Unai Emery is Gambling on His Future With Arsenal by Sacrificing One of His Top Talents
The first year manager and his mercurial playmaker have been butting heads for too long, and it’s costing the club in more ways than one.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery dropped Mesut Ozil for an away match in late November against Bournemouth, saying the match was “too demanding” for him. At the time, it was no big deal. I and many other Arsenal fans assumed he was being rested for the important North London Derby against Tottenham that Arsenal needed to win. After all, the German from Real Madrid is the playmaker that Arsenal has relied on to create scoring chances that not many others in the Premier League can do since his arrival in London. He’s the type of player you want 100% fit for a huge match. Unfortunately, when the time came to release the squad against Spurs, Ozil was left out off the team sheet once again. So what happened now?
According to Emery, once again facing media scrutiny for his questionable decision, Emery responded by saying Ozil had gotten back spasms in training earlier in the week. Arsenal won the match, but this is about the time that fans began to suspect that something was wrong.
Just over two weeks later, Arsenal and Tottenham went at it again, this time in the Carabao Cup. Yet again, Emery left Ozil out of the matchday squad. This time, though, Arsenal were defeated. The final scoreline was 2–0 in favor of Tottenham, and questions again were raised. Emery called his dropping of Ozil a “tactical reason”, but fans once again were not buying it.
Fed up with the decisions of the manager, fans of the club are looking for answers from Unai Emery. Why is he leaving Ozil out of so many games? After all, his contract has him on a weekly wage of €350,000. He is the highest paid player in the history of the club and he is being left off of matchday squads without any clear cut reasons.
Not only is it a mistake not having your best playmaker on the pitch, but it’s essentially putting all that money to waste not playing him. Of all the big teams in England, Arsenal is the one that needs to spend its money the wisest. They were looking to spend in the current transfer window until majority owner, Stanley Kroenke, formally made it known that Arsenal did not have the funds to make major purchases this winter, only enough to take players on loan.
Before his string of being left out of matches, Ozil seemed to be hitting his stride, which included notching a goal and an assist in Arsenal’s best goal of the year thus far against Leicester City. Maybe that just wasn’t enough for Emery. Who knows? His explanations have not been clear at all, and they go as far back as a game against West Ham in late August where he did not appear due to illness. That may have been true, as before and after, he had plenty of appearances, but what we are really inspecting is his recent decisions with Ozil. In Arsenal’s past 10 Premier League matches, Ozil has appeared in only three of them, starting in just one.
Ozil may not be the same player he once was, especially not the same quality as when he arrived at Arsenal, but to deny his world class creative abilities is just simply ludicrous. When he’s on it, you can put Ozil in the same category as the likes of Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard in terms of the best scoring creators in the league. Where the problem lies with Ozil is the fans’ view of him. He’s been called lazy and claims have been made that he shows little effort on the pitch at times. Arsenal fans are always the first to defend him, but then the retort arises. If he is as talented as his fans claim, why is he not considered one of the best in Europe anymore?
While his attacking prowess is unmatched, his defensive work rate gets challenged a lot. It’s worth noting, though, that former manager Arsene Wenger had never mentioned an issue with Ozil’s contributions and effort on the pitch. Neither have his teammates, for that matter, who are much quicker to praise his genius tactics.
This season, we’ve seen what he is capable of on the field. His vision and ability to create something out of nothing is something that Arsenal could depend on when he is given the chance. Even with the scoring opportunities he’s created for Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang, Unai Emery is reluctant to trust his #10. For the past number of years, Arsenal had been ragged on for their lackluster front line, especially when compared to the forwards of other top flight teams in England and the rest of Europe. That lack of sensational strikers was especially felt in the 2013–2014 season, when Arsenal had a league title in their sights that they certainly could have won. But, without elite strikers, nobody could finish off Ozil’s fantastic chances created almost at- will. Now, with two great strikers at his disposal, it would truly be a shame to waste Ozil’s abilities away on the sidelines.
Like I said before, Ozil is the highest paid player in club history and he is the second highest paid player in the league at the moment. He signed that under Arsene Wenger’s reign, though, and now he is under the leadership of Unai Emery. Now he has to prove to a new manager that he deserves the contract he got, which is not a problem. The problem is that he’s not being given the chance.
Rumors are starting to run rampant about a future move for Ozil away from Arsenal. Maybe it will be this month, maybe he’ll leave in the summer with Aaron Ramsey, who is leaving on a free transfer this summer when his contract runs out. In addition to the problems with Ozil, fans are growing more and more impatient with Emery, especially with results as of late. With a 3–2 loss to relegation candidates in Southampton, a 5–1 implosion against Liverpool and, most recently, a 1–0 loss against West Ham where it seemed Arsenal was never going to create a chance, fans are beginning to choose sides. For the fans on Emery’s side, the argument is that he has just arrived and deserves our trust. On the flip side, supporters of Ozil use the idea that he has been great since he came to London in 2013 and has created little to no trouble for the team. Now, he’s being sat out with no real reason and fans still want to know why. Maybe we should take a look at Emery’s time at the helm of PSG to understand where these roots of player/coaching disputes originated.
It was clear that Neymar and Unai had some issues during the Frenchman’s time at PSG. Emery once addressed the media saying that he was told his job at PSG “was to make Neymar happy”. Obviously some of the bigger media outlets and players in France took offense to this. Why should he get this preferential treatment over the rest of the quality players dedicating their time and talents to the club?
Not only was the issue with Neymar eye opening, but let’s take a look at Emery’s relationship with Haten Ben Arfa. Ben Arfa was knowingly rude and disrespectful to Emery during his tenure with PSG, reportedly being selfish with the ball on the pitch and making fun of Emery while his manager tried to learn French. Emery was having none of this and completely shut down Ben Arfa. Starting March 12, 2017, Ben Arfa did not step on the pitch once for PSG. He left for Rennes in the summer of 2018. Of course, that problem was much more toxic and much more public than the issue with Ozil, but who’s to say this won’t last just as long?
In addition to Unai Emery’s questionable decisions with Ozil, fans also wonder what he is doing with another one of Arsenal’s stars in Aaron Ramsey. The Welsh midfielder began his career with Arsenal in 2008 and has been great since his debut. He has an eye for the goal and has saved Arsenal in some tough games. Who could forget his extra time goal against Hull City, which gave Arsenal a 3–2 victory, the FA Cup trophy, and their first piece of hardware in nine years. By the end of it all, this season was looked at as Ramsey’s breakout year, even if it was cut short by injuries.
Before that productive breakthrough season for Ramsey, he’d dealt with plenty of injuries, most notably a horrific leg injury in 2010. These injuries cut short development time that he really could have used. Nevertheless, then- manager Arsene Wenger stood by Ramsey’s side, even bestowing him a new contract, while he recovered, rehabbed, and returned to the pitch. Wenger’s patience with the Cardiff City product paid off, as Ramsey turned out to become a focal point for the club, scoring crucial goals left and right over Wenger’s last few years.
Arsene Wenger spent a lot of time at Arsenal, some things were good and some were not. He wasn’t a perfect manager, and sometimes we certainly grew impatient with him, but it is said many times that Wenger was better at coaching players than he is given credit for.
As previously mentioned, his contract runs out this summer. He will be leaving. Ozil is not exactly a sure thing to stay, either, although his enormous contract limits his options if he were to look elsewhere. Even still, as long as Emery continues to leave him out of matchday squads, he will have to find himself another place to go.
Arsenal began their season with tough back to back losses to Manchester City and Chelsea. That’s understandable, two insanely talented teams in Unai Emery’s first games as manager. Since then, though, it’s been rocky. One thing that has stayed the same, though, is the importance of Mesut Ozil. Since the beginning of November, Arsenal has not lost a game when Ozil plays at least one half of football. In their previous three Premier League losses, Ozil has played a total of 20 minutes.
Mesut Ozil may not be what he once was, but he is still a difference maker. That much is understood. Ozil has been one of the most important aspect of the Gunner’s attacking play since he came in 2013 and it should stay that way, whether Emery understands it or not. Clearly something is wrong, as Arsenal sits tied with Manchester United for 5th, who is surely to overtake them. United has hit their stride and are in great form to make a run for the top 4.
If Arsenal is to get back to Champions League football, which is expected of them yearly, the key to that level of success is Mesut Ozil. The longer Emery mistreats Ozil, the more it damages his reputation with the club. Being the manager of such a big club with a rabid fan base with things go wrong, you do not want to be on the bad side of Gunners fans.
If Arsenal want to complete this rebuild and make a triumphant return to the Champions League, they’ll need Emery and Ozil to cooperate. Much like years past, this squad has talent, but the inability to correct use talent has once again proved to be a setback. Unai Emery is on thin ice already with Arsenal fans, and he needs to fix it before things go quickly from bad to worse.
