Arsenal: Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey on same career path

Arsenal left Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil at home as they lost to BATE Borisov, and I have to believe that they are headed in the same direction.

Watching Arsenal face BATE Borisov in Belarus was a real pain in the arse. The complete and total wastefulness from the team, in all theaters of play, was unbearable at times, and they just looked like a completely inept outfit.

And, any time something like this happens, there is a outburst of the blame game. This isn’t the first time that the cry has been “why wasn’t Mesut Ozil out there? Mesut Ozil would have changed everything. He would have created five chances and scored two goals and made this match what it should have been.”

No one can disagree, because there is no way for us to find out. But the drama surrounding Ozil has reached new heights with him being healthy enough to travel and secure a vital away leg against BATE Borisov, but instead being left at home.

While we don’t know what difference he would have made, if any, it’s pretty clear what the plan is, if there were any lingering doubts. Ozil has no future at this club so long as Unai Emery is in charge. Andrew Cole is right, it’s like a comedy sketch.

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What this essentially does is makes this season one of establishing who’s here for the long haul and who’s not. Emery has already been hesitant to rely too much on Aaron Ramsey, and it’s obvious why – he’s leaving. The deal with Juventus is signed, that’s that.

Mesut Ozil is so obviously going down the same path, so now, more than ever, Emery is not going to be using the German so long as he can avoid it.

And as long as he has Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi, Denis Suarez – he can continue to avoid it, for better or worse. It’s something we are just going to have to come to terms with which, hopefully, after the summer when the ‘untouchables’ are gone, won’t be as difficult to do.

It may be frustrating, especially for those that think that Ozil might make a difference, but I get Emery’s point of view too – he doesn’t like what Ozil brings to the team. This is Emery’s ship now, he just hasn’t had the chance to pick his own crew.

It’s a situation that won’t get any easier as the season wears on. All we can do is try our best to be patient.