Arsenal Vs Bournemouth: Mesut Ozil did everything you could ask for

Mesut Ozil put in an extremely encouraging performance in Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Boxing Day. He is doing everything that can be asked of him under new head coach, Mikel Arteta.

Mikel Arteta said he was going to give every player he inherited at Arsenal a ‘clean slate’. It did not matter what they had done previously, positively or negatively, his preconceptions would be rid of. This was a new era of the team, and Arteta was keen to start it from scratch.

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For someone like Mesut Ozil, this cleaning perspective presented an opportunity. He has underperformed for several years under several managers, his laziness only serving to illustrate his ineffectiveness. He is a luxury player without the magic. That is a bad combination.

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But his talent is undeniable. Even during these rough recent years, there are brief, fleeting moments when his ability comes to the fore. Ozil is capable of creativity of quality that few other players in the world are. The problem is that he does not harness it.

Arteta’s arrival, then, and the fact that it comes with a blank opportunity to impress, might just finally get the real Ozil to turn up. Indeed, in Arteta’s first match, the 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Boxing Day, more prominent glimpses of the ‘real Ozil’ appeared.

In a free-roaming number 10 position, Arsenal were able to engineer several openings to play passes into the feet of Ozil, who then turned towards the Bournemouth defence to supply the frontline. Ozil created four chances from open play, the most any Arsenal player has in one game all season.

After the match, Arteta was asked about the performance of his star playmaker:

"“To be fair his attitude in training since the day that I walked in the building has been incredible. I’ve seen this. I’ve said that I was going to give a clean slate to everybody and it was fair to give it to him. When we did the game preparation and were watching the opponents, where we could hurt them, we believed that he could be a key point. We prepared the game like this with him. He responded, did what he had to do, and we could’ve scored two or three goals because of him.”"

Arteta was unquestionably pleased with both the quality of Ozil’s individual outing and his attitude in training. It is this latter point that is the most pertinent, here. Ozil has always possessed the ability to produce individual displays like he did against Bournemouth. Even last season, the worst of his senior career, featured a wonderful, quintessential Ozil showing against Leicester City.

But what Arteta needs to see from Ozil to entrust his team to the World Cup winner is effort, industry, work-rate, commitment and application, characteristics that he is not exactly known for. Ozil may be talented, but is he willing to work in the manner that Arteta will undoubtedly demand of him?

It has only been one week and one game, but so far, the answer is ‘yes’; and whether that remains the case is a very different question, but for now, Ozil is doing everything that can be asked of him.