Martin Keown Aims Extraordinary Verbal Assault at Mesut Ozil After Europa League Exit

Martin Keown slammed Mesut Ozil following Arsenal's Europa League semi-final exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Thursday evening; insisting that the German is not fit to wear the Arsenal shirt.

A sole Diego Costa strike on the stroke of half-time was enough to see the Gunners dumped out 2-1 on aggregate in a contest where the north Londoners registered just one shot on target throughout the second leg.

The attacking midfielder was again scrutinised for his particularly limp performance and following the defeat, former Arsenal captain Keown insisted to BT Sport, as quoted by The Mirror, that Ozil was doing more damage than good to his side's plight.

Arsenal’s main failings.
1) For a decade not good enough at the back.
2) Ozil is just a flat track bully, and fails to show up in games that matters.
3) Arsene has moved away from pace and power that won him so much in his early years

Agree or disagree
— Ian Abrahams (Moose) (@BroadcastMoose) May 3, 2018

"I haven't been happy with him for some time, and it seems as if he picks and chooses his games," the 51-year-old said. "He was on the edge of things today. He seems to get lost in the defensive traffic; you can hide a little bit in that position.

"When Wenger made the change and Wilshere came off, at times I was watching and thinking 'well are you going to get back for your team are you actually going to put a shift in?'. You know the great players I've played with, your Bergkamps and your Henrys, they worked hard as well.

"I don't think this team can carry anybody - and tonight it looked like they had been carrying him."

Fair play to the Arsenal fans. Turned up in their thousands, shoved up in the Gods, sang their hearts out, and were treated to some hapless, shapeless defending (Chambers decent, rest poor), Ozil going missing, and the season ending with a whimper. #afc
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) May 3, 2018

Co-pundit and former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jermaine Jenas argued that Ozil was not the type of player to put the hard yards in; which only further incensed Keown.

"Yes, but I think he can get on the ball, demand the ball, make things tick as a Vieira would have done," the Arsenal legend continued. "Show some drive, show some energy. He's on the edge of it. It's almost like he's got his hands in the air and saying 'these players aren't as good as me'.

"And it's almost like somebody needed to grab him a long time ago and give him a shake and say 'we're trying to get the ball to you, we are working for you, but you're not working for us'.

I think Mesut Ozil is an extremely talented player but whoever decided to pay him £400k a week needs firing. He's the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake kind of player and we've got no cake and no icing. His influence on games just doesn't justify it.
— Orbinho (@Orbinho) May 3, 2018

"I bet he doesn't play again this season. He'll have some emotional breakdown and won't be able to play at the weekend.

"I don't know how many illnesses he's had this season. The fella is not kidding me. That is not a proper performance. He's not giving everything and there's much more under the bonnet. Somebody else will find it.

"Whether the new manager coming can find it I don't know. It's a big problem for the new manager because Wenger's invested an awful lot of money in this player and I'm not seeing a performance to go with it.

"He wasn't fit to wear the shirt tonight. And I've seen this a lot this season and it needs to be said because he needs to be dug out because we expect more from him. He's a World Cup-winner. These are crocodile tears that I'm seeing from the player. He's not conning me.

"Listen, I've had my say on it and I feel he's not giving enough for Arsenal Football Club. And maybe Arsene Wenger should come out and say a little bit more about some of these players that should have performed for him and he's one that hasn't."