Now Emery will tell Ozil where to go
UNAI EMERY has told Mesut Ozil he will play where Arsenal need him as the new Gunners manager demanded more from the German playmaker.
Ozil was taken off from his central role in his last appearance against Chelsea and then missed the win over West Ham with illness.
After a difficult week during which Ozil was criticised by his former Germany coach Joachim Low, he is fit to return for tomorrow’s visit to Cardiff. But Emery said his No10, who was indulged by former manager Arsene Wenger, would not always be playing in his favoured position behind the main striker.
“I like the possibility to have the player play different positions and then it depends each match for us and for the opposition,” said Emery. “Mesut played with me on the right wing and also as No10 and we are going to continue to do that.
“In his career he played as a 10 and on the right.
“When he was playing in Madrid, I remember a lot of matches on the right. His quality is for playing between the lines. I spoke with him for his best position and he wants that I can use him for two positions. Every player in the squad plays in the position we need. “Our demands are very high, very great, but I want to ask every player every day to give us more – not just Mesut, the team, the squad. “We need to push, we need to have ambition, we need to have desire to improve every day. This is my message for the team, for the squad and for every player.” Former PSG manager Emery did not deny he had spoken to Ozil earlier this year before the German signed a new contract and the Spaniard believes international retirement will help his domestic form. “It’s a respite for him and allows him to continue to enjoy his job because we all need to enjoy our jobs,” he said.
Emery won the Europa League three times with Sevilla and saw his Arsenal side drawn with Sporting Lisbon, Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava and Qarabag of Azerbaijan yesterday.
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock has promised he will not park the bus tomorrow despite facing a daunting fixture list. After Arsenal, Cardiff play Chelsea and Manchester City and Warnock, who worked miracles to get his team promoted, is determined to enjoy the ride.
The Bluebirds have two draws from their first three games back in the top flight and have yet to score but it is not for the want of trying and Warnock says they will not be intimidated and just shut up shop against the Gunners.
He said: “I want to do the best we can to give them a game in the other half as well as our own half.
“We’d get beat anyhow if we just sat back, so we want to give the fans something to cheer. We’ll do the best we can with what we’ve got. “We’ve just got to enjoy it. We knew it was going to be hard. We are a bit limited but we’ll work with what we’ve got. I’m not going
to cry about that.”