Lee Dixon believes the Arsenal boss has dealt as well as could be expected with Ozil
Arsenal legend Lee Dixon has backed manager Unai Emery’s handling of the contentious issue around mercurial playmaker Mesut Ozil, adding that the German requires an environment in which he is forced to be more accountable.
Speaking to JOE about the launch of new app FA Matchday, co-launched by the Football Association and PayPal to allow amateur footballers to pay match fees digitally, Dixon praised Emery for how he has managed the Ozil situation.
Ozil has missed a host of matches during the former Sevilla coach’s first season at Arsenal, but came into the team for their Premier League match against Bournemouth to provide a goal and an assist in a convincing 5-1 win.
“The Ozil situation needs to be rectified and I think he’s dealt with it in the best possible way,” said Dixon.
“There’s no doubt the team needs him and his creativity right now. They’ve got nobody in the club like him; most teams haven’t to be fair. But he has to be in an environment that nurtures that and accepts him for who he is.
“Those players (teammates) have to be a certain way and that’s a special blend to get that. Not to blow smoke up the teams I played in, but if you picked [Ozil] up and put him in front of Vieira and Petit and a solid back four and a good goalkeeper, I’m pretty sure he’d produce a bit more than he’s producing now.”
The key to truly getting the most out of players like Ozil, says Dixon, is to convince them to buy into the ethos that together the team can make up for each other’s deficiencies and complement each other’s qualities. It is something which the Bournemouth victory appeared to suggest was slowly happening at Arsenal.
“It’s a combination of having players around him that can accommodate those weaknesses but that would also bring out a different side of accountability. He [Ozil] wouldn’t be allowed to get away with some of the stuff he’s gotten away with over the last couple of years in the teams I’ve played in.
“He would literally get thrown out of the dressing room. Arsene wouldn’t have had to do anything with him, it would be the lads I played with saying ‘forget what the manager’s saying, you’re costing me my living’.
“It’s a balancing act getting the right blend with him. Shaking him up a little bit that goes ‘actually yeah, you’re right’. But he has to buy into the process, and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t play. Simple as that.”
