Sead Kolasinac says Mesut Ozil has been ‘a bit unhappy’ with his recent circumstances at Arsenal but stressed that you wouldn’t know it from the German’s professional attitude in training.
Ozil impressed for the Gunners during Wednesday’s crazy Carabao Cup defeat to Liverpool, however, having had the start to his season disrupted by an off-field security issue and a bout of illness, our number 10 has mostly had a watching brief. The game at Anfield was just his third appearance of the campaign.
“Mesut is a really driven player,” Kolasinac told Premier League Productions (via Evening Standard) at Anfield.
“He is a bit unhappy at the minute but you would never see that in his training. He is doing everything he can. He is doing extra sessions to make sure he is at the level he needs to be.”
The left-back went on: “Mesut is Mesut. He has got a lot of special qualities.
“For example, the opposing team might put two players on him rather than one — which creates a lot of space for others. That makes a real difference on the pitch and in the game.
“Everyone knows the quality he has, we have seen it. He is one of the top players in Europe and I think he can achieve a lot and really help the team further when he’s back.”
Ozil was substituted midway through the second half on Wednesday in a pre-planned move that potentially opens the door for the midfielder to feature against Wolves on Saturday.
Emery faces the press later this afternoon when he’ll no doubt be asked about the decision.
#Ozilin #Emeryout
Mesut is mesut
Mesut is magic
#twitterout
Should be playing for us.
Alright
I really wonder if the next manager will use Ozil heavily as part of the first team squad or we will see a renewed effort to get him off the books, by the club, in the transfer windows regardless of Emery being at the club or not… One direction could slightly vindicate Emery while the other would paint him as a fraud
I really wonder when we will have a new manager. Anything after that is bonus.
Ozil’s social media activity has been designed to put a further wedge between manager and fans, in an already fractured relationship. We all know the talent and ability Ozil possesses, but we just haven’t seen it with anywhere near as much frequency as we should, and he’s been on the slide long before Emery showed up. These extra sessions are great, but it should have been what he was doing to try and win his place back all along, and unless he’s had some type of epiphany? I’d expect him to revert to type sooner rather than later….. leopards don’t… Read more »
Once again, you write as if you know what Ozil has been doing in training up to now. In fact, you have zero knowledge of Ozil’s attitude this year except the following: (1) He says he wants to play and is training hard (2) All his teammates who have spoken say he wants to play and is training hard (3) There has been no report, from anyone even claiming to have firsthand knowledge, that he has not trained hard (as Blogs has pointed out, it’s impossible to believe that the club would not have leaked information to the contrary, if… Read more »
Revert to type? Like creat 3 chances per game?
He surely has to play on Saturday.
Oh, and btw Mezut; when you’re feeling a tad unhappy, just take a glance at your paycheque, it might just cheer you up a little.
Not sure of the need for your second paragraph. Maybe he actually likes playing football and wants to be in the starting team?! I know if I was a pro footballer I would still be pissed off not getting a game no matter what I was getting paid.
How convenient.
Yes, well, I know how it sounds, but it would cheer me up.
Creativity is what we’re crying out for…Ceballos isn’t living up to the initial hype so Mesut must play. No-brainer imho.
Ceballos is very talented and still young. If he maintains his discipline, he will turn into a top player. Unfortunately for us, that will almost certainly happen in Spain, not at Arsenal.
If Özil plays now after having been ostracised all season, that will really be the final straw for me and Emery.
If you want him off the wage bill, out of the club because of attitude or if he just doesn’t fit, then have the courage of your convictions.
If he flip flops on this it really will show he has no leadership capabilities at all.
You’re mistaking leadership qualities with stubbornness pal. If anything, it would have been a step in the right direction for emery to start ozil a bit earlier, at this moment it just looks like emery is succumbing to the pressure from the fans and the results
I love ozil.
Wish he’d close down more faster than he does. He doesn’t have to do it as fast as martinelli but just fast enough to unsettle the opponent and once in a while win a tackle.
Martinelli hardly wins aerial challenges but his effect is that the header moves away from being an easy header.
Who else in the team closes down Properly. The problem fans are having is that the rest of the team isn’t exactly performing so why is Ozil being treated like this. Emery has stuck with worse performing players and even more useless players for longer. Why? Because they run around abit.
“Who else in the team closes down Properly”
I don’t know of “properly”.. but Willock and Ceballos do it with more intensity when playing in advanced positions. It’s also one of the reason why Unai plays Torreira in advanced positions (whatever you may think of that decision).
However, Ozil is very much capable of doing it with as much intensity as he very convincingly showed Wednesday night. The result of which was that we scored 2 goals.. one from an awesome back heel pass and another from an absolute beauty of an assist.
Martinelli is all drum n bass, Ozil is more RnB..
No! Nononononono! have to disagree because dnb is basically dead since 10 years. only in gb and maybe the netherlands and some outskirts of czechia it still exists. luckily. pls dont ever compare our fresh young hope as dnb. the analogy makes sense tho, but pls dont! Now im gonna watch a 2 hour highlight reel of Özil with D’Angelo in the background.
Ozil would be cherished by Pitchfork and The Quietus but NME would label him overly arty.
Martinelli, on the other hand, would be smashing youtube and Spotify playlists with his sexy new thang. Probably ft. on a Kendrick track.
Özil is far too “problematic” for the church ladies at TQ. They’d likely run an article on him about what a fascist he is and deny ever having even spoken to him. It’s how they roll.
Errrm, no. That’s a long long way off accurate.
He’s Smooth like Luther vandross
If Özil is Luther Vandross, who in the squad is Barry White?
Papa, or Laca. Laca’s got the silk, Papa’s the big emotional, sensitive guy.
Martinelli’s second goal was because of Ozil closing down… I 100% understand what you’re referring to though I just think that on Wednesday he was just trying to conserve a little bit of energy because of his lack of match fitness. The intent was there in general.
Martinelli has scored 3 headers this season already. Couple of them were amazing.
“He doesn’t have to do it as fast as martinelli but just fast enough to unsettle the opponent and once in a while win a tackle.”
Isn’t that exactly what he did on Wednesday, though?
But I see your point and I agree 110%. Ozil is very much capable of playing this way.
We will all love Ozil more if he keeps/sustains such attitude on the pitch. Imagine him doing that on a consistent level when fully fit, coupled with his natural talents? Who will remember Hazard was in Chelsea last season again or remember how much he’s being paid? That’s exactly what most of his Arsenal Fan’s critics were asking for anyways.
More like Miles Davis. Some days he is mercurial, some days he just plays with the band, and some days he doesn’t show up.
Ozil has a lethargic approach to pressing and usually jogs around when opponent have the ball in their half. This bothers Emery and some fanbase. Now that the pressing game is pretty much gone it’s moot point.
The players sees Ozil in the training and know how good is he on the ball and how he helps attacking movement. They must have secretly wishing he would play more.
I agree he should have been included sooner. But I also think he needs to make sure he works his socks off every time, like he did at Anfield. I couldn’t believe he made a tackle in midfield! If he keeps doing that, then there’s no excuse for him not to be in the team. Thing is, with him you need two types of systems. One for when he’s playing and in form, one when he’s not.
Ozil’s stats at the premier league alone, check his tackles…he does make them unlike what them tabloids and pundits would have you believe. His stats have been pretty great for Arsenal, he runs more distances than most Arsenal players, I think an average of 13km/90 mins completed or so. I think the problem Ozil have is the fact that he makes tedious plays look easy. What will take some players a mountain of efforts will be done by him as if without thought; plus his poor body language and laissez-faire attitude. Football to him is artistry with the way he… Read more »
He works harder than many give him credit for but he also still tends to drop off on effort at critical moments the team need him to press.
lets be fair.
100% agree with you on the body language. I think that’s the majority of it. It’s just not pleasant to see. He might be putting in the shift and contributing but when you see the head go down it gives a different perception.
But, you know, as Mertesacker pointed out, that has always been Ozil’s body language; I think he said something like “he won the World Cup with that body language.”
He did, and he has always gotten some criticism for it. Look at how Real and Germany turned on him – prior to the political garbage. He was taking the heat for Germany’s aging stars like mueller going to shit, no good strikers, and people like Toni Kroos playing no better or worse than him. All the while having the best stats and productivity of their attack – while playing out of position on the left. His body language and the fact that he operates in the less evident intangibles – assists, link up, key set up passes (pre-assists, etc),… Read more »
For those saying Özil is lazy and doesn’t work hard or that his attitude is a problem (for what? I don’t know, but some say it): read again what Sead says and keep it in mind. He can be more trusted than arsenalfanTV or the Mail.
All this negative attention towards media was set alight by Martin keown sadly. Really hurts me as an arsenal fan when our ex players pick on the current players. Henry criticising giroud, keown shitting on ozil. I wonder what good any of that does. It reflects so poorly on arsenal and only turns the fans against the players they want to see perform well. How I wish more pundits were like Wrighty.
I have not paid any attention to Keown since before our last FA Cup, when the Arsenal player he slagged was Per Mertesacker. Right after the match, the mics picked up Mertesacker saying to Keown “don’t write me off, Martin.”
I don’t follow Arsenalfan TV nor the mail, but I remember that I used to see him watch an opponent who disposed of the ball glide towards our goal area or make halfhearted tackles those he eventually faces. But if what I saw at Anfield is an inkling of what we are about to get from him in the near future, then I’m all for it. Everyone (him, the club and the fans) will be better for it.
Well it seems like Ozil is doing his bit to get back into the team. If the defensive players do their job – can we afford to have 1 player who is allowed to do what he does best – create chances. I guess that is for Emery to decide.
The last sentence of your comment is the irony of arsenal. You have every gun you’d ever need but the guy who’s in charge of shooting is a cock eyed mong
We cannot afford to have ANY player drop defensively.
Particularly in the league.
Leaking five goals to a weak Liverpool side in the league cup is one thing.
The PL is less forgiving and more relentless.
Is Ozil going to sustain effort? One player drops effort and gaps appear in our press, we get taken apart.
As is we are struggling defensively not entirely in terms of goals (although that also needs to sharpen)
The problem is, without Ozil we are leaking the goals anyway as well as starving our forwards of services. How worse can it get if we leak in the goals with Ozil but have him create some for us?
Honestly what is this guy wating for? Take a paydrop and walk. It’s not like he’d be poor if he did and who’d want to be humiliated and have your career wasted under a dunce like Emery? Plus the abundance of horrible fans who abuse and boo players.
been in a similar position for one of my old teams. One player would miss a week day training and would be dropped by the manager because of it and would not play game day. I can see the managers position now as it shows a lack of disicpline and respect but at the time we sided with the player and resented the manager a bit because the player made game day a lot easier and we normally won the game if he played, training or not. We seen it as he was hurting the team just to make a… Read more »
I think he has been showing up to training recently at least.
Attitude needs to be right.
Too many people have it the wrong way round because they are fishing to have something bad to say about Emery.
Ozil should fit the team not the other way.
If he is willing to apply himself, why won’t Unai use him.
Its mental but born mainly from media who like to invent crisis and of course we have far too many shallow fans who are gullible enough to believe them.
Anyone got the stats on when Ozil last played a league game all the way through?
So Ozil DOES put in a shift in training! How’s that insinuation about not training hard enough come about, Emery?
Because it was never Unai.
It was people suggesting that was the case.
Nonsense–Emery suggested it constantly. And some of our “shallow, gullible” fans accepted it. Because, after all (as you posted immediately above) why else wouldn’t Emery play him?
May be leaving out Ozil is to do with financials and nothing to do with Ozil or emrey ? if Ozil’s salary is based on matches played then that is a possibility. Otherwise no club will pay 320K a week not use him at all!
What happened to LANS?
It may work to our benefit. He looks hungry. Maybe just the tonic to keep him a bit unsatisfied and wanting to make a statement. Too many people want to find some sort of friction between gaffer and the player. BUT frankly, he has been showing up to training and he was amicable enough when subbed off. We can’t find a buyer for him, we may as well use him. He does have issues sustaining through 90 minuted but we need him for short duration impact maybe. The issue with him I feel is Unai is concern he does not… Read more »
Your lengthy writings failed to point out how Ozil’s absence has cured the weak-link he provided in the chain. This pressing game nonsense Emery made us believe were all a fallacy cos I’ve seen nothing in our play that suggests the team is setup to play pressing football. It’s all play from the back, get it to Kolasinac at the byline so he could cut back. It’s that predictable. So save it.