Mesut Ozil claims Arteta has finally got Arsenal players understanding tactics after Emery’s failure in rare interview

MESUT OZIL has aimed a sly dig at former boss Unai Emery after claiming the Arsenal players finally understand how their manager wants them to play.

The Gunners playmaker heaped praise on Mikel Arteta as he stated he still believes that the North London side will finish in the top five this season.

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Ozil has been a regular in the starting XI under his former team-mate, having often been left out of matchday squads under Emery.

And the Arsenal ace believes that there is now a clear message on how the squad is being set out to play.

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Speaking on the tactics under Arteta, Ozil told Middle Eastern newspaper  : "Everyone knows. Even the players - let’s say that after 60 or 70 minutes, if that player’s changing, everyone knows now in which position they have to play or how [the manager] wants to attack or make a lot of pressure on the opposite team. This kind of stuff.

"So, right now, everybody knows tactically that we’re improving. It’s just two months that Mikel has been here, and we have improved a lot tactically.

“Of course, now it’s hard times for us. It’s difficult to say because right now everything is not going well, but we know if everything is going well, if the confidence is back and if we take the right results, we will end in the top four, in the top five.

“We have to believe in ourselves, believe in us as a team, to do what the coach wants.

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"We’re in a good way, you see it as well on the pitch, everyone enjoys, everyone is happy. As a player, you have to be happy to give everything on the pitch."

Ozil isn't the only player that has taken aim at Emery recently, with Bernd Leno stating that players were "confused on the pitch" under the tutelage of the Spaniard.

He declared: "The mentality out on the pitch, I don’t want to say it was a mess, but it was a bit confusing. Everyone was doing different things. We were not a team.