Unai Emery reign as Arsenal manager has taken a rather comfortable bedding in season if the Spanish manager’s results are used as the scale through which he will judged upon. After losing his first two Premier League matches against Manchester City and Chelsea, his Arsenal side have now gone unbeaten in the next 21 matches that followed the defeats.
Much has been said about the level of performances in the unbeaten run but football matches are won with goals not performances, and Unai Emery’s new look Arsenal are doing exactly that. On an even more positive note, Arsenal has also played some big guns in the run and came out unsacteced, they drew Liverpool at the Emirates and had Jurgen Klopp subbing attacker for defenders late on.
London rivals Tottenham Hotspur were swept aside 4-2 in a one sided derby while Manchester Unite were lucky to escpape with a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford. Not bad for a team in transition.
Amidst all the fresh air however, one player threatens to dampen the mood at the Emirates: Mesut Ozil. The German midfielder has been out for almost a month with a reported back spasm. Whispers around the Emirates however point to a whole different reasons as to why Arsenal’s No.10 has not been playing.
Mesut Ozil simply does not fit into Unai Emery system of play and the relationship between the two has not been as god as it should due to that fact. Unai Emery requires a lot of running from all his players and Mesut Ozil simply does not fit the style. The former Real Madrid man requires a free role, a luxury Emery is unwilling to afford him.
It should speak volumes that Unai Emery left Arsenal’s highest player on the bench against Bournemouth because he felt he couldn’t cpe with the home side’s physicality.
Mesut Ozil is a very gifted attacking midfielder but he has been nowhere near his best in the last two seasons at Arsenal. With the January transfer window looming, Arsenal should cash if an exciting offer for the German maestro comes along and use that money to purchase an attacker suits Emery’s philosophy. A player in the mold of the young Nigerian Alex Iwobi. A better Alex Iwobi if I may add.
Mesut Ozil’s chapter at the Club is edging closer to an exit, but for once Arsenal fans will be happy that a star player is leaving, because recent transfer activity proves that Arsenal are more than capable now of replacing the 30 year Old German.