Emery-Ozil Cold War

Well, it's a dreadful situation for Arsenal since the 22 game unbeaten run ended. Huge loss at Anfield exposed our thinning options defensively along with strange decisions in team selection made by Unai Emery; concerning Ozil mainly.

Clearly, the tactical excuse Emery gives out whenever Ozil isn't picked in games or strangely substituted (e.g. Away at Brighton) tells only one thing.

Our head coach doesn't know how to manage the club's biggest player. A deja vu feeling if we time travel to last season in Paris where Neymar. Jr and Emery had similar problems at PSG.

To be honest, Ozil could have left Arsenal last January or before this season for free but he stayed to follow the legacy of his Invincible role models.

However, bad fortunes followed him as Germany crashed out of the WC '18's 1st round. And ironically despite being their best player even statistically, he ended up getting the most stick from pundits and media.

Things got way too intense as he surprisingly retired from international scene, citing discrimination and severe pressure surrounding his controversial pre world cup meeting with Turkish PM Erdogan.

Regardless, his club team-mates stood by him with support and confidence as pre-season approached along with praise from Emery himself which seems to have lost in the latter's words when he has been asked about Ozil lately.

The most important player at Arsenal, one of the five chosen captains by Emery himself, is being sidelined from the starting.line-up. Even Wenger hadn't been that way with Bergkamp in the latter's final season.

It's sad and sounds stupid when Emery defines Ozil's omission from the team as tactical. What tactical reason could it be to keep the player who's created the most chances across the Europe's Top five leagues since July 2006?

It felt very senseless to see Iwobi start ahead of Ozil yesterday even after he was fully fit and trained with full throttle. And to what gain, losing to West Ham whom we defeated comfortably at home.

As if it wasn't enough to let Wilshere leave early for West Ham and now allowing Ramsey to go as well for free, what could possibly be gained from putting down Ozil when Arsenal need him the most?! 

Not having the highest earning playmaker in your starting 11? Board may give Emery a thumping for it though as if Stan would care.

If anything that is to be learned from one season as PSG's boss, Emery should not repeat the same mistakes with the former German play-maker as he did while handling Neymar Jr. More in fact, Ozil is far more humble and has better attitude than the Brazilian star.

So watch out, Emery! Fans may fly out banners really soon if Ozil isn't in the starting line up going forward as United is on our trail and the tactical omission of German is not doing good for anyone.

Broken and Battered Gunners still fighting for Top Slot

Greetings and most sincere apologies for not updating this page for over a month's time due to some unconventional excuse. 

Nonetheless, here's a fresh, just out of the oven post about the Gunner's complete see saw month which saw them crashed down at Allianz Arena (Bayern Munich) and The Hawthorns (West Brom), picking single point results against Spurs in North London derby at home and away at Carrow Road against Norwich and most importantly, losing three of the most important players they have depended upon since last season.

,Cazorla, Sanchez & Coquelin.

The Trio lost to injuries before festive period.

However, Arsenal did pick two crucial wins at home with last week in the UEFA Champions League tie against Dynamo Zagreb and last night against Sunderland in the Premiere League to go second on the table. Positives during this time span were the return of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ramsey and Walcott and along with the fact that Joel Campbell has started to make his presence felt on the pitch by scoring a goal and an assist in the last three games he has started in two weeks.

The King of Assist is back.

More importantly, a new leader has emerged and is now being seen as the catalyst behind almost every other goal scored by Gunners and he is none other than Mesut Ozil who has now 12 assists in the league in 15 games with two goals as cherry on the top. Training hard to make runs, re-tracking and winning possession and finding space on his own, Ozil has become the driving force in the Arsenal's offensive unit, feeding goal scoring passes at times out of nowhere and in games that have mattered in the season.

Nonetheless, it was a nervous win last night which saw an own goal from Giroud who later cancelled it with a spectacular header to put the Gunners back in the lead and revealed clear signs of vulnerability in defense and hesitation in picking up passes in the last third. This shows how much of a difference does the presence of Coquelin, Cazorla and Sanchez make in the game.

History depicts that although Arsenal has seen many injury filled seasons over the last decade but this time just when the tide has started to favor them, these injuries have started to wear down the team in the most crucial phase of the season. The fact that Arsenal are just two points behind league leaders Leicester City with the spread among the top five of only six points proves that our chances of winning the league title this season are quite high.

Wenger needs to find the perfect DM cover for Coquelin

The only drawback is the lengthy list of injured players who can actually make up of almost the entire first team and their long term absence would prove the Gunner's boss Arsene Wenger wrong in his decision to not buy during the summer transfer window. Although very edgy whenever asked about the injuries and January transfer window, Mr. Wenger would have to admit that he would need to find decent cover for the team in the midfield to progress swiftly towards the title challenge. 

Last night's performance may have boosted a load of confidence among the players but make sure that Coquelin and Cazorla's absence at the heart of the pitch is not felt so much, at least two potential signings should be on for the upcoming January window. If not two, then at least a central defensive midfielder to enforce and release the pressure off the back four. 

For now, a still very decent unit is available for the make or break Champions League away tie at Olympiakos on Wednesday evening with an outside chance that Mr. Sanchez may be seen on the bench while completely ignoring the hamstring he picked up against Norwich unless he is locked down in the infirmary by the Boss himself.

Only the game night would reveal the rest so till then, that's all for now. Leave a comment to speak your mind and thank you so much for reading patiently. Salud & COYG!!

Three Ws under the "Spotlight" post Transfer Window

Hello again and here is the latest post after another trademark Transfer Window for the Gunners came to a close. This time around, Gooners were given another heartache when Arsenal couldn't add an outfield player after despite a handful of players linked to us.

Especially with one news piece showing pics of Wenger flying to Paris to supposedly secure the signatures of Cavani and Rabiot which has been the recent hug rumour after Benzema links were openely rubbished by the player himself.

Wenger under fire again as Usual

Unfortunately, it all ended up in dust as no deals materialized or as most Gooners think that it is the attitude and approach of the Arsenal boss that has lead them to have see the only new face in the form Petr Cech this summer.

This may not be true but but things have gone from bad to worst as Danny Welbeck had to go through a knee surgery on the following day of the Transfer Deadline which has rules him out till Christmas. Or even further beyond till March of next year as Roy Hodgson has stated that the England striker may not be included in the squad for the upcoming Euro 2016 in France. 

The assessment on Welbeck's situation had already been known to Arsene Wenger before the transfer deadline day on as the "minor" bone injury which has kept him out since April of this year, had become a mysterious issue taking his return to action into consideration.

Welbeck's return delayed till Christmas or beyond?

That certainly puts the Gunner's boss in the shooting range and the trust has seemingly faded among the fans, considering how things have been taken care off recently in terms of getting a guaranteed goal scorer to boost our Title winning chances.

With only a single goal scored by an Arsenal player out of the three in the first 4 games in the season makes one question the tactics used by Arsene Wenger which has led in failure to sign a top new striker for the club. 

Meanwhile, hope may not be all lost as Theo Walcott starred for the Three Lions at San Marino, scoring a brace while playing on the flanks as usual two nights ago. 

Although San Marino is a team which England has fancied playing against over the last 15 months, winning every time with larger margins but Walcott must have gained some confidence after his performance and hopefully, he will work hard to restore the somewhat lost faith of Arsenal fans in him and especially Wenger.

Walcott on the score sheet for England at San Marino

Moreover, Joel Campbell's sale was also blocked to keep him as a back up so he may get a shot in the first team as well to play in the front line. That may be enough to keep the club going on for now but all depends on how Walcott and Giroud deliver up front aside from Sanchez and the ever versatile midfield possessed by Gunners till January window. 

For now, Walcott, Wenger and Welbeck - the three Ws of Arsenal would have to work individually in their paths to achieve the unified primary objective for the Club to make it stronger in the league. Waclott needs to score more, Wenger needs to gain back faith among the fans and Welbeck to get fit till December.

Tell us what you think by leaving a comment or two and thanks again for reading. Salud!