Speaking on the All to Play for Podcast, Joe Cole and Jermaine Pennant have hit out at Mikel Arteta’s decision to freeze Mesut Ozil out of the Arsenal squad.
The German international has been left out of Arsenal’s 25-man Premier League squad this season, and the two pundits believe that it’s not a coincidence that the Gunners’ have suffered downturn in attacking output after making that call.
Pennant was speaking about Arsenal’s attack before this weekend;s north London derby.
“Arsenal last year were spearheaded by Aubameyang, they had more creativity but what they were lacking was defensive.” The ex-Gunners man said.
“Now they’ve sorted out their defence I think they’ve taken away their creativity and Aubameyang isn’t scoring his goals like he was last season.
“You’ve got Mesut Ozil, which to me if you’ve got no creativity in your team, that’s what he does. It’s a sin.”
Joe Cole then gave his two cents on the situation, echoing Pennant’s view on the matter.
“It is a sin, it’s a crime on football.”
These two aren’t the first pundits to speak out about the Ozil situation, and they certainly won’t be the last.
We don’t know exactly why Arteta has frozen Ozil out of the Arsenal squad, but with each passing week, it’s looking like a more and more ridiculous decision.
Unfortunately, there’s no reversing this call at least until January where he can be re-registered into the Gunners’ squad, but despite Arsenal fans calling for him to be re-introduced, it looks unlikely that we’ll see him play for the Gunners again.
Ozil’s situation is certainly a confusing one as an outsider looking in, and we can only hope that we will eventually get more clarity on what exactly has happened with the German at the Emirates.
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