Arsenal: I’d forgotten what the Mesut Ozil “feels” felt like

Arsenal played brilliantly against BATE Borisov, as was expected, and it was largely in part to Mesut Ozil of all people, who brought us back to the feels.

Arsenal did exactly what you’d have expected in the crucial return leg against BATE Borisov – they won conclusively and moved on to the next stage of the Europa League. After collecting a 1-0 defeat in the away leg, they brought it home with a 3-0 win at the Emirates.

One of the major talking points was the presence of Mesut Ozil, who was placed in his favored No. 10 role and he had fun with it.

There are times when you can lose yourself in watching Mesut Ozil play. It sounds corny, and it’s a cliche that is way overdone, but the best way to describe it is like watching an artist paint. He really does do things that no one else has the capacity to do, and he makes it look so easy. His vision is unmatched.

This level of ability hasn’t been seen by Ozil for months. Leicester City was the last time we saw him at his best, and thus, I forgot what it felt like to get the “feels” of watching Ozil play. Even if he wasn’t really at his best against Borisov, he was the closest he had been in quite some time, and even that closeness was enough of a reminder.

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Mesut Ozil was like a floating, formless, hovering presence that bobbed-and-weaved throughout play, leading the attack with the most touches and conducting play like we all know he can do, when he’s used to his best.

With so much possession in our favor and BATE Borisov unable to muster up much of a response, Ozil had his pick of the litter when it came to how he played the game. He didn’t face a lot of pressure, and there was constant movement and options around him and, while he didn’t play every ball exactly perfectly, there were still those moments where the feelings set in, reminding us of what he was capable of.

Ozil finished the match with the second most touches on the team, he created three chances, only beaten by a marauding Mkhitaryan and the set-piece master of ceremonies, Granit Xhaka. He was not dispossessed a single time.

It was solid. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good.

The caveat is… well, it was only BATE Borisov. This is what we should be expecting out of Ozil every single match, given who he is.

But this is a great start. A great chance for him to get back into the swing of regular first team play.