Paul Merson told Soccer Saturday (05/12/20 at 1:50 pm) that Jose Mourinho wouldn’t want Mesut Ozil to start Arsenal’s clash against Tottenham today amid the calls for Mikel Arteta to make a U-turn on his future at the club.
Ahead of the North London derby in a few hours time, one name that won’t appear on Arsenal’s teamsheet is Ozil’s because the excluded playmaker will be watching from home.
It seems as though Ozil has been the most-talked-about Arsenal player this season despite being left out of Arteta’s 25-man squad at the start of the campaign – it’s a decision that has raised a lot of eyebrows, and if Tottenham win the NLD tonight, then more questions will be asked.
Merson has been crying for Arsenal to make a u-turn on Ozil for some while now and he shared what Mourinho would think if the left-footed technician started today.
“It don’t matter how much money he is on,” said Merson. “Just get him in the team and he makes things happen.
“If I had Henry at Walsall when I was manager. Do you think he would have got 50 goals? Of course, he wouldn’t! Who is going to give him the ball? You are only as good as the players giving you the ball.
“You ask Mourinho, he would rather Ozil not play than play. If he saw Ozil on that teamsheet tomorrow then that wrecks everything. He then thinks ‘I have got to come out. I cannot really sit everybody behind the ball because Ozil will find a pass before the games out and people will make runs when Ozil’s got the ball’.
“People aren’t making runs. There’s no running off the ball. There’s no urgency. It’s so static. Aubameyang’s body language, he’s got no-one to give him the ball. There’s no plan.”
This Ozil talk will rumble on until Arsenal either push up the table and shows more creativity.
Or until the German waves goodbye to North London, which won’t be until next summer because that’s when his contract runs out.
There’s no doubt that his situation has been badly handled because if he was going to be left out of the 25 then he should have been sold to prevent the problems which are currently occurring. Or he should have just been picked if he was going to stay on at the club.
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