here but I love when a player sets up 15 chances a game regularly
If there was ever a run of games to see the best from Ozil it is the ones in front of us. I like the idea that Emery will play him when he suits our starting 11 but drop him when we need to play to the strengths of others. I hope we don’t have ‘illnesses’ and ‘bust ups’ for the rest of his career with us. Just say someone else was picked. I dont care about his wages. He’s on too much but it’s an inherited mistake. Why should Emery compound the issue by picking him for the sake… Read more »
Just as a matter of interest, what players can you name who don’t go absent against top class opposition ?
Ozil is the oil in the engine type of player. When we are chasing the ball and the other 10 players around him are all struggling Ozil won’t be able to influence the game.
But to single him out from going absent in big games without acknowledging that all 10 around him also struggle/make big mistakes if grossly unfair
You’re right. Too many of our players go missing. Emery’s plan seems to be coach that out of all of them. The issue with Ozil is that it’s by design. His strengths involve the spaces and the gaps. He takes up positions where the ball is not. To ask him to play otherwise doesn’t get the most out of him. Playing him to his strengths isn’t always what’s best for the team.
He’s our most talented player but it’s clear that he isn’t always the best fit, that’s all.
The reason he is (sometimes) singled out is because of his salary. That’s the club’s fault not Ozil’s, he got as much as he could from the club, the board simply shouldn’t have sanctioned paying him way more than he’s worth. On that salary, you simply have to be the sort of player who does influence the game when all around you are struggling….and like you say, he isn’t capable of that. It is very legitimate to question what the club are going to do about him cos his salary is a real impediment to the rebuilding needed over the… Read more »
The difference is that he is supposed to be our only world class player. Aubameyang aside, who else in our XI is labelled as world class?
IMO, a WC player should be able to rise in these games against top class opposition. Otherwise you’re just a flat track bully.
A flat track bully is what we need to beat 14 league opponent’s home and away… That’s 28 wins and 84 points
Ozil is a supremely gifted player, but I’ve long questioned his inclusion in the team, he produced scintillating form before he signed his new deal, the best he’s produced in an Arsenal shirt, but since the inks dried? he hasn’t shown up with 1 decent performance since, and that’s not an exaggeration…. Would be fantastic if Emery could reignite Ozil’s love of the game? and get him performing consistently? I have serious doubts though…. Regarding both his mentality and desire, however I have no doubt about his ability. Here’s a snippet of Emery talking about Reyes: When I came here… Read more »
Emery, please do not play the Bellerin.
Smoke and mirrors from the media really. Bust ups, disagreements, or plain simply being sick, it does not matter as long as Ozil starts bouncing back in the games ahead. The run-in of easier games in the coming month coupled with not having to report for international duties will do him good.
Let’s hope he gets 10 goals/assists in our next 10 games to shut up the critics!
Theo isn’t in the club anymore to say: There was a bust-up but not what media tried to portray plus this happens in every team.
The way Emery kept on denying instead of ignoring shows nothing actually happened.
Methinks the Emery doth protest too much.
It’s easy for the media to whip up a frenzy about nothing because the agenda and perceptions have already been set. I don’t believe there was a bust up at all, and I don’t think Mesut has a problem where he plays. Looking with my own eyes tells me that sometimes Mesut doesn’t look well, I don’t think he’s the most physically robust player and he’s had a really horrible time for a while now. I also see that he’s a bit pissed off when he gets subbed, which isn’t really a bad thing, but someone somewhere manages to add… Read more »
It’s both.
I wonder if he threatened Ozil on the training ground like The Jesus lays into The Dude on Big Lebowski.
“Let me tell you pendejo…”
Why do I picture Steve Bould as the dude?
Pendejo?
He is Spanish, not South American!
I respect Emery having a go at English but wish he’d use an interpreter for a little longer so he can freely explaiiine what he wants to tell us. He’s selling his vision short using broken English.
I guess it is a principle of his that coaches must make the effort to speak the language of the country. After Barcelona’s remontada against PSG, he tried to explain what occurred in French. Lot of people in France said he should never had because his credibility was at stake.
I disagree, I think he is doing amazingly well at getting his ideas across using broken English, and I much prefer his short and to the point answers than Arsene’s me, me, me flirting with the media bullshit. I love that he can be friendly, and even funny, but he keeps to the point. He’s also clever to check the questions with the interpreter when the media ask something complicated or confusing, probably hoping to catch him out, I’m impressed with him.