OZIL THE OUTCAST
Arsenal don’t miss snubbed German
ARSENAL manager Unai Emery has accused Mesut Ozil of lacking fight after leaving the £300,000-a-week star on the bench at Bournemouth yesterday.
Ozil did not even take part in the pre-match warm-up but the Gunners ran out 2-1 winners thanks to an own goal from Jefferson Lerma and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 67th-minute strike. ‘We thought how we can be better in the match, a very demanding match with physicality and intensity,’ said Emery. ‘We need to be organised, we need the individual quality to improve our performance.
‘I decided for another option. We knew this is a difficult stadium, a difficult team. We need the balance with some players, for the positioning on the pitch when we are attacking and defending and we tried to do that today.’
Emery’s criticism of the German playmaker raises doubts about Ozil’s participation in Sunday’s derby with Tottenham.
TO REACH the grey days of late November without defeat is no mean feat. Ordinarily, Chelsea might take 14 wins and four draws from the first 18 competitive outings of the season at a time of transformation under a new manager.
Yet this beating at the hands of Tottenham seemed to unleash the gloom. There were few excuses and no consolations, and perhaps the greatest concern which set the tone was an uneasy feeling that Maurizio Sarri’s secret had been rumbled.
In successive games, opponents have smothered Jorginho, the deep-lying playmaker, taken the ball from him in dangerous areas, exposed his lack of pace, caused problems and Chelsea have dropped points.
This time against top-four rivals and with London pride at stake. David Luiz felt the need to apologise to supporters.
‘So sorry to them,’ said Luiz, who did not perform well. ‘All aspects: offensively, defensively, we didn’t have possession, we didn’t create a lot. We were not in the game.
‘We played really badly. We didn’t have the same intensity. Tottenham played really well. We have to have humility to recognise that and say they controlled the game. It was not good.’
Luiz and his back four were ragged. Eden Hazard was crowded, kicked and quickly frustrated. Alvaro Morata was mostly offside. N’Golo Kante was ineffectual and yet still the best of three midfielders. Kepa Arrizabalaga did not exude the authority of the world’s most expensive goalkeeper.
Sarri had seen trouble looming. On the eve of the game, he voiced concerns about his team’s habit of starting poorly. It was a ‘mental problem’, he feared. After the game, not for the first time, Sarri questioned players who can be champions one year and distant also-rans the next.
‘I don’t know the character of the team,’ he said. ‘I think it is very strange — 93 points in one season, then 60, then 87 again.’
In fact, he underestimated the range of inconsistency. Chelsea won only 50 points from the campaign between their two most recent titles. Last year they finished with 70 points, 30 behind runaway champions Manchester City.
‘I knew very well we had problems and we had to work,’ Sarri added. ‘ Now everybody knows it. We have to work in all directions.’
Perhaps the satisfaction of being right all along had soothed his temper. ‘He’s been many times angrier when we’ve won,’ said Luiz.
Chelsea’s hope of wiping out last year’s 30- point difference to City appears no more likely today than it did in August when they were outplayed by the champions in the FA Community Shield. City are not imploding. Liverpool have more strength. Spurs show signs of improvement.
Sarri must summon a positive response as he did after the Shield. Can he help Jorginho through this test? Can he ensure this setback does not see Chelsea drift off into another season of mediocrity because they think the biggest prize is out of their reach?
‘We cannot be so up or so down when we win or we lose,’ said captain Cesar Azpilicueta. ‘At the beginning of the season we were winning every game, everyone was saying we would win the title already in October but that is not the case.
‘Maybe now they will say that we are not good enough. This was a bad performance, we are aware of this. We know what it is to win the Premier League. We know it will be tough against top teams with great players. With a draw and defeat in our last two games it becomes harder. This cannot happen again.’