Unai Emery refused to be drawn on whether or not Mesut Ozil could make an impact for Arsenal at Anfield on Saturday after the German’s half-time withdrawal in the 1-1 draw with Brighton on Wednesday.
The decision was described as ‘tactical’ by the Arsenal boss, but the Gunners lacked creativity in the second period, having just one attempt on goal while the home side looked far more likely to score.
It was another instance in which Emery’s reluctance to use Ozil away from home was apparent, and it raises questions about his involvement when Arsenal face the league leaders at the weekend.
“For me, we cannot only speak for one player,” he said when pressed on the 30 year old’s potential influence.
“For me, every player is the same. We can speak also, maybe one player now who didn’t play a lot… Jenkinson. Or Lichtsteiner or Mustafi or Kolasinac or Matteo or Mesut or Aubameyang or Lacazette or Nketiah.
“Every player.”
The half-time change at the Amex was also on the agenda, and again Emery made it clear it was, for him at least, a tactical decision and nothing more than that.
“It is one decision tactically, and also the decision is because we have [done] it before because we have a lot of matches away when it tactically changes something, not for the player but for the team,” he said.
“A lot of the matches when we play in the second half, for example Iwobi, it helps us with a different situation tactically and helps us to win the matches.
“In other matches, when we changed for the second half we took the performance to go to win.
“Yesterday, my intention was the same, it is tactically to change one player for another and with our analysis before that in other matches, in the second-half sessions is the reason I do that.
“Sometimes I change Aubameyang, sometimes I change Lacazette and sometimes I change Matteo – it happens to every player and sometimes the result is good and the other times it doesn’t give us the result on the pitch.
“But the decision is only tactical.”
It may well be exactly that, but even so it’s ok to question the tactics when they don’t work, and they definitely didn’t against Brighton.
Let’s hope he gets it right at Anfield.
Sorry, but not every player is the same. When you change Özil for Iwobi, no, this is not the same. I get what he means and yes, Özil shouldn’t get a particular treatment, but UE seems to reject the importance Özil has for his squad. No, this is not the same to sub Özil for Iwobi! He seems only focused on putting aside Özil because he draws attention from the media, fans, pundits… just to say: every player is the same.
If Emery saw his performance in that disastrous game a couple of years ago he won’t pick him BUT potentially he is the man to get us a result.
It might be for attention, but it will always draw attention if treat players of Ozil’s calibre the same as every other player. As a coach, you should always look beyond the fame, status and fanbase, to put performances first in the squad ranking. Ozil is our most creative midfielder, he is our best player in facilitating progressive possession and our top goal scoring midfielder. He should be playing more than the rest if we look at that. If Ozil doesn’t fit what Emery is trying to do, wouldn’t it be better for squad harmony and for the playing style… Read more »
I don’t think the gap between them is as big as you imply. Ozil has more oscillation, he’s better when he plays well, and worse when he’s off his game. I think we all wish he was more consistent. But if you compare the two on stats there is not much difference. Ozil: 975 min, 3 goals, 2 assists. Iwobi: 841 min, 2 goals, 3 assists. Having said that both had a good game at home against Liverpool. Iwobi got an assist in the 20+min that he played and Ozil created a number of good chances, and in general helped… Read more »
Yeah, but again, stats are tools. Those are doing the job you’ve assigned them to, but they miss what differentiates Ozil from every other player in the world: chance creation. And then there are the non-stat effects. Pre-assists, key passes to set up a chance or launch a counter, movement to create space. The previous match Kolasinac got the assist but Ozil made the play that turned just another possession into a goal opportunity. He didn’t make as much happen with the ball in this match, but yanking him out for someone with equally low finishing stats but much less… Read more »
Amazing. For 5 years anyone who has dared to doubt Ozil has had his stats thrown at them as absolute ‘proof ‘ of his brilliance…and now for the 2nd time in 2 days we have someone defending him by basically dismissing stats as irrelevant. The hypocrisy is mind blowing.
Oh do fuck right off. I never said once that stats are meaningless – That’s Trump fake logic. You tell me where what I said is not true about Ozil. It’s been repeated time and time again that a lot of what he does goes unnoticed so don’t even try to make it seem like some sudden hypocrisy. Do you think the sum total of what Ozil does is covered by Goals and Assists? Then I guess you can’t criticize him for not tracking back. Or tackling. Or distance covered. Or ball recoveries. So unless you’ve got something of substance… Read more »
Ozil has the ability to make everyone around him better. Iwobi hasn’t improved his own game for years he’s still running and juking around with nothing to show for it.
anyone who thinks the gap between them is not that big should stop watching football or maybe join mourinho’s assistant squad.
I absolutely love the revisionism now Wenger has gone and emery is in charge. Ozil has generally been more of a hindrance than a help in these games against the top 6, especially away from home. I’m sure if he starts him and Ozil has one of “those” games where he gets bullied off the ball and our midfield gets overrun you’ll find a way to blame it on the manager and rationalise that Ozil is too much of a genius to do the basics off the ball
its ganduzi who makes our midfield get overrun….he was the man left behnd to mop up, and was ball-watching and then escorted the attacker all the way till he scored.
yet, its ozil that is talked about.
It’s tough being a manager. Now I’m not saying Ozil is such as player, just that it is especially tough for a manager to handle if a player is not towing the team player line. And wants more individual preference. I would guess most people if they were managers would ship out such a player, unless they truly are a difference maker. I think Unai is still undecided which side Ozil belongs in and is giving him plenty of chances and different preparations to see how to get the best out of him (different formations, different tactics, different positions, rest… Read more »
Emery’s use of “tactical” is tactical
Tactical means “that was my decision “
if he is so detailed as claimed why cant he see that his favorite Guendouzi has been playing shit for many games now. The point is not Ozil and the so called tracking back, even in games Ozil doesn’t play we concede the stupid goals every game, so Ozil is not the problem. i know he is our favorite scapegoat but lets admit no one here knows how Emery’s wants his team to play.
Ganduzi cant attack and cant defend…and cant pass quickly or hold on to the ball….. yet he is first pick in the midfield……. baffling
Can’t Ozil just do what the manager wants him yo do to help his tactics? Shouldn’t it be that way?
What he is not doing? Just because he doesn’t tackle and run like a headless chicken doesn’t mean he is lazy. I don’t see a single good argument that he doesn’t play. Are we more balanced without him? No. Are we conceding less without him? No. Are we creating more without him? No…
There are so many teams doing great without Ozil. These teams showed no interest when semi-god was hesitating renewing his contract with Arsenal. He will have to leave. This is the exact same situation Wenger had with Podolski.
Do you really think offers for the top players are so common? How many offers De Gea has? How many offers Hazard has? We all knew Manchester United wanted him and interest from a few other clubs was also reported – Barcelona, PSG?… The point is there are only a few clubs in the world who could actually get him.
And Liverpool is doing just fine without Messi.
That statement is empty.
Or maybe given we utterly dominated Brighton for the first 25 minutes, what the manager wanted him to do was get on the ball (in perfect circumstances for him) & dictate the game as thr most talented player on the pitch. Something he spectacularly failed to do.
I agree Ozil shouldn’t have been taken off but let’s not pretend he had a good 45 mins before being hauled off. He contributed nothing.
Spot on Olivije ?
Are we more balanced without him? How short is your memory? Nobody is asking him to run around like a headless chicken but every good team defends from the front these days and there’s no excuse for not doing the basics. We’ve seen so many times since Ozil has been here that he just doesn’t turn up against the top 6 away from home and we get overrun in midfield.
Give Ozil the right support around him on the pitch, let others do the ‘dirty’ work and watch him weave his magic
In the modern game every player pulls in the same direction.
There is no such thing as let the others do …etc
Name one top manager , who exempts a player from basic team work duties. Pep? Klopp? Allegri? Sarri? …. NO NO NO.
It’s so frustrating at this point seeing people defend Ozil not doing the basics and having a go a emery for demanding what every top manager does. Is the guy supposed to just wave the white flag and tell Ozil he doesn’t have to do any of the hard work? “Hey Lucas, hey Granit, just remember Ozil doesn’t have to press or do any work off the ball so you’ll have to cope with 3 energetic midfielders by yourselves. Got it? Great”
dude….ozil works his ass off…..watch the last game he played 90 minutes in….. before you spout baseless crap
We don’t see the magic enough to warrant giving him such preferential treatment. If he’s the type of player that needs to have it precisely his way, we’re better off without. It’s just not sustainable to count on characters like that.
I’m afraid it just doesn’t work like that
I agree with you. This is what Emery is refusing to do to get the best out of Ozil.
Bloody hell, you’d think there would be questions about why Lacca off, or why not AMN start or possibly playing an academy CB over Xhaka in midfield, etc.
It’s almost easy to forget the times in previous games he took off Ozil and it worked. This time it didn’t.
And I’m not sure on the association of our lack of creativity in the 2nd half due to Ozil’s removal. No one mentioned it in all our previous 2nd half renaissance without ozil. Wasn’t the lack of creativity more due to fatigue?
PS: Interesting he mentioned Jenkinson.
Jenkinson couldn’t be much worse than Lichsteiner, or that AMN (conservative) cameo, maybe he should get his chance. I think it’s tough playing Medley/academy CB – if they get targeted they’d struggle too. Remember that game at Stoke a few years ago with a raw Bellerin and a young Chambers. You can’t deny that with Ozil our creativity would have been better, surely? He’s our most creative player. However, I still think he should have been taken off. They countered quite effectively in the first half, and with a defense that can’t push up (no recovery speed), you need forwards… Read more »
I actually don’t think Medley is all that. He’s not that great at the academy level, but just seems to have grown in stature to fans based on a very small cameo.
Shaef or the return of Beilik are significantly better. Medley is somewhat erratic.
As for your Ozil comment? I don’t disagree with any of it.
Beilik? Whatever happened to him, remember the hype? Wow, he’s been at the club for almost years now.
I don’t really know much about Medley, but I still think Beilik is a real talent and hope he gets a chance when he comes back from loan. I also think that Brighton must have thought it was Christmas when we took off Mesut and Laca, they would have been given a real boost seeing their most dangerous opponents taken out, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
Pretty sure he mentions Jenkinson to give him hope and let him know he’s not forgotten…even though Kos couldn’t remember his name the other day.
Emery should be brave and bench him.
Yes yes we know creativity and all, but he’s not consistently creative, and his game flaws are dangerous against a side as intense as pool.
Did you see that second half? Without Welbeck a d Mkhi, we will have to endure that second half performance consistently if he drops Ozil.
I know I don’t wanna watch shit like that.
If Unai Emery wants his best players to play to their best, he must play them in their ideal positions and in their best roles. Tinkering, tampering and trying to fit talented players into his pet systems and tactics will not work. Such poor management will lead only to confusion, disharmony and resentment.
His player should adapt to his tactics and game plans. That’s their job and what they’re getting paid for.
Managers also have to adapt. You can’t play the same football with a Spanish team, that English teams play. He knew what was on offer, player-wise, when he signed. He can’t complain now about not having your players. Only Man city can overhaul a squad for a manager. Nowhere in the world do players all have to adapt while the coach stays rigid in his approach. This is a new league for him, a new team, new players and a different set of circumstances for the side he is coaching. If you don’t adapt, you are doomed to fail. Look… Read more »
No, Emery was brought to implement his own ideas, his hard work ethics and game plans. Already the club seems to be planning a massive cull. Multiple players running their contracts with no extension offers.
He will get replacements who are suited to his needs.
So if Emery gets his players, then fails to win anything, gets fired, what will we end up with squad wise? An Emery squad of players, who the next manager will have to get rid of and bring in different players? People use Man City and Arsene’s Arsenal as a reference for squad building, when the rest of the footballing world builds the best squad possible and then finds a manager who can get the most out of those players. Not the other way around. If its one player, I can understand. But if you as a manager can’t use… Read more »
Emery is using the entire squad or hadn’t you noticed. He had 4 competitions that he needed players for, but now we are down to 3.
only development has been ganduzi’s arse getting bigger.
That works when you have a squad that has been adequately assembled. We have an unbalanced and dysfunctional squad. Where has emery said he wants to change the whole squad? A manager is allowed to make his own signings, no squad handover is ever seemless. You’re living in some imagined reality where emery can never win in your estimations.
Man City can overhaul a squad, sure, but that doesn’t mean our manager just has to “take what he’s got”. Christ, no top manager in football would do that. He clearly had adapted as well, we are not playing a brand of football like PSG. Liverpool do not play like klopps dortmund side, for the record.
Players are bought and paid for what they already do well and not for what they cannot do well. This is why a good manager’s tactics and game plans flow from what his players can do well and not from what his players cannot do well in the first place.
with that logic there’s no point trying to improve any player, totally weird argument
Amazing this is being downvoted
I don’t think it’s poor management. Remember, he got the soldiers he was given, not the ones he picked. Not to mention injuries. He’s doing his best to coach the way he wants with the players he has. He doesn’t seem like an unreasonable asshole who’s my way of the highway. If that were the case, we’d be dropping all these games.
The slagging off of the coach I’m seeing right now just strikes me as the height of throw your toys from the pram childishness. FFS, this is not a video game.
Its frankly embarrassing. You’d think the start he made he’d have bought some faith but apparently a couple of losses and you’re not even allowed to make a signing you want
but he is a Video Coach
There are so many injuries that he literally doesn’t have any choice other than to play players out of position…before the injuries he had a regular cast who were doing the business for him. Even though a lot of fans liked to slate Bellerin and Mustafi etc we have really noticed the difference their absence makes to the way we play.
Then he needs a squad where he is able to do that. The squad is so unbalanced and dysfunctional and he didn’t create that problem
Annoyed by this. Even if he doesn’t fancy Ozil (which is dumb IMO), he should at least be publicly backing him. He has consistently declined to do so of late.
This comment ìs dumb IMO.
Well now, that was childish.
This is what is exceptionally frustrating about yesterday’s Ozil substitution. Tactically, given our shaky defense and how well Liverpool is playing, I could certainly see not starting Ozil there but instead choosing Ramsey or perhaps Iwobi.
But Emery is thinking that way, then it makes more sense to be very aggressive against BHA, and leave both Laca and Ozil on.
Not sure this means anything, but “Matteo” is the only player he calls regularly by his 1st name…
Could this be an inconscious proof of kind of favoritism? Or not
Who cares?
My immediate thought when I read the article. Strange calling some players by first name and others by surname.
Interestingly he does call Ozil by his first name.
If Guendozi is your second name.
I’m calling tou Matteo. Even if that’s not your first name.
And ‘Mesut’? Easy there Alex Jones.
in one interview he literally said he loves matteo
Probably difficult for him to pronounce Guendouzi given his accent. Either way, who cares? He calls Ozil mesut so I guess there’s no issue there then
If Unai thinks Mesut is the same as Iwobi and Jenkinson then God help us, we’re on our way to becoming Southampton. Auba, Laca and Mesut are our three top class players and if it carries on like this they won’t stick around for long, top class players want to make the most of their careers, not stagnate in a mire of mediocrity. This is all going horribly wrong.
I agree about the importance of those players in the game plan and I’m not thrilled about recent results either, but I don’t think it’s quite that dire yet.
City are dropping silly points, Man U got Mou’d, Sp*rs and Chelsea have had poor showings. And we’re in the middle (hopefully getting nearer the end) of a shit run of defensive injuries while still for the time being only 2 points off Chelsea for 4th.
Several things to take away from the unfortunate tepid draw … 1) Back 4 not particularly workable with inverted 3 up top. Felt if we were to play the advantage of BOTH Laca and Auba high up AND Ozil tucked just behind in the pocket, we need the added width provided by wing backs (particularly with the lack of natural wingers at present) A back 3 would have provided more license for Kolasinac and Lichsteiner to push forward with less detriment to the counter. 2) Lichsteiner – I don’t think he is completely useless but he has obvious limits due… Read more »
I think it’s really sad that only 2 or so weeks from our amazing derby win and a couple of months of fans chanting “we’ve got our arsenal back”, fans have already drawn a line of 2 sides; Ozil or Emery. Really sad. No manager has a chance if this is how quick fans are willing to ditch support of a manager. 6 months into it. Now I’m seeing favourable comparisons to Wenger last season and how he was doing better. Ridiculous. This place will always be fickle. I remember this place in the last few years. After a win,… Read more »
Thank you for some perspective. Emery will need a couple of seasons at least to get this team ticking. We aren’t Citeh who benefit from sugar daddy owners. We need to follow the Liverpool model. Buy smart, sell at the right time. Don’t let contracts run down. Don’t throw ridiculous wages at players and keep developing young talent.
I think it’s also an issue that people obsess over his title as head coach and that started in the summer. There’s so much “he’s the coach, he has to use what he’s given” and there’s weird line where whenever he tries to change something people are up in arms as if the team didn’t finish sixth last year and won more than a couple of away games. He’s as much a manager as Sanhelli was a director of football when he was “head of football relations”. Managers are allowed to stomp their mark on a side. Do Liverpool fans… Read more »
Given a bit of time to reflect after a draw that certainly felt like a loss, I hope this situation, and one that is potentially arising with Laca gets out to bed quickly. Yes the squad needs an overhaul and is imbalanced, but Emery has enough in this squad to reach our objectives. Adding one or 2 astute signings in January will certainly be beneficial to reach those goals as well, but the players at his disposal should be more than enough for the likes of Brighton. I agree player’s have to adapt to new managers, but certainly managers have… Read more »
I get so frustrated with ozil. All he had to do yesterday was track the run of the scorer. If he does that Matteo covers the space where the ball went to. Ozil even steps tracking momentarily.
What does it cost to do that. I’d do the same but he’s absentia hurt as well.
Sell him and get a decent playmaker with greater consistency.
Auba should have finished that torreira pass in the first half.
If our defense is like crap, than pls tell what is the point in blaming Özil or every player playing that position? I should be able to trust my mates doing their job correctly snd thats what an offensive player has to decide. Try to running around like headless chicken and then for the critical last 15 minutes you are out of stamina.
If ramsey or bameyang were playing that position it could be the same mate. So im sry not his fault.
nopes…Ganduzi was left behind for precisely that reason…and he ball-watched till it was too late…then trotted like a puppy after the attacker, escorted him all the way to the goal, and watched him score…..and then started to point and wave and shout.
Probably worth mentioning that deliberately keeping Ozil fresh for the Liverpool game would qualify as a tactical decision…
Tactical means “it’s my decision “
Emery ain’t gonna play Özil in such an important game. And we are gonna be FUCKED!!!
Because our record against the top 6 has been so good in recent years. Ozil has consistently been turning away from home in big games too.