Ozil reacts to red carpet treatment by leading Arsenal to rout of PSG
MESUT OZIL is set to be named as one of new Arsenal new manager Unai Emery’s five captains after he stroked home the first goal in his club’s emphatic 5-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain here last night.
Ozil’s summer has been ruined by inconsistency on the field with Germany at the World Cup in Russia, and a crisis in international diplomacy that resulted in his decision to quit his national team last Sunday.
Arsenal have been doing all they can to mollycoddle their star man back to his best in Singapore this week. A discussion with Emery saw Ozil cut his holiday short by three days, ensuring he has now had a full week of training.
At a club barbecue on Monday, Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis launched a passionate defence of the playmaker and championed the club’s commitment to diversity.
And last night, Arsenal rolled out the red carpet for Ozil once more, as he captained the team against a PSG side missing many of their established names. Even the local referee went out of his way to fawn over Ozil, as he asked the midfielder to sign his yellow card before the game.
Ozil’s goal came after a sweeping counter-attack involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Yet Arsenal were pegged back by Christopher Nkunku’s penalty and the goals only flowed when Emery (left) replaced many first-team regulars, including Ozil, shortly after the hour.
Emile Smith Rowe, celebrating his 18th birthday, followed up his terrific goal against Atletico Madrid with an immediate assist for Alex Lacazette, who swiftly grabbed another. Rob Holding’s header made it four, and Eddie Nketiah score the fifth. ‘In the first half, we played good with quality players but I wanted to do the pressing better,’ Emery said.
‘We had this pressing with the young players later. The first idea is that we are working without the ball and on the pressing. It was only the first match for Mesut, Mo Elneny and Alex Iwobi.
‘We want to give Mesut and the other players the best position. Without the ball, we had two forwards pressing with the ball. But then when we have the ball, Mesut needs to be found between the lines.’
Emery wants to appoint five captains — a model more familiar in Spain — and Ozil is in line along with Laurent Koscielny, Petr Cech and Aaron Ramsey.
Meanwhile, PSG boss Thomas Tuchel believes Arsenal are at an advantage in the Premier League as one of the few leading European clubs to have most of their star names available for much of pre-season.
‘It could give them a big advantage,’ Tuchel said. ‘Chelsea had few international players when they became champions two years ago. It is a big advantage. It is very complicated for us.
‘We want our players to rest but we want them back because they are our players. We have a new coaching staff and the league starts very early.
‘It would not be first time there are strange results like this. When I managed Mainz in Germany, I always wanted to play the big teams early on after the European Championship or the World Cup. We would have had six weeks pre-season and be raring to go. This can happen.’