Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Saturday evening looks set to massively help the Gunners’ get their season back on track
Unai Emery had gotten his side off to a decent start in the post-Wenger era, but that form had started to wobble.
One of the biggest issues has been Emery’s treatment of the club’s highest paid player, Mesut Ozil. He was only an unused substitute against Chelsea and did not even make the bench in the 1-0 defeat to West Ham last weekend.
Jose Mourinho was a guest on BeIN Sports this weekend, where the topic of Ozil came up. The German midfielder played under Mourinho at Real Madrid, and Jose offered up his take on the situation.
“Honestly, I don’t know what is going on. I don’t know if he is having physical problems or not. I know there was some problems in relation to his contract – he’s leaving on a free, [then] he’s not leaving on a free.”
“I think he finally signed a contract and decided to stay, so there is not an issue with contracts, so believe there is something physical, … or there is some confrontation of ideas with Unai [Emery].”
Ozil played far better under Mourinho than he has under Emery (or Wenger, for that matter). But the former Manchester United boss says that sort of thing just happens in football.
Mourinho on showing "care and love" to Mesut Özil to get the best out of him.#beINMourinho #beINPL #ARSCHE pic.twitter.com/QDvLbQgN6C
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) January 19, 2019
“The nature of football is exactly that – with me Ozil played amazingly well, maybe not with Unai. And maybe a certain player was phenomenal with Unai, and [wouldn’t] work as well with me. It’s just the nature of empathy.”
“I just feel that Ozil is the kind of player that needs both sides of it. If you are just sweet with him, you lose his natural aggression. He’s not naturally a very strong, physical player in terms of aggression. [But] if you are too strong with him, and you forget that – he also needs a little bit of care, and a little bit of love – you don’t find the right balance.”
“So I think it is about finding the right balance with him.”
Interesting food for thought for Arsenal fans – and at least it is a better take than that person who said Fortnite was to blame for Ozil’s form.
