Does Mesut Ozil’s Decision Exposes Massive Problem With Arsenal Right Now?

Ozil has barely featured in the big away games this season but was handed the armband as Unai Emery’s lacklustre side were lucky to escape from Merseyside with just a one-goal defeat.

With four of their six remaining Premier League games on the road, Arsenal now face a battle to finish in the top four and qualify for next season’s Champions League.

And Parlour believes Ozil – who was substituted with 15 minutes left – being captain shows they do not have the sufficient players to lead them on the pitch.

“I think football has moved on from my era obviously with the likes of Tony Adams,” the former Gunners midfielder said.

“I think the last real proper leader was probably John Terry at Chelsea.

“It was a bit of a surprise Ozil being captain. I’m looking at who else could be captain in this team and that’s what they’re missing.”

Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Nacho Montreal appeared to be the natural choices as captain with the likes of Laurent Koscielny injured and Aaron Ramsey dropped to the bench because of fitness concerns.

When asked about the possibility of summer signing Sokratis stepping up in the role, Parlour said: ”In an ideal world you’ll always want a centre-half as skipper. I would.

“You’ve got to have the right person to carry the armband but you’re looking at the whole pitch [as a centre-half].

“We used to have people like Tony Adams. And Tony, if you weren’t doing your job, he would be going absolutely crazy at you during the game.

“That’s what you need. You need your leaders to say ‘right, you sit in there’. It’s not rocket science.

“If they’re attacking down the left-hand side and getting a lot of joy down the left-hand side, you’ve got to have a player in the team to say ‘right, you just sit right there for 10 minutes and let’s weather the storm and we can get back on the front foot.”

“And I don’t see that enough these days.”

Manager Emery has come in for criticism from some sections of the Arsenal support after another disappointing defeat on the road.

Since taking over from Arsene Wenger in the summer, Emery has won just five of his 15 Premier League away games this season and Arsenal have just the 10th best record on the road in the division.

However, Parlour believes the blame does not lie entirely with the boss.

“It can’t always be the manager sorting it out on the sidelines. He’s totally different to Arsene Wenger.

“You see him on the technical area and he’s pushing people around and barking orders. But he’s still got to have it from the players on the pitch as well.”

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