Match Reaction vs West Ham United (home).

[I am invisible]

It's all very odd. Read some of the post game comments from Emery. Apparently, players that are sick are supposed to kept away from the team dressing room to avoid infecting other players. Ozil was there in the team dressing room. Maybe they just should have said he was injured with a minor issue if they wanted to cover. The sicknote thing doesn't help him.

I don’t know, it all sounds like fairly bog-standard club PR stuff to me. Whatever’s gone on there in private, Emery and the club still have to be seen to be protecting their players in public (and probably doubly so with Özil right now, with the character assassination that’s going on back in Germany). Emery’s comments may have been a little awkward, but I don’t think we need to look any further that his beginner’s English for the cause of that - I suspect he was making a genuine, if slightly crappy, attempt to shield Özil there, even if he’s privately unhappy with him.

(How much better is Emery’s English, by the way? Noticeably better already from that first interview.)

[Power n Glory]

Not a half arsed underperforming Ozil obviously.

You say obviously but when was the last time Ozil had a sublime man of match performance in the league? Maybe back before he signed a new contract which was last year and almost 9 months ago?

I don't how you can say he's been missed at all looking at his current form. He's been in a slump for a long time.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

We're not going to miss anybody playing out of form.....but I'm not arguing that we've seen anything amazing recently. We missed an Ozil on form applying himself as we have done for some time now (as you almost seem to be suggesting).

We have an asset that we need to play and need find form and that is easier to do against West Ham than it is against City. Even if I never wanted him to play for Arsenal again, he's obviously a part of the plans here and will play again, just as Mustafi and Xhaka are.

[I am invisible]

You’re just answering different questions, that’s all - one of you is talking about whether we actually miss him, and the other is talking about whether we need him to perform and deliver.

[Power n Glory]

We're not going to miss anybody playing out of form.....but I'm not arguing that we've seen anything amazing recently. We missed an Ozil on form applying himself as we have done for some time now (as you almost seem to be suggesting).

We have an asset that we need to play and need find form and that is easier to do against West Ham than it is against City. Even if I never wanted him to play for Arsenal again, he's obviously a part of the plans here and will play again, just as Mustafi and Xhaka are.

But we're obviously talking about current form players and what we needed for the West Ham over the weekend.

It's Arsenal FC. This isn't a vehicle to help Ozil find form. He should be there to help us win games. We won yesterday. It's up to Ozil to find form for himself to get game time if indeed he has fallen out with Emery. We should not be trying to accommodate any player that can't motivate himself. Especially someone that has all the incentive to prove a point to the world considering the scrutiny he's been under since the World Cup.

Have to stop babying this guy. Same goes for all the players. We don't want to recreate a Wenger era problem. We want a meritocracy.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

I expected to see Ozil's form improve (based on the opposition and his fundamental quality) before his absence and from what I saw against West Ham my feeling is that we could have done with him.

Part of the way he will find form is by playing. However IF...(and I don't know for sure either way) he refused to be on the bench, then that's beyond the pale and I'm sorry we haven't already sold him.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

On Ozil.....having listened to the Arsecast, I'm more and more thinking that it's mental health issues at hand.

[Power n Glory]

With what evidence? A few missed games and poor performances? The lengths....

[Özim]

Also Leno should definitely start the next game, Cech was poor today, at fault for one of the goals for sure today.

[Blink 1nce Quince 2wice]

With what evidence? A few missed games and poor performances? The lengths....

Actually none. I just get the feeling with parts of his personality traits, how affronted he often feels, his agent constantly issuing statements defending him (perhaps as much to aid Ozil's state of mind as anything else)
and the constant 'he's sick' line with little detail from Wenger and now Emery. I've spent time with a fair number of people with mental health issues and I might be totally wrong, but if it came out, I wouldn't be fraught with surprise.