It was interesting to practice 10 Vs 11 against City

By 1970's Gooner

It's not very often that a team gets the chance to practice, in real life conditions, a 10 against 11. It of course happens when a player is sent off and then the rest of the players have to play that extra hard and with determination to get a result.

Arsenal were indeed playing with 10 men against the 11 of City. But this was from the beginning of the match, for dozy Ozil was (not) at it again. He went missing as he often does in the big games. He doesn't fight, is not determined, does not mark, does not tackle and his passing is inaccurate.

Mezut Ozil is Arsenal's engine and like for every machinery if that engine is for whatever reason short circuited then the rest do not and cannot work.

This is what happens when Ozil is not at the races as the rest of the players are not that creative to take up that role. Xhaka and Coquelin are mainly defensive players. Walcott and Iwobi are wide players and Cazorla who would have offered some creativeness is of course missing.

He is missing because Wenger selected him to play against Ludogorets at the Emirates, a tie that we were odds on favourites to win. It was a mistake of course taking into account his injury record.

The other player that could have offered some creativity is Ramsey but he has been burnt out due to the curious decision by Wenger to start him in the first game of the season after his heroics in the Euros. For some reason he rested Koscienly and Giroud but not Ramsey....

The absence of Ozil in the City game meant that the only creative player left on the pitch was Sanchez who was finding himself coming back to play the role of playmaker.

Ozil has no divine right to start let alone not being substituted. He has been letting the team down more often than not this season and his attitude is unacceptable.

Wenger should have taken him off when he put the Ox on and kept Iwobi on. Iwobi could have moved in the number 10 role instead. He would have had a much bigger impact on the game for the remaining minutes than what Ozil offered for three quarters of the game.

But no, Ozil is irreplaceable! Well he isn't.

And if he doesn't want to sign a new contract then he can hop off to China.