By Daily Sports on December 27, 2018

Arsenal coach Unai Emery admitted that his substitutions against Brighton didn’t work, but insisted his decision to take off Mesut Ozil at halftime was only because of formation change.

The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw at Brighton on Wednesday after a lackluster second half in which they failed to create any clear-cut chances. That was after Emery took off Ozil at the break and then also substituted Alexandre Lacazette on the hour mark, despite the striker having been one of the best attacking players for the Gunners.

It was the first time Ozil has been taken off at halftime since he joined Arsenal and came after he failed to track back on the counter that led to Brighton’s equaliser – although right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner was more at fault for that goal as his poor header allowed Jurgen Locadia to come clear through on goal.

Emery confirmed that Ozil wasn’t injured but said he wasn’t unhappy with the midfielder.

“It’s only tactical – we’ve changed the idea at half-time in other matches, with other players. Today I thought to do it with Mesut, but it’s only tactical – not another problem,” he said. “Tactically, some matches I did that [made early changes] and I wanted to control it better with the positioning on the pitch. But in the second half we couldn't do our ideas on the pitch for imposing ourselves. ... We created less chances in the second half and not clear [chances].” (ESPN)

•Photo shows Mesut Ozil

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 27, 2018

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