Arsenal star Mesut Ozil failing to adapt to Unai Emery’s new order with no protection from Arsene Wenger
MESUT OZIL is struggling to come to terms with Unai Emery’s ruthless new order at Arsenal.
The Emirates idol, 30, enjoyed protected status from indulgent former boss Arsene Wenger.
But he is finding out the hard way that Emery is a much tougher taskmaster who does not have dressing-room favourites.
Ozil reacted angrily to be being subbed midway through the second half of Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.
He blanked his manager, as he trudged off, before hurling his gloves at the dugout in disgust.
Ozil was equally upset when hauled off against Chelsea in only Emery’s second game in charge.
Emery is not impressed by such public shows of petulance from his most-feted star, despite claiming he wants players to be unhappy when they are hooked.
The Spaniard now knows Ozil may be all smiles when things are going well but he throws his toys out of the pram when he does not get his own way.
After his early substitution at Stamford Bridge, the club were forced to deny reports of a blazing row involving Ozil, Emery and assistant coach Juan Carlos Carcedo.
They claimed that his absence from the next game against West Ham was down to a mystery virus.
MORE ARSENAL STORIES
It comes down to the fact that the £350,000-a-week German is not accustomed to being treated this way.
He was substituted only three times all last season by Wenger, each time in the final few minutes with Arsenal at least two goals to the good.
But Emery has made it clear that Ozil cannot use his sublime attacking skills to excuse him from defensive duties.
The player initially responded positively to those warnings after an early experiment of playing him on the right flank was quickly abandoned in favour of a return to his preferred No10 role.
He genuinely appreciated the way the club rallied around to protect him from the fall-out which followed his retirement from Germany’s national team.
And he was happy to be named as one of the club’s five captains by the new manager.
He has regularly posted upbeat messages on social media in recent months and even agreed to interviews with Sky and the club’s in-house media channel.
But after Sunday’s game there were no "YaGunnersYa" tweets nor Instagram pictures of him joking with Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac, his two closest pals in the Arsenal dressing room.
Wenger viewed it was always worth persisting with Ozil even during one of his off-days because he might conjure something special out of nothing.
Emery expects everyone to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in.
Even a mammoth pay packet will not protect anyone who does not put in a full shift.