Unai Emery says Mesut Ozil will travel to Liverpool for tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup clash at Anfield and revealed he’s had a productive face-to-face chat with the German about his role in the squad.
The German hasn’t played the Gunners beat Nottingham Forest 5-0 in the last round of the competition in September and last week the Spaniard revealed that the decision not to include the midfielder was signed off by officials higher up the chain of command.
Despite links with a move to the MLS, Ozil said in a recent interview with The Athletic that he has no intention of quitting the Emirates before his contract ends in 2021 and that he’s eager to regain a starting place.
Since then, he was caught on camera having an awkward interaction with the head coach in training and not long after posted a cryptic message that appeared to hint at growing dissatisfaction at his circumstances.
Asked for an update on Ozil, whose name has been pointedly sung by the supporters at the last two home games, Emery said: “He’s in the group so he has a chance to play.
“We have had this morning a very good conversation, Mesut and Me, and I said to him I haven’t changed my idea about him.
“He knows what I want from him because it’s the same as last season in the first day of pre-season training when we had a conversation.
“It’s the same as one month ago and in that way, some circumstances weren’t helping us in every moment to be consistent or available to play. But I will say I think the last weeks he has progressively been training well and adding his spirit to help us.
“For example, our conversation this morning was because I wanted to listen to him about how he’s thinking now to help us and be with us tomorrow. Then if we are in the same spirit and the same idea, to play.
“It was a very good conversation and tomorrow he’s in the group.”
On what he wants Ozil to bring to the team, he added: “We need his quality, his skill and his consistency. We need his positive mentality and then he will help us on the pitch.
“That’s the next step. I think he’s done the steps before, and now I want the steps like in pre-season and one month ago to help us on the pitch.”
Snip snap snip snap snip snap
“You have no idea the physical toll that three benchings have on a fanbase! And they built the Emirates to fill with playmakers.”
Classic Scott
I present to you sir, this most excellent link. Please enjoy responsibly…..
https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2019/oct/29/david-squires-on-wheres-mesut-ozil-arsenal
This is too fucking funny (sad) to ignore … https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2019/oct/29/david-squires-on-wheres-mesut-ozil-arsenal
Brilliant!. Do I get extra points for finding the dressing gown?
xhaka’s jersey on the face of Gunnersaurus…. what an insult!!
Emery is proving to be like my ex boss. Who used to say like for instance – “I gave you a very good rating, but it seems like the HR have changed it to adjust it as per Bell Curve”. And 1 more when he takes me to top mgmt meetings without giving me any heads up and hangs me out dry, and when I moan about it, he used to say, ” I gave you an opportunity to be amongst the big boys but you squandered it. Well I personally think that he will give Ozil a chance against… Read more »
Damn, your boss was a cunt man!
His boss was pure-hearted capitalist. Par excellance. 😀
No hearted?
Who’d you work for?!! John Terry?
Or David Brent ?
Brent > Terry
I think you should have worked harder.
You should have used your moment to control that moment until you help your moment till ebening when you leave to give your family a good moment
“We are in one process and in this process we want to be protagonist but not in this moment others deserve it but you are very good player.”
what a load of tosh
ozil just want a chance to play , probably bring him on when we 3-0 down and then reference the poor performance to ozil to keep his veneers squeaky clean
or is he just happy he had a conversation and his English is improving for his next job
If there’s ever a fixture we shouldn’t start Ozil against, it would be Liverpool. I hope he proves me wrong, though! Winning the League Cup would at least ensure our participation at the Ropey League next year!
He was one of our best players in 1:1 draw last season…
No he wasn’t. The myth of Ozil lives on. #nickingaliving I so wish we’d had let Ozil go and kept Alexis
Nah, we should have sold them both the previous summer. It was fucking obvious at the time . Pure bloody Wenger stubbornness and we are still paying for it
Wenger stubbornness kept this club afloat for years. We’d be a Everton (we still might!) otherwise
Remember how much everyone mocked the idea that finishing top four, and qualifying for the Champions League, was any sort of achievement? Twenty years in a row, so what?
Poor idiotic comment
Auba Laca
Ozil Guendouzi/Ceballos Pepe
Chambers
Tierney Luiz/Sokratis Holding Bellerin
Leno
Is that it now, Ozil only plays in our league cup campaign?
As I’ve said before, the best coaches can build a system to suit the players and stars they have on the team. Others, like Emery, can only manage a specific system and need the players who can suit that style. Ozil is not that style. Read Peps quotes on messi recently. He said that Messi shouldn’t be expected at this age to run all over ther place like he did when he was 20. Instead a game plan should be built that allows the team to get the best from the star. And Ozil may not be Messi, but he… Read more »
Plays Ozil against the Champions of Europe with some kids and will then use him as a scapegoat for when we lose. Predictable.
Took the words right out of my mouth, they are looking to take away from the coach clueless nature and put the blame on ozil, hope the fans turn against ozil so they can go back to fielding xhaka and a loanee who is not even guaranteed to be here next season
Get those excuses in ?
Ozil should lead the youngsters to victory, that’ll show emery
I would love for that to happen, but my prediction is that he will not play at all. He might be on the bench, which Emery will point to as part of his process.
yes to that.
I hope the fans won’t fall for this & castigate Ozil if he fails. He hasn’t played a game in weeks & now he’s up against Liverpool? Well, I hope he steps up
He did. Good for him.
Too little, too late. Smacks of desperation. #Emeryout
sounds like more back tracking….
but it does put into perspective how hard it must be to manage such a high profile club once rifts start appearing.
He has lost the dressing room and if he doesn’t have hidden agenda in selecting Ozil then it’s sheer desperation as he will soon be sacked for being completely out of his depth. In the Europa final he had Ozil man marking Jorginho every time he ventured forward instead of allowing Ozil to use the space left behind.
It is embarrassing to be an Arsenal fan at the moment! What a terribly coached team we have become!
Can we please get this wally out of our club and employ somebody who can at least speak English? lots and lots of words, not ever saying anything.
It is not going to get better under this guy
The language barrier is not an excuse. Plenty of better coaches have problems with the English language.
Adding to that, his English is the only thing he’s improved since coming here.
Didn’t say it was an excuse. He is obviously a plonker regardless of which language he is speaking.
I am just really am sick to death of the way he talks. I mean, what the fuck does this mean?
“It’s the same as one month ago and in that way, some circumstances weren’t helping us in every moment to be consistent or available to play. But I will say I think the last weeks he has progressively been training well and adding his spirit to help us”
Chamakh, I think he’s saying the criteria have been the same (train well, be available for selection, etc) but the attack on Ozil and Kolasinac disrupted that to some extent…
Whatever his explanation is, hopefully Ozil will be able to make an impact tomorrow. That would be good for most involved.
It’s not important what we or you think he means. The point is he doesn’t make any sense and we shouldn’t be sitting here trying helplessly to decipher what the head coach of Arsenal Football Club is saying every time he opens his mouth. We need clarity in our club right now.
Emery refuses to use a translator – one of his many misjudgements.
People used to think that was a brave choice
He can always talk in Spanish…
ozil has been praying for a chance thus he now has added the spirit to his game to help us
or does he mean he now drinks sprite and that will help us
There have been other comments as well that it’s not only a problem in interviews but potentially even in his coaching sessions (Saka and RVP).
How did he do during his interview to get the job? Guess it’s all the lovely folders and video clips his team would have put together for him.
Which apparently included using Ramsey behind the striker. Tried it for about 2 games then backtracked and dropped him. Suprise, suprise. Imagine that, Emery backing out of a commitment.
I miss that knowing smile. You know what I mean. Heck, I miss even a hint of charisma.
On a side note, Emery spends how much on Brylcreem?
Hahahaha?…true Chamakhkhy,wtf does that mean really?
Thanks for this post. I thought it must be me who’s dim for not understanding a word of it.
(Partly because my dimness is generally renowned.)
It’s become embarrassing because of the fans. The team are ahead of Man United but they’re not the joke club, we still are. The ones who boo their own players and interact with these AFTV idiots are ruining the club. Arsenal were a well run, respected club up until five or so years ago. They were most people’s second team. It was around the same time that these lads on YouTube popped up when everything became a lot more sinister around the club. The players won’t be playing for the fans the next couple of games, it will be interesting… Read more »
Just to point out, I’m not saying all fans but just the minority who buy into all this shit online. These sites make money from failure as there is a bigger clamour to read negative than postlitibe these days. Example, this site crashing Sunday.
Our fans are some of the worst anywhere. Chelski’s are bonafide racist and Manu’s are deluded, so we are definitely but just about a shade better
you’ve been drinking mr. emery’s koolaid!
I used to say everything you’re saying, but about Arsene Wenger. I couldn’t understand our fanbase, or AFTV.
I supported Emery from the start, but now I understand the online fanbase and AFTV (and Arseblog, for that matter). It’s important to respect others’ opinions even if they differ from yours. And clearly the majority of online support is seriously questioning Emery.
Maybe Emery, not the fans, is the big problem at the club right now.
Emery didn’t boo Mustafi and Xhaka, did he? Emery is fast looking like a wrong choice but he can/will be replaced. Fan culture is irredeemable. Our fans have been doing way worse than the team.
Aye, AFTV is pure hot garbage.
I can’t understand why people have to be so resentful to a fan who makes money from supporting The Arsenal. Have you watched their videos enough to know what they are saying? Some fans are backing Xhaka, some aren’t. Everyone has their own individual opinions. Grouping them all together into “AFTV scums” just turns you into one yourself.
So as long as they are a fan and making money they can take a dump on the club…? AFTV is a phenomenon that has weaponised every stray nonsensical beer-fueled barb into a million clickbaity headlines and rampant trolling.
Let’s call a turd a turd.
I speak Spanish as you may guess. People usually make mistakes in translating word for word literally and language structures differ considerably this making it hard to understand. With Emery it is not the case, he literally makes no sense.
Imagine trying to understand his English without speaking it properly. Pepe must be as confused as hell.
Not that I disagree with your point, but I believe they both speak French?
Unai is from Spain mate. If he speaks proper french I’ll eat my hat; little chance that someone who speaks two languages can do such a poor job in English after almost two years.
Guess you’re right: https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/963981/Unai-Emery-Arsenal-manager-problems-language-English. I assumed he had learned it while at PSG, my bad.
I find Emery’s interviews rather tedious. to listen to It was always a pleasure listening to Wenger (even the odd “I didn’t see it” comments). With Emery, I literally switch channels on MOTD when he comes on. It’s that bad.
Lets hope Mesut plays a blinder which puts him back in contention for the premier league. We need his creativity. I do worry however with such a lack of game time, he will be rusty and if fans get on his back it could be bad.
Its ozil he will play the same way he plays, we will loose the match and then they hope the fans blame ozil and turn on him and they can have their way
hope so too but it won’t surprise me if he plays Ozil in a system/position that will expose his weakness just to prove how right his decision to cast aside Ozil was
Yep, no doubt he will stick him on the wing and expect him to track back.
Or maybe Özil will just remain true to form and put in the same half-hearted performance he’s shown in all but a handful of matches since 2017. I can already seem him pulling out of every challenge against a snappy, pressing Liverpool side, just like he always does.
Ozil played in a fast paced counterattacking juggernaut that was the only challenge to Pep’s Barca once. Made Cronaldo a bag full of goals. He was central to the whole thing.
Ask yourself what is different now.
All I see here is Emery throwing Özil under the bus against Liverpool.
Emery is feeling the heat and now wants to appease the fan base…. I am not buying it. I’m done with this mediocre manager toying with the future of this great club #EmeryOut
Sounds like an AA meeting
Oh, and Mes, you’re the new captain!
How he will help us? Maybe carrying the water battles and collecting the cones as Emery thinks. Of course with positive mentality and consistency.
Am I the only one just waiting for the announcement that Unai has left the club by mutual consent. Never thought I would dislike an arsenal coach so much. 18 months of shitfest is enough for me
Maybe Mesut has finally come round to Emery,s idea of him playing in goal
Wish I could give your comment a double thumbs up
A desperate move, this.
This feels more like a reaction to the increasingly louder Ozil chants at the Emirates on Sunday since the attempts to sweep him under the Arsenal rug have seemingly failed
I am guessing the conversation went like this.
UE: Fuck you.
MO: Fuck you too.
UE: Good morning
MO: you make me laugh.
The end.
??
??
“Help me, Mesut Ozil, you’re my only hope.”
Haha, exactly what popped into my head.
Too many words, too little substance..he is not very smart, is he?
How many times must people be told before you can understand that a person’s smartness shouldn’t be judged based on how good or bad they can speak YOUR language. How would you like it if someone determined your intellect based on your ability to speak Spanish or French?
He knows what you want from him?
Unai mate, I don’t think any player, fan, pundit, santa Claus or even God knows what you want from the players. Maybe the great spagetti monster knows, maybe we can sign him to translate. Surely it’s the only thing that can convey your message to the players at this point. Don Raul.. Sort us out. Or a new manager perhaps.
And there’s me thinking Wenger was the king of useless waffle. What a load of old bollocks. He’s a world class player – just play him for fuck’s sake. Jeeeezuz.
Wengers “waffle” was designed to answer silly questions, Emery’s is just waffle(probably due to mental translations). We wont understand Emery until he starts to dream in English.
Honestly why taking so many precautions to explain why/how/when taking/not taking a player who has proven his worth out of England and in England. Honestly, i don’t get it…
And i thought it was “an agreed strategy” (strategy… waou… like in wars… waou…) with the WHOLE club (so players included, no?) to not play him.
But good to know he has a “chance” to play! lol After anyway Dani £15M a year Ceballos, Willock, Emile and my grand-ma. But take your chance, Mesut, tomorrow is your day to play for El Grande Signor Emery! Talk about honour after that !
I saw this coming big time. Not sure this does anything but make us even more frustrated. You just have one conversation and now that’s that hes back in?
Couldnt find the fucking time to have this conversation during the international break?
This just stinks of desperation. Mesut in. Emery out.
Time for Mesut to channel his inner Baptista.
I’m not bothered about the reasoning for this. If it means he’s back in the team then I’m all for it
It’s becoming clearer by the day that Emery has inherited a very difficult dressing room, the previous regime have a lot to answer for!
It’s always Obama and Clintons’ fault with Trump
comment of the day, cracked me up proper.
It is obvious the club is trying to push Ozil out. Emery has no power, he is head coach, not manager, he takes orders from Raul. So, this is a fuck up by the entire hierarchy.
Look, everyone complained when Ozil was playing, ‘he’s lazy’, ‘he disappears from the game’, ‘ship him out’, ‘I’ll drive him to the airport’, remember these and loads more? Suddenly he is our saviour….now don’t get me wrong, i think he is the most skilful player we have, the most creative and can open a game up with just one pass but we don’t cater for his style of play. I firmly believe we have in Lucas and Guendouzi players who can cover Ozils non work rate, if he is in the team. I find it strange though how one player… Read more »
U have no idea about him and u don’t want to know nothing about what he’s think . U just don’t have a choice that’s why u are playing him tomorrow the pressure is too had
Martinez, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Holding, Torreira, Willock, Smith-Rowe, Ozil, Saka & Martinelli. I think looks likely starting 11 against Liverpoo. I would also pick a strong bench with Guendozi, Pepe, Lacazette & Aubamyang all included for insurance as it is a trophy and a day out at Wembley we are talking about and this match happens to be against the champions of Europe. We need a positive result on Wednesday to move forward and some optimism for getting one cup at the end of the year.
That team looks good to me. Although it could be Maitland Niles instead of Smith Rowe. Or both could start if Ozil is only on the bench….. I actually think Xhaka should play tomorrow just to get the awkwardness out of the way. Otherwise it’s just gonna be more toxic tension building until Saturday at the Emirates.
I do like Maitland Niles but think first of all he blew his opportunity and had been given some time to nail the right back slot and now needs to maybe take a step down and play with the under 23s to refocus and get to understand that there is competition and fight harder if he gets another chance. Xhaka I think needs first of all to apologize publicly and talk about any issues he has been facing; a few weeks off to read arseblog news and understand all we want is to see the Xhaka and Torreira partnership that… Read more »
Zzzzz.
I hope Ozil told him to poke it.
Someone get Ozil on the pitch and that Wormtongue the fuck outta the club….
Desperation or a set up? I don’t trust Emery at all. Mesut will be rusty and probably sent out with a team of youngsters, I hope he does well but he shouldn’t be judged on one difficult game.
Emery has had it so many ways on Özil it’s impossible to take any of this seriously. That he’s chosen this game to include him seems like an attempt to justify his previous omissions.
Yeah I can imagine the conversation
“Hey Mesut – you know of any club looking for new staff?”
“Sorry not much call for Dracula impersonators…”
At this point, I’m past reading too much into either party’s comments. If you want a laugh about the whole situation, I’d strongly recommend going and looking at today’s cartoon from David Squires in the Guardian.
Couldn’t stop laughing at that cartoon. Brilliant. My favourites were Wenger on the beach and Torreira on Mertesacker’s shoulders. Took me about 15 minutes to get through it all.
Nayim throwing a chip over David Seaman…
lol! guendouzi tackling zaha
What we have is a total lack of consistency here. Firstly Ozil was included in pre-season and did alright and I was hopeful we were putting the whole saga behind us. Then we lose him for off the field reasons (totally understandable), but now he is totally ostracised. If that is the plan, and he is out because Emery doesnt rate him and wants him to leave then fine, I dont think Ozil is going to single handedly turn our season around (saying turn our season around in fucking october…). He is 31 and he isnt the future, if you… Read more »
Bollocks. Such mixed messages on this whole Ozil situation. If like he’d said before the club had taken a stance to push him out then we might not agree with it as fans but at least it’s a strategy/ clear. Shit like this is what gets fan’s frustrated. Why keep saying he’s doing more of what they want then not pick him or talk up the qualities we need. In the Palace game we only made two subs, when we were desperate for creativity, and he definitely would have been an option there rather than unrealistic expectations of Saka. If… Read more »
And in any case Ozil knows the day before if he’s in the team/bench or not so if he’s not this statement is just a flat out lie to the fans or for the sake of keeping face. Bollocks again
Also seems a little like an attempted misdirect: don’t worry about Xhaka (and my inability to act decisively), direct your attention to Özil instead.
It’s toxic here, just like the club itself.
I don’t do social media, ( such bullshit) and I’m questioning myself why I check stuff on Arseblog too.
Stop the world……..I wanna get off.
Emery wants to push more blame on ozil to show why he isn’t picking him…?… Hope it backfires and we win against Liverpool.
I’ll remain in the minority when I say Emery is managing the Ozil situation expertly. He is telling kids, if you train hard and play with intensity you can keep world class players out of the squad. Likewise, he is telling Ozil that he isnt entitled to shit. We havent really called Ozil out on the Ornstein article, where he rationalizes but doesnt admit his flaws, and says things like, “after all I did for the German team.” as though he did anything more than Muller, Neuer, Kroose, Lahm, etc. This guy is a diva, and for all his brilliance,… Read more »
We have been led to believe first regarding his complete omission from the squad that Ozil was not training well; then he was training well (but still not in the squad) because it’s “club/team strategy”! And now this. Really.
For me it has never been about Ozil being in the squad or not. The real frustration has always been about the system because there is none. Playing Ozil now reminds me mails i would get from board to have the fan favorite in the team while playing FIFA. This is just pure mis management given to a man who is way out of his depth. i hope after Emery goes Raul doesn’t make Valverde (barcelona coach) the Arsenal manager another guy who has no clue how to make his team play football.
the more you think about it.. ozil (world cup winner, real madrid player) when he said that emery isnt a coach and wont listen to him/not up to his standard in training. makes you wonder if he knows the training/coach is BS.
Emery’s English has got much better but now that I understand what he is saying I find it bland and meaningless.
Oh FFS, shut up already Unai
This is another manufactured crisis in the making. I mean, Ozil is still an option to be played. whether Unai uses him or not is not an issue. Likely they are trying to move him on. In which case it makes sense to use Smith-Rowe and Cebellos in the advance role as much as possible. BOTH provide a lot more off the ball work which when you want to press as a unit high up without leaving gaps is important. OTOH there is good reason to suggest Ozilo can still be used in important periods of a game for massive… Read more »
Please check our off-the-ball stats and we are the worst in the EPL. Guess what? Ozil played only 71mins.
Fuck this guy.
If I was Ozil, I would shove this opportunity up Emery’s behind. Who is Emery fooling?
Not likely if Emery substitutes Ozil five minutes after his first key pass.