Embarrassed Arsenal Dig Themselves Into A Hole Over Mesut Ozil’s Knee

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The argument over Ozil’s knee problem rumbles on.

The knee injury picked up by Mesut Ozil has thrown injury-ridden Arsenal into further turmoil, and its ramifications don’t end with squad depth, as the dispute between the Gunners and the German football federation has continued, ESPN reported.

The troubled playmaker was originally diagnosed with a knee problem when he arrived with the Germany squad, and was sent to a doctor in Munich on Wednesday. The German FA then reported the results of the scan, and stated that Ozil would “likely be out for 10 to 12 weeks.”

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Arsenal responded later that day, saying that it was “too early to say how long Ozil may be out of action”. While this statement may well be true, the contradiction gave the impression that Arsenal were embarrassed that they had not picked up on the injury themselves, and were trying to save face by contradicting the German medical staff.

When confronted by the Arsenal response on Thursday, Germany assistant Thomas Schneider rejected the implication that his medical team’s diagnosis might be incorrect.

Wenger has now responded to Schneider’s response, telling the club’s website today that Arsenal “will follow [their] own recommendations,” ESPN reported.

This second unnecessary response simply adds weight to the petty sentiment of the first, and the re-diagnosis of the injury by the Arsenal medical staff as being bad enough to keep Ozil out for “at least two months” seems to be taking great pains to sound different to the German diagnosis of “12 weeks” while amounting to pretty much the same thing.

It’s not surprising that Arsenal might feel embarrassed about the state of the injury list, but picking fights over technicalities won’t solve anything.

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