Emery Eulogises Genius Ozil After Liverpool Loss
Arsenal manager Unai Emery has heaped praises on German midfielder Mesut Ozil for his incredible performance when the side lost 5-4 on penalties to Liverpool.
Ozil has now become out of favour under the Spanish trainer as his scuffles to make the match-day squad for the Gunners lingers on.
But proving doubters wrong on Wednesday at Anfield, the former Real Madrid midfielder displayed a scintillating performance in a dramatic 5-5 full time draw with the Reds before his side lost in the shoot-out.
And known for his master-class assists, Ozil's backheel flick gave Ainsley Maitland-Niles the nod to put the Emirates based-club 4-2 ahead before Liverpool pulled a surprising comeback.
"I think he played very well," Emery told reporters. "Tonight, you've seen he is a skillful player in the team and he was very positive every time and I think he played a very good match.
"We spoke before the match, and we made the decision in the second half to take him off because he hasn't played for a little while and we want to keep his fitness as he was very tired but for him it was great to play 60/65 minutes."
"I think in that moment it is good to make that decision as we were calm and he did the work very well and we decided it was better to rest him," he added.
"It was a crazy match. I think it was amazing for the supporters, for us and everybody. For the football, I think as a supporter I enjoyed it.
"The play in the first half had a high rhythm. It was a very good performance in general, we can also speak about the defensive moments tactically but in attack, five goals. But we can't be 100 per cent happy even if we had won.
"Sometimes I think in these matches, it can help the supporters being happy with the energy, with the spirit from both teams. We were very close to the win and they equalised late on and penalties are 50/50. We are disappointed in the end, defensively because we conceded five goals but there were a lot of positives for us to use for the future."
