Arsenal: Alex Iwobi the player Mesut Ozil should be

Mesut Ozil has not impressed Unai Emery. That much is clear. The player that the Arsenal manager wants him to be, however, is Alex Iwobi. Industrious, creative, effective.

For Mesut Ozil, the arrival of Unai Emery has been a rather sharp and perhaps unwanted wake-up call. His competitive spirit has regularly been called into question throughout his languid time at Arsenal, but Emery has been hard-nosed and unforgiving when dealing with his star player.

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Ozil was named as one of Emery’s five captains in the summer. This was meant to be a meeting of great talent and great coaching, not a fraction between an insatiable intensity and lacking inconsistency.

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But since the start of the season, one thing has been clear: Ozil does not fit the character and quality of player that Emery expects and demands. Emery may still claim that Ozil is a player that he wants to use and has a future at the Emirates, but his management of his star creator suggests something very different from his public proclamations. Ozil does not provide precisely what Emery wants.

What Ozil is lacking is not ability or talent or artistry or creativity. It’s commitment, application, effort, energy. These qualities exhibit themselves in his defensive work — by defensive work, I do not just mean tracking the full-backs on overlapping runs. It incorporates everything that Emery asks of his players when they do not have the ball, which, for the attacking players, is pressing high up the pitch, hounding the opposition defenders in all parts of the pitch, as well as then dropping into disciplined positions when necessary.

In those elements, contrast Ozil to the man who replaced him on New Year’s Day, playing very sharply in a 4-1 win over Fulham. Fielded in a very similar attacking midfield position to that of Ozil, Alex Iwobi was wonderfully vibrant, on and off the ball.

He provided the same cutting distribution that Ozil does, creating three chances and assisting the opening goal, but then brought an added aspect to his performance: a willingness to run that Ozil rarely replicates. Iwobi is not nearly the same calibre of player that Ozil is. And yet, in only 40 more Premier League minutes, he has two more goals and assists than his German counterpart.

Everyone knows that Iwobi will run more than Ozil, that he will work harder than Ozil, that he will be industrious and hard-working. But the fact that he is also more productive than Ozil, an element of the game that Ozil should dominate, is damning. Quite simply, not only is Ozil not playing in the manner that Emery wants, but when he is playing, he is not producing at the level that his talent dictates.

Iwobi is the player that Ozil should be. In fact, Ozil should be better than Iwobi. Much better. But he isn’t. And for that, questions must be asked and, hopefully, answered.