Unai Emery says that Mesut Ozil’s absence from the Arsenal squad is not just a decision he’s made on his own, but part of an overriding club strategy.
The last time the 31 year old was picked was on September 24th when he played 71 minutes against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup.
Despite being one of Emery’s five captains, he hasn’t been in the squad since and the Spaniard has deflected questions about his absence since.
However, ahead of the Premier League clash with Crystal Palace, the Arsenal boss has admitted this is part of a wider decision making process.
Speaking about the Ozil situation, he said, “Here we have one agreed strategy as a club and a team. Because the most important thing is the club, the team and finding a performance.
“Previously we were all speaking between us to take that decision. I know all the supporters want to know something, but now is not the moment.”
It seems to suggest that there’s little chance of Ozil being involved against Palace, and while the Gunners struggle for fluency and creativity, this ‘club strategy’ will remain open to question.
Even if he did start, after just 71 minutes of Premier League football this season, it’s hard to imagine he’s anywhere near match fit.
The whole thing is an absolute mess, and you have to wonder if Emery, under pressure, is attempting to make it seem like this isn’t simply on him after the dispute between the two took a personal turn over the last few days.
We already play like 10 men, no need to make it 9 right now..
He could hardly make it look worse than it does now
The way some people talk about Özil at the moment, you’d think he was the Francis Jeffers of Titus Brambles. The notion that Özil has nothing to offer, or that he isn’t among the best 20 or so players at this club, isn’t seriously defensible.
I suspect that these exaggerated criticisms of Özil are really just a rationalisation device: a way to make fans feel better about both (1) the unhealthy situation between Emery/the club and Özil and (2) the obvious shortcomings on the pitch.
I’m not an Ozil fan, but you are so correct here. Keep him an asset by playing him even if you want to sell. We lack the pads that he’s great at….
I had the conclusion that since Emery didn’t like Ozil he was going to try and get rid of him, and the club won’t mind, because of his huge wage. Ozil is still a playmaker no matter what, and what makes me laugh is the fact that both him and Mustafi were told to leave, but Mustafi still gets to play considering his wage. What I see going on is unjust and as a result Arsenal are only destined to continue to go down under Emery…starting with Crystal Palace.
Completely agree!! We are just around the corner from a huge mess right now, whilst the upstairs has come on leaps and bounds our football right now is dire. I’d hate to see players down tools as we are The Arsenal but what can we do to move on from this manager?
The job is clearly too much for Emery, I just hope the football director or whatever hes called steps in before we screw our entire season.
Emery out.
I have criticized Ozil a lot but what is going on is workplace harassment against him.
Lol, such liberal mumbo gumbo. When you select Ozil, you harass the players who are working harder than him in training. He already gets a shed load of money… Some harassment that it is!
Be nice if he was given the chance to earn that money! You don’t see this happening to anyone else, especially the under performers.. oh but wait.. they work hard in training. Smh!
Ozil is a petulant washed up cry baby. Last time he actually played well in a game was a year ago against Leicester
It’s almost the last time he played full stop! Ffs, get him on doing what he does best! He’s creativity personified, let him change the game!
Precisely.
Looking at Ozil’s body language I’m pretty sure he would rather stay home and play fortnite.
This coward is the last man to put his body on the line for the club. He’s not lazy, he runs around, but he’s a coward who never tackles and shirks from 5050s.
Other players working harder in training? Lol. Can’t find the result on the pitch from what I see. I would take the Ozil that produce something on the pitch rather than the Xhakas that train harder.
I wish I got harassed at work and received £350 large every week. Pay him off and get shot.!!!
Lol. Take them Ozil tinted glasses off.
Ozil when given an opportunity to perform has failed. Any other job where you are underperforming for long periods you are sacked/let go. If I had an eighth of the time off that Ozil has per year due to illness I would be released.
Oh excuse me.. Mesut is an Arsenal player, I’m an Arsenal supporter.. end of….
Ya,agree!
Emery is not responsible and now bring the club exe to support his ridiculous philosophy.
The club will regret one day…..
Mustafi’s put his head down and worked hard. Özil’s on Twitter with the ‘cryptics’ before every game. Might have something to do with the outcome.
Yeah, you have no idea how Ozil or Mustafi train. And this ‘cryptic’ stuff is a bunch of bum wipe rags trying to create interest because they’ve got no information.
“Özil’s on Twitter with the ‘cryptics’ before every game.” That is just not true.
You realize that Mustafi makes 1/4 of what Ozil does, even though wage should have nothing to do with if someone plays or not.
Agreed… but at the same time, we must be realistic (as Blogs pointed out) about how much impact a player who hasn’t played for so long, can make.
Wish that I could give you an extra thumbs up for “Francis Jeffers of Titus Brambles”…
They’re wrong. Ozil is worse than Jeffers or Brambles after he signed that mega contract bar the occasional rare matches where he got lucky and shine. The sooner he get out the club the better. No sane manager in the English league would carry a passenger who ping a good pass once every few matches while disappearing and jogging around for most of the match. Does people calling Emery shit for not playing Ozil think that Pep or Klopp would carry this deadweight passenger in their team? What a load of rubbish. Wenger was the last manager who was okay… Read more »
Although I don’t agree with you, that’s a very funny comment.
You can be an amazing player but I’ve dimensional tactically.
The modern game outgrew the 4231 that Wenger and Emery were so wedded to.
Where does that leave you.
Is that a reason why we are seeing similar frailties. A system what was so widely used for the past ten years has been analysed to death by managers and data scientists.
Now you hardly see bottom half teams using it either.
Özil’s problem is NOT “systems”.
The David Silvas and Modriçs of this world started playing before him. They’ve adapted (a sign of great players), why not the German?
Pep or Klopp would’ve shipped him after one year.
This guy is mooching a living off Arsenal, and I’m angry at the club for not resolving this before the window closed.
Other sticks to beat Emery with; not this one.
I don’t think Pep or Klopp would’ve shipped Ozil, an obviously severely gifted footballer, after one year – is there any precedent for that statement in their practice at MCity/LFC, or is it more likely that they would harness Ozil’s creativity into another sharply pointed weapon in their arsenal?
You do realise there teams require players to work hard off the ball?
According to some “Arsenal” fans, it’s not a part of Özil’s game, so he should be excused from such.
A popular line is to surround him with the “right” players. What a load of …!
I’m tired of all the excuses laid out for this guy. The sooner he leaves the better.
A good player would carry their team.
Ozil is a lazy player made to look good by hardworking talented players like Ronaldo and Sanchez.
I desperately wish all the other Arsenal players were doing this famed ‘working hard’ off the ball thing.
Until then please don’t bring it up, causes headache here.
Yeah but Ozil has created the most chances in the premier league, not his fault he has shit players like Aubameyang, Lacazette, Giroud etc who can’t convert them.
PS my sarcasm font is on.
*their not there.
It’s incredible how Özil’s PR works! The speed with which they flood to comment to thumb it down or up, depending on suitability. Hoping to discredit what is.
Every now and again, he delivers a glorious performance to make you forget about the preceding lacklustre five.
I was so big on having this guy join us, but the more I saw of him, the more I felt we’ve been duped.
We’re seeking to move up and thank the Lord they’ve decided he’s not part of the plan.
*Bendtner not Lord
Aguero is a gifted player who get benched for getting too comfortable and not putting enough effort.
Ozil would never see the first team ever under Pep. If Pep didn’t want to give preferential treatment and let him slack on defensive duties to better players like De Bruyne, what makes you think he will treat Ozil like a princess?
Wrong mate!!
What Klopp and Pep did was to get Fabinho and Fernendinho to play as shield to bounce off the attacks, which helped KDB, Silvas and Ericsons to play.
Arsenal got Torreira to play that role but Emery thinks he is No. 10.
Have you seen Liverpool or City’s game? They work even harder than we do off the ball! KDB, Silvas, Mane, Firminho, Sterling, Salah, etc, all work extremely hard off the ball. Agüero (a far more productive player than Özil) wasn’t initially up to par and guess what? Pep sat him on the bench. The noise in the press was “how could he?” .. Credit to Agüero, he worked himself back into the side, rather than Twitter. Özil’s bent the club backwards, so often, that they’ve finally snapped. Btw Ericsson worked harder than Özil, except for the past year or so… Read more »
actually aguero did what ramsey did last season.
manager thought he was past it, tries to play the youth.
forced to play him one match, realises he is undroppable.
Played him and he got injured and has hardly played since.
Please please please. Let’s stop making Ozil a scape goat. The whole team are sh*t and Emery is just wasting our attacking talent. Surely the team can’t be worse with him in. Emery should swallow his pride and get the best out of him. Morinho did at Real. If Emery is world class, he should prove it!!!
At this stage of his life and career,Ozil has got nothing to loose if he’s played or not. He’d won some trophies,etc,and if i were him i will stay put and see out my remaining contract. He’s not paid with my money and neither yours. They either play him and let us the fans do the complaining if he doesn’t lives to expectation or everyone stop complaining about him doesn’t want to live. We must as the matter of fact do away with stereotyping him and mere hatred of him.
Those guys adapted because they were given a platform to whilst Özil was not offered that privilege. Pep did tweak the system to get the best out of Silva who was starting to slow down. Özil as a footballer does have flaws but the funny thing is we only hear that. what about what he can do good. All am saying is, you can only adapt as long as you are given the platform to. My question is did Emery try to tweak his system to get the best out of Özil like Zidane and Pep did with both Modric… Read more »
I just love this notion that the game of football has moved beyond the 4231 or the #10 — it’s Fallacy 101.
Yep. The role is still there. It’s just evolved slightly, requiring more than just the ability to pass.
@futsboller
Pep (Barcelona) hasn’t been afraid to tell players to fit what he wants or move on = pretty much what appears to be happening to Ozil. Barcelona publicly told Ronaldinho to leave the club the season Pep took over & Pep decided to jettison Zlatan after only one season. Aguero at Man City – Mueller was told to shape up or move on at Bayern etc.
Klopp pretty dramatically remade the Liverpool squad as well.
What a fking mess. We handled the Aron Ramsey terribly, now this Ozil saga is getting out of hand. This manager didn’t have the balls to pick a capitan. He was apparently bullied by the PSG players.
We went from classy Wenger to this twat??
Wenger was hopelessly supportive of Ramsey, but I give Emery full marks- though he said at first he would attempt to build a team around Ramsey, once he saw first hand what a gormless dud he was, Ramsey’s contract offer was pulled and he was gone soon after.
Harry Kane? What u doing on Arsblog? ?
It’s not Harry Kane, it is Eric Dryer :p
Yeah sure dude
Talk about rewriting history! Or is it the result of something seriously strong taken tonight?
He was so poor that I can only believe that Juventus just wanted to burn £400k a week on him.
Plus Ramsey was our third best player last year behind Laca and Auba.
Ramsey wasn’t “gormless”. He had his weaknesses, but showed some heart as the season wore on. The decision on him was from the top, not Emery. I feel it was an exercise in battling the malaise (player power) that was engulfing the club. Same with Özil’s situation. You have an open sore, you put iodine on it prevent the spread. It stings, trust me, but you stop a rot in the long run. Eventually, the wound heals. It may leave a scar, but you’re back to full fitness. Our club’s in a transitional state and is currently experiencing some necessary… Read more »
Aaron Ramsey a *gormless dud* ?
Are you on fucking drugs son ?
I love Rambo, but his cycle was:
1. Take a few games to find form after injury
2. Start playing really well
3. Break down with an injury after 8-12 games
4. Then repeat.
Maybe we could have sold him before his contract expired? But Gazidis and Arsene is his latter years ran the club into the ground.
And for the £10-£12mill a year for 5 years it would have likely cost us, I can’t help but think we can invest that cash more wisely.
Not just Ramsey, Kos was treated the same, actually much worse. The club being quite on the Ozil situation was a big indication that they have something to do with it. Emery used him in the preseason, made him one of his captains. He wouldn’t have started him every game but also wouldn’t freeze him out as he has done. Ozil has been handed a death sentence for stealing a can of pop. You do this kind of stuff to misbehaving or disloyal players – but we are doing this to get our house in order, fair enough.. i guess… Read more »
Hello, don’t you dare call our manager a twat. Unacceptable low class behaviour.
He is the Messi of twats.
Go cry yourself to sleep, Savage.
Completely agree; if this sorry mess – that only serves to deliver the worst of outcomes for both player and club – is club strategy, then the situation is even more dire than I thought. And btw, a statement like that – surely if ever there were grounds for a player to cite “constructive dismissal” this is it….
So disappointing. From Classy Wenger to an egotistical moron. I’m so bummed. He’s losing a PR battle with a player who doesn’t talk SMDH.
Forcing him out to save on his salary. I think that’s pretty obvious now.
That would only work if Ozil goes. Which isn’t guaranteed.
Some players just succumbed to this kind of pressure from club and manager. Alexis sanchez and wayne rooney at man united for instance. But not Mesut Ozil. He’ll drag the bull down by the horn – German FA and politicians included. He’s not the kind that just sing the tunes of others.
And Emery’s tunes is bereft of clear philosophy, boring football, destroying the beautiful games that Arsenal has long been associated to.
“ Some players just succumbed to this kind of pressure from club and manager. Alexis sanchez and wayne rooney at man united for instance. But not Mesut Ozil.”
You’ve literally just said he’s not interested in playing football.
..and many people agree with you. Lol
He won’t go anywhere. He’ll wait for a free transfer so he make more than the 350 we cry about. Genius move for him.
At this point we’ve paid 18 months of his salary and received nothing from it. Giving him the contract was stupid, but paying him then not using him is stupider
Stupider like a fox
No. Poor performances, that’s what. Emery pushed a pressing game plan, however we’ll it’s been implemented, and we all know Ozil is close to the worst in the business at a pressing game. Just back the club, it’s what fans do.
I’d agree with you if we did play a pressing game.
But we don’t.
Our dwfensive problems have not gone away, but the creative football certainly has.
Wait a minute…..we play pressing footballs? I thought we invite teams to press us. I have no clue about our system of play.
So it wasn’t about how lazy or hard he trains all along? So why was the manager feeding us those bs.
Auba – Laca – Pepe up front and behind them Guendouzi, Toreirra and 2015/16 version of Ozil… a boy can dream…
Unai “don’t blame me” Emery. “The player… he wanted to play too much and injured himself. The player… was too inexperienced and we gave him minutes but I had to change him. The player… not trying hard enough in training. The player… oh, no I mean its also Raul and Edu. I mean, I think I mean Edu. But others. Yes. This is our process. This is one way. It is our one way but not for those who I can blame” {sigh} apologies for my annoyance – its not my fault. Its the food I ate that’s given me… Read more »
Lol so true! I bet this “club strategy” thing is just:
Don Raul: why Ozil not playin?
Emery: he didn’t turn up in training
Don Raul: oh ok. You’re telling the truth yeah?
Emery: … yup.
I think you forgot the “It’s too hot for Ceballos”.
He may have a permission from Raul but the idea started with Emery. We have really became a classless club. If I were Ozil I would gladly stay until the end of the contract. This is how we repay the players who gave us service now. It has started with Ramsey, we alienated Koscielny, Ozil. We show no respect anymore.
Remember it’s about the team, yet Dhaka keeps starting as a favourite non-contributor in any game. Yet Domestic gets to start in every EPL game. I’m sorry to tell you this, but after they get beaten 3-1 tomorrow it’s only downhill from there. By winter we’d be in seventh place and in the next round of the Europa we’ll get a tough team and get knocked out.
Are you the prophet?
Either that or the Dancing Queen.
This sentimental bullshit is not the sign of a good business. It’s a business now. We’re not here to take care of other people’s needs.
You’ve lost the plot. Contracts work both ways. Koscielny went on strike, and when you look at the way we allowed Monreal to leave, I can’t help but think, if he’d have acted like an adult? We may well have made Koscieny’s exit a bit easier, had he not downed tools, the only one showing disrespect here was Koscielny. Rambo went to Juventus reportedly earning net €400,000 p/w, he had an offer on the table, but he chose not to sign it, and then we pulled it, I love Rambo, but for me the club made the right decision, his… Read more »
How do you know he doesn’t work in training? Are you reading the words of Bob Pirès himself training him hard?
It’s obvious you are high on a negative influence of something very dangerous or you are so gullible to stomach every garbage thrown at you by the Ozil’s adversaries. And to ask,in what way is Willock better than Ozil no matter how lazy he is?
I’m that he’s not German? ?
Out of curiosity, can you please provide us with a link of where Ozil was asked to find a new club.
The club has got this wrong.Kos gave it all even during injury. His tretalent was pathetic. Same is being meted on Ozil. Pathetic n itm stinks
He does work his socks off… to get better at Fortnite.
Is it part of the club strategy to shoe horn Xhaka into our midfield? Or to bench a natural dm in Torreira and when we give him playing time, it is high up the pitch in a position that looks unnatural to him? Is it part of the club’s strategy to play the least creative and entertaining midfield combinations Arsenal fans have seen in a long time?
Do Don Raul and Edu support that as well?
That lead photograph is superb
Ozil is trying to figure out why the boss said “good ebening” @9am!!!
???
If the idea is to bully Özil out it seems like a stupid one. He is being paid a lot of money and living in a city he and his family love and the fans are on his side. Why would he leave? At 31 he won’t get playing time at a big club in a big league and I don’t think the prospect of regular minutes in the MLS will get him too excited either. Just play the guy, this is achieving and will achieve nothing positive.
Why play Ozil when you can play Willock who can improve and be an asset?
Let Ozil rot on the bench and run down his contract. No other clubs would even take Ozil on a free, that should tell you how useless Ozil is.
Ozil wants to finish his career in Turkey. Playing or not in the next 18 months every Turkish team will welcome him with open arms. So better for Arsenal to try and get something from him for the 350k he is getting every week.
How did we go from such promise after the summer had to this horse shit. What an absolute mess we’re in 2+ months into a season. All that positive optimism has been crushed by the shite performances and this ozil situation. So disappointing
We’re in this position because we have an incompetent manager. We have a good team – good enough to get into the top four. But our coach is the weak link. I’m tired of people saying the number 10 position is dead. Look, we are Arsenal. We are at the forefront of the football. We should be playing inventive or innovative football. The best coaches are innovative. They determine what the new trend in football is. We should be trying to play a system that gets the best out of our best players. I’m sick of this weak attempt at… Read more »
This is because Arsenal FC (especially the past more than 2 decades) was built on a strong foundation of certain values. Values like respecting players, believing in them, believing in the talent and potential because of which they were recruited, being straightforward with them and talking to them about their individual situatiins behind the scenes and not publically, giving them a family like protection from the harsh (and so many times, unfair) media criticism, keeping personal issues personal, respecting contracts. There was a cost to stick to all these values but they provided a ‘solid foundation’ that always attracted great… Read more »
Dear Deep,
Your writing deserves to be pinned at Arsenal FC’s notice board for all to read. These are the values that Arsene Wenger referred to in his farewell speech in front of everyone in the Emirates.
I guess Emery is now saying he and the Executives at Arsenal agree and decided collectively to flush these values down the drain.
Surely with Raul coming out saying he wants to see ozil play this is Emery just once again deflecting the question and not giving a proper answer?
He didn’t quite say that.
Raul said he’d hope to see him feature more… if he trains harder as Emery wishes. (“But he needs to contribute 24/7 and that’s what Unai expects from him.”)
I won’t speculate but it’s just important to keep his public message within context. We don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors or in training and there’s now effectively 3 people making decisions (Emery, Raul and Edu).
It’s not like when we had Wenger covering all football decisions.
Play him or put him on the bench ot be man enough to say why he isn’t in the squad.
Exactly
Part of a strategy? So what’s the strategy then?
To force him out?
Such a messy situation and now this won’t go away. He’ll continue to be asked about it in every pre/post match interview and press conferences
So our line-ups are now being decided from the boardroom instead of the coach?
This used to (maybe still does) happen at Barcelona and Real Madrid. Benitez was let go because of the higher-ups wanted James and Kroos to play, and Casemiro to be on the bench. After he left, Zidane used the exact line-up and tactics that Benitez wanted to use and he went on to win so much.
Might it be that Emery is not strong enough that he can be controlled? or is this what he also wants?
I don’t think Raul & Edu micro manage like that. I bet they just accept what Emery’s reported. Last season they want to give Ramsey new contract but Emery is the one that cancelled it, right?
Well there is definitely something going on between these guys because Emery mentioned in one interview that he wanted to get Fabinho (6’2″ tall) or Nzonzi (6″3″ tall). He believes a midfield terrier won’t be able to shield the defense so doesn’t play Torreira who was forced on him.
I don’t think Edu was in position when Aaron’s contract offer was revoked.
Either way, this feels different. Feels very much like a clash of pwrsonalities and not to do with football.
Kocielny knew…
Yes, the club is backing the coaches decision. In that respect, yes Emrey and club are in agreement with the “strategy”. If performances were good, ok then. But it’s not so why burn 350 pw?
Enough of this Ozil stuff. The guy has a stellar social media team and they have made people think this guy really wants to play football. 17/18, Arsene’s last season, he played 26 games in the league. If we had an away game he wasn’t there. There was no falling out here, he was just sick or had a sore back. The same excuses I use when I’m calling in. We made a ridiculous decision under a previous regime to give this guy 350k a week and I firmly hope the new team around transfers are doing everything to get… Read more »
I’d love to have a normal interaction with someone on this. Why are we getting behind players not playing and giving abuse to players and managers at the games? They’re showing up, giving it their all. Back them no matter what and you’ll see the performance we want. A hostile Emirates is such a horrible place to play for Arsenal players, can we not try stay positive. Is it just the world is a very negative place in 2019?
Fair? How fair is it to the people who are buying tickets that keep the lights on and the trash cans empty, only to have the head coach (and the board, allegedly) refuse to play someone who can actually create chances for the most (potentially) prolific frontline that Arsenal has had in a long time just so they can either wield a grudge or lower the wage bill? And if it’s “fair” to freeze out Özil, then it’s equally fair for Özil to keep turning up at training and collecting a paycheck for the next two years. Which, at this… Read more »
But in the last 2 seasons he hasn’t been creating chances
Amen
Shush you! Don’t you know people don’t want to hear the truth? We lack creativity, and Ozil was a world beater 4 years ago, ergo he must play regardless of his performances over the last few years. That’s how it works 🙂
Premier League (since Ozil’s debut)
Player Chances created
Mesut Ozil 522
Aaron Ramsey 272
Santi Cazorla 190
Olivier Giroud 183
Granit Xhaka 121
But in the seasons before that, he created plenty.
The point is: he’s an Arsenal player, with talent, so figure out how to get the best from him. It’s the coach’s principal mandate, at least at most clubs other than Arsenal.
I think at most clubs, if they tell a player to go as I imagine we did to Ozil in the summer, the player normally goes. As it stands I don’t think he was really in the club’s plans at all, so I’m not surprised he’s being ignored, especially considering his recent contributions.
You mean the Watford game where he played a sublime pass to create a goal and even when we under pressure was the only Arsenal player who didn’t give the ball away and silly bollox Emery took him off. You mean that recent contribution. There are some complete John Terry’s on here and you sir are in the top ten impersonators ?
@Which ones pink. see this is the problem. Not the bollox or John Terry comments, that’s just silly and childish and I don’t need to say more on that. But that, in your opinion, that one pass counts as a significant contribution when it’s bread and butter for most attacking midfielders. He made one pass, a good but not exceptional pass, and suddenly all the issues with training and illness and basically all of the last 3 seasons are forgotten. It’s ridiculous, frankly. If you’re told to move on and you don’t, 9 times out of 10 you get frozen… Read more »
Given Ozil played preseason, this is dubious.
Maradona was the world’s best player in the 80’s should we sign him? Pele’s still knocking around maybe we should get him too? Oh that’s right, football is a diminishing skill and being good or even great once doesn’t mean you’ll be good forever. As said below, most players after being told to find a new club because they weren’t in the first team plans would just leave, Ozil has decided to choose money over football. Maybe it’s about time people lay the blame at Ozil’s greedy feet as to why we can’t afford a top class central defender, he’s… Read more »
He was our best creator, check the stats of created chances per minutes, mate.
Clear sight.
I wish I could thumb you up a hundred times over.
I tell my boss that I have a sore back or flu when I feel like playing Fortnite rather than going to work.
Gotta thank Ozil for teaching me about professionalism.
The exclusion of Ozil is breathtaking in its stupidity.
The only two games he played, while he was on , Arsenal looked likely.
Maybe that was the problem, playing well did not suit the narrative
Arsene Wenger and David Dein must be in great anguish and grief seeing that the great values that they painstakingly instilled in the Club is being flushed down the toilet bowl.
Of course Ozil could improve the team in the right games- Emery knows that. But he and the Arsenal hierarchy are doing all they can to force him out on a sale or loan, because they dont think he is of the value to justify his wages and doesn’t have the work ethic desired. This is what Emery means by “one agreed strategy as a club and a team” i.e. the bean counters are involved. Emery better hope for good results, or Ozil might out last him anyway
Oziil is a great football player with unparalleled vision. Why he isn’t playing every game for us baffles me. We need creativity badly. I’m convinced emery is a twat of the highest order. He needs to leave ASAP. Let Freddie take the reigns. I’m sick of emerys patronising BS.
Why do you think Freddy would play him?
Too bad, there is a strong rumour that Sanllehi already picked Mourinho for the hot sit.
Dear god I hope not
I’d rather stick with Unai, than have that bell end & that’s saying something!!
Mourinho was spotted at the Emirates watching his local Portuguese team play the Gunners. He wasn’t in the Directors Box. Media starts stupid rumours that he is going to be next Arsenal manager. Gullible fans fall for rumour. No way Jose!
Today is the day the Emery has sealed the club’s fate under his mismanagement. He’s clearly lying to cover his ground…the only reason the top supports him is because Ozil’s wage is huge and the club hardly spends. If they want to cut cost to be able to buy a proper CB then that’s understandable, but it’s Arsenal..be realistic. A confused man managing a club that hardly spends and couldn’t properly manage on that was spending for fun is humorous. Furthermore to leave a club that’s in Champions League, because he couldn’t handle it and to come to a club… Read more »
Calm down
This makes no sense to me. If there were disciplinary issues with Ozil then he would have been fined and we would probably have known. So if the clubs strategy is to get him out, how do they propose to do that when he has made it categorically clear in the Athletic interview he will not leave before his contract is up? At least if we play him, he could help us plus it would put him in the shop window and maybe somebody would take him. But handling it by not playing him at all means there are no… Read more »
I wonder who called who for that interview.
What about Banners and Slogans like:
Where the f@ck is Ozil?
I would be paying him to get him in the shop window to try an attract offers and perhaps get some cash or reduce any payoff. I think we will have to continue pay part of his wages or do some kind of payoff to help move him on.
Unless of course if you play him he is crap, which is unlikely, perhaps not stellar of old but he could bring some creativity at least.
As for Emery, yeah I think he is toast. Feel like we are turning into Everton or worse…
Drop xhaka put ozil on for 5-10 games and see what happens. Cant be any worse right?
replace a poor player by another one ….cool
Then it will be a 9 vs 11 instead of 10 vs 11. Basically, worse.
right! Ozil has lost his speed,in other words, his legs have gone! It happened to Dennis but back then the game was nowhere near as fast as it is now. Arsenal want some sort of fee for him but cannot come out and say that he has lost a yard of pace, but if we play him now then everyone will see how slow he is.I saw it last year and realised then that he has lost a yard at least! Think about it fellow Gooners. When ya legs go in this league,it’s ta la time
There has to be some sort of reason to explain all this pain. Otherwise he would just outright explain that his tactics suit other players.
Emery is definitely a company man. Wenger never put the board under scrutiny. But Emery is playing a fine line here.
One thing is clear. Arsenal are infested are with self-serving twat or twats. Emery is twat that is clear and there may or may not be more twats. Ramsay, Ozil, Koscielny, Monreal they know it. We know it. Let’s start with #EmeryOut. Banners out tomorrow!
You are a bigger twat. Support your team and coach, twat!
Who are you to ask me to support emery? Are you deranged enough to think that he’s the man to take us forward? And at this moment, supporting the club abs supporting emery are strictly mutually exclusive. He’s holding arsenal back.
That’s a great picture to use. Looks almost as if he is mocking Emery. I fear this whole fiasco is going to create a divide between Ozil’s teammates who support him and those who side with Emery (the former likely having a greater number of supporters than the latter). This situation isn’t healthy. This is the worst I’ve ever felt about am Arsenal team in my life. This once proud, vibrant and exciting club has become covered in rust and decay since Emery joined. Its shocking how quickly we are regressing. I implore the board to sack Emery. He is… Read more »
Last year he had two assists in over 25 games. If his sole talent is creating assists then he’s been quite shit at it… meaning he’s shitty at virtually everything.
This is Ozil’s record for Arsenal since he joined: Appearances 167 Goals 32 Assists 52 That is a VERY good assist record for a midfielder. So your point is pretty invalid. Every player has patches where their form drops. Show me a player we have with a better record for assists? Xhaka? Guendouzi ? Even if you compare him with someone like Eriksen at Tottenham you can see Ozil is still holding up well. Eriksen record for Spurs since he joined: Appearances 213 Goals 50 Assists 61 Can anybody really argue we don’t need Ozil right now? In case you… Read more »
He’s declined into nothingness in the last two seasons. Can you say the same about Eriksen? Please, stop lying to yourselves ?
Provide a comparison of both players in the last two years. Auba got 22 goals last season. Ozil got 2 assists. No, he isn’t the answer. The answer is somewhere else. Maybe his freed up wages helps us get it. But Ozil being here doesn’t.
He can’t do much in the way of assisting goals when the manager never picks him
How many games?
Why does every stat used to support WORLD CLASS Özil have to date back to the day he joined? #smh
It’ll be interesting to chart his statistical progress, year by year, from the first to last.
The story might be all so different.
167 appearances since 2013 tell’s you exactly where Ozil’s problem lies. Not even Wenger started him north of the Watford gap!
He created most chances. The likes of you who watch games and don’t realize what ozil adds to the team need to either stop watching football or stop having opinions
Lol .. we’ll said
The tagline has changed.
They no longer count his “assists”. Lol
It’s all about the “chances created”. LWKMD
What’s the ‘tagline’ of the people who start ahead of ozil? Kilometres ran? Chances created is a better stat, else we could just sign mo farah innit? Even yet ozil is top 5 in distance covered. Like I’m arguing with a child
Emery seems to be saying to the management above him that they didn’t support him with the right players. Just players which suited the management. Another eclectic mix of players which managers can not blend together? It was the same in the final two years of Wenger after he signed the contract which lessened his grip on transfers. But going back to Emery, surely you can’t blame club strategy when you accepted the fact you are only a head coach with no say on transfers. And having pushed for one of the worst January transfers of all time. Is he… Read more »
Well I’m afraid it doesn’t make sense. Why froze out the one player that gives us that so needed creativity? He might not set the world afire, but still is our best creative player hands down, and as many others users have suggested so far, isn’t like by not playing him we’re better at the defensive side of the game, instead we’re quite bad at attacking because no creativity and no link up play/setting up our world class strikers, and we’re still terrible at defending. Nothing of this makes sense to me, not Unai’s team selections (Torreira playing at numer… Read more »
I wouldn’t blame Emery for the Ozil situation. Ozil’s attitude has been terrible for years. Not playing him in big games makes sense. It’s obvious now that the club wants him gone and have frozen him out. He’s not worth his stupid wages and the manager doesn’t trust him. His pathetic performance in Bacu sums up his Arsenal career.
Hopefully, he’ll be off to America this January.
Yeah, well, this pathetic post sums up your Arseblog career.
my guess is that having Ozil in the squad would expose Emery’s inability to use him.
if he doesn’t put Ozil on, no one can say that he is doing a shit job even with a world class number 10 in the squad.
Ozil or no Ozil, every game exposes Emery as fraud manager. #EmeryOut
“Here we have one agreed strategy as a club and a team. Because the most important thing is the club, the team and finding a performance.
well the performance hasnt been found, which is shocking, considering you’re here for more than 15 months now with a very good squad.
“Previously we were all speaking between us to take that decision. I know all the supporters want to know something, but now is not the moment.”
can’t wait for the moment, ie when you get the sack
I understand if the club’s strategy is to try to force him to make a move to prevent wasting 2 years of his career, but I don’t agree with the strategy because: 1. It hurts the club on the pitch in the near term 2. If Özil calls them on it and decides to stay anyways, we will waste all of his wage money, and our future targets will take notice and ask themselves, “if they did that to Özil, what’s to stop them from doing the same to me?” This really seems like a high risk play. I would… Read more »
Erdogan’s troll farm’s busy this evening!!
Your cunty platoon is putting in a shift as well.
No way it’s a club strategy to be stagnant, stale, and stinky.
So this week that fuck*r (unai) says its club strategy. Wtf is that suppose to mean? I feel we are getting troll by our head coach every single week. Hey Mesut, I hope u read Arseblog too, if ure reading this article and looking at the comments section, pls consider staying at the club until ur contract runs out. So long as you remain professional, train hard during trainings and have tt desire to play for the badge but never given a run of games to show it, then the fault is not on u. And if results or performance… Read more »
“ …and you have to wonder if Emery, under pressure, is attempting to make it seem like this isn’t simply on him after the dispute between the two took a personal turn over the last few days.“ People asked for the coach to be more transparent about the Özil “problem” (I don’t see a problem). He finally does, and you managed to fashion a cane out of his press statement to beat him with? I’m don’t think Emery is any where near the greatest coach alive, but this feels increasingly like a ‘witch hunt’ — I was always attracted to… Read more »
There are a lot of things that I don’t like about Emery, starting with the complete lack of clarity about where he wants to bring this team and how he intends to do it. However I think it’s harsh for him to take all the blame on this one. I mean, we don’t know the background on all this, but since Özil got his renewal and pay rise, he has been massively underwhelming, to say the least. And it was more than 20 months ago – that’s more or less £30m. So when you consider the fact he’s still contracted… Read more »
Anything that can be done to get Ozil off the books should be done. I think as a club we have been hurt by years of mismanagement and indecisiveness by the Wenger regime. Years of overplaying and overpaying duds with no returns accrued, and I’m glad, as a club, we can now think of what is best for the club. Yes, we are not playing fantastic football right now. Yes, Granit Xhaka really is terrible at a lot of things and should not be in the team But please don’t say Ozil improves us. Last year he got two assists… Read more »
This is sad, we’re becoming a laughing stock.
For the record it’s a really classless way to treat a player. If he is no longer in the club plans then fine, sit down with him, show some fucking decency and buy him out of his contract. Pretending he doesn’t exist like this is embarassing and will end badly because if Emery does not get his act together soon he will be the one walking through that door not Ozil …
I don’t buy this *other players deserve to be in the team more than him* bullshit when Xhaka plays week in and week out. It’s obvious that Emery does not like Ozil and the club is trying to freeze him out to save money. Emery needs to swallow his fucking pride and give him a run of games in the first team. If he does nothing to warrant his starting place after say 10 games then fair enough but to pretend he does not exist when the team is floundering and crying out for some fucking creativity is just bonkers… Read more »
Hear hear Hall
When is this man going to finally told to leave? The football is boring, defensively we might as well not bother having a defence, the team has no identity, no leadership and no direction and still Emery remains. Has it got to the point where words spoken to the board of directors speak louder than performances on the pitch? Emery has been given a job he simply cannot do. If the board cannot see this then it is fair to assume that the welfare of the club is not a priority to them – we know that anyway, profit is… Read more »
Don’t mean to be crass.
But the way this cheeseball talks is getting on my nerves.
Ozil has earned his spurs in foofootball. He deserves respect. Secondly , every other player in the club would be asking the question whether loyalty counts in a club that will deliberately frustrate a player or bully him in order to force him out of his contract. If the football community does not have a means of protecting players from such Machiavellian tactics then I see rebellion in the future.
In any case , I pray for Ozil to put his foot down and run out his contract.
Are you an Arsenal fan?
Hatem Ben Arfa
Club strategy of having an asset not using whilst draining their funds. That’s some business strategy.
He’ll leave when his contract ends and everyone knows that. But they still try to shift him? What if he doesn’t want? Why would he? No one will pay his wages. Might as well retire at Arsenal playing or not.
I support whatever Emery says by default on this issue. Ozil has been up to no good for a long time, quitting teams, taking dodgy photo ops, putting in sub par performances. Even with Wenger’s arm around the shoulder approach we rarely saw a top level player.
The word “support” must be placed in a different sentence to “Emery” if you don’t want to be flooded with thumb downs.
I am not a fan of Emery or his tactical acumen, but I don’t think anyone commenting here actually knows what is has gone on between them. There may well have been exchanges that make it impossible for Emery to include him, but his pay packet and contract mean Arsenal can’t just sack him. Whatever the truth, it is a mess, and the sooner Ozil is out of the club the better.
Naah.. Emery leave. Even legend Ian Wright called it. Emery is a parasite.
The guy is bad energy
Thank you for showing some common sense. The rule here seems to become ‘trash Emery on any subject or get downvoted’, and I think it’s utterly stupid – even if I wish to see him gone as much as anyone.
Half the people taking offence now of the way Özil is treated were ready to lapidate him after the EL final.
“The sooner Ozil is out of the club the better”
And Emery for that matter…
I feel that there’s still a personal issue between them.
Emery had lurched from excuse to excuse about Özil’s omission, but the questions won’t go away.
This is just the latest excuse. If they wanted to force him out of the club, why are they still letting him train?
That’s fair but your strategy isn’t working for the good of Arsenal football club or results. Does that mean Özil is some kind of scapegoat for the trajectory of results??