Arsenal: Did Unai Emery make a mistake subbing out Mesut Ozil?

Arsenal manager Unai Emery substituted captain Mesut Ozil in the 68th minute, but was this substitution a mistake or did he make the right call?

When Danny Welbeck stood by the fourth official, I felt certain he was going on the left, Auba was moving up top and Laca’s night was done. Instead, Arsenal manager Unai Emery opted to remove Mesut Ozil from the action.

Did Unai Emery make a mistake subbing out Mesut Ozil?

You know the set up: Arsenal hold a one goal lead at Selhurst Park. Xhaka and Lichtsteiner are the fullbacks. And in Ozil, your captain and architect, you have one of a handful of players in the world who can pick out a game changing pass at any moment. You sub in Welbeck for an under-performing Lacazette and you go on and kill the game. Right?

Emery wanted to recreate the second half magic from Craven Cottage with Welbeck as his play maker linking up with Lacazette. In his post-match comments the manager said his changes were aimed precisely at killing the game:

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"“I think we had lost a little bit of possession <…> and the match was more for a transition than our last matches. With Danny and Lacazette I wanted to find one good transition between both and get more goals.Also with free-kicks <…> Danny Welbeck is very good with this moment defensively and also offensively.”"

He was watching the same game we were. When Arsenal built with possession it was often a laborious process. There was no space to attack because the Eagles shaped up in their own half and refused to be dragged out of position. Ozil truly needed to be a no.10 and run at the Palace defense. Instead he rarely showed for the ball.

In contrast, when breaking from midfield only the final ball was missing. In a handful of quick passes Arsenal skipped through midfield and carved out chances. Adding Welbeck makes sense. He never stops working and he could turn those scraps into goals. But you remember the result.

Unai Emery was trusting his players to see out the win. He never doubted them. I think that is my takeaway. He trusted Xhaka completely at left back. And for 80 minutes his trust was rewarded. He was convinced Welbeck would produce in midfield where Ozil did not. Laca and Iwobi were constantly losing possession, yet the manager had complete faith that they only needed one chance to secure all three points.

So did the manager drop two points subbing Mesut Ozil or did his players let him down?