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A Tribute To Mikel Arteta
It is ironic that as the curtain falls on six-and-a-half years service to our wonderful football club, the split in opinion on Mikel Arteta of 2011 is somewhat reminiscent to that which followed his debut back in February of 2005.
I remember vividly that day, a 2-2 draw at Southampton, with Arteta replacing Alan Stubbs as a 59th minute substitute at St Mary’s.
The side already stuttering towards the latter stages of what was to turn out one of the most glorious and unforgettable seasons in Everton’s modern-day history, the January departure of Thomas Gravesen – ironically then pretty much the clubs only technically proficient player – had left a gaping hole in a team that could otherwise only boast team-spirit, tenacity and organisation as it’s foremost attributes.
With the majority of Evertonians despondent about the cut-price departure of a player who had really been the team’s driving force, there was little hope or excitement about the arrival of Arteta on a short-term loan deal, a player who many said had “not even stood out in Scotland” – having previously played out a 2 season 50 game spell at Glasgow Rangers.
From his first touches of the ball following that 59th-minute introduction on the South Coast though, I just knew that we had a player. On a bobbly pitch he was controlling over-hit passes like the majority of the rest in Blue couldn’t manage on a bowling green. Given the ball in tight areas, surrounded by opposition players, instead of hoofing it into the stand, up in the air, or giving it to the nearest Blue shirt like a hot potato….here was a player with a clear belief in his touch and ability, a player who would take the hit and win the free kick instead of passing the buck,and who would look to retain possession as opposed to clearing his lines at the first sign of a challenge. Quite simply…my kind of player. A footballer, in the truest sense.
You could imagine my surprise, as later that night, as I do, I logged onto the various forums to read other Evertonians opine such views as “Arteta looks shit..he’s too small”…….”yeah, he’s lightweight,not strong enough for The Premiership”……”Arteta did nothing when he came on” etc etc.
All this time on, after a career in Blue that most would agree has been an unmitigated success, I once again find myself scratching my head at the comments of a number of Evertonians that “Arteta is finished”….”he only passes sideways”……”£10m is a good price for a 29-year-old” etc…with seemingly no acknowledgement or respect for the simple, yet simply brilliant attributes that the mercurial Spaniard has brought to this team since his arrival.
Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion,of course, but mine – which I am going to state here – is that we have just witnessed the departure of one of the finest players to grace the colours of this club for probably 30 years.
I find it a very sad state of affairs that we find at Everton Football Club nowadays where a large percentage of the fan-base have seemingly been brainwashed into an acceptance of mediocrity,and worse than that an acceptance, or even willingness to embrace, this idea that “perspiration is better than inspiration”. It isn’t, it never has been, and it’s not the Everton way.
Mikel Arteta, for me, embodies many of the values and attributes that the rich history of this club was once built upon. Technique AND tenacity, but most of all….CLASS, STYLE, DIGNITY. A true “School of Science” footballer.
Having played all across the midfield during his time at the club, Mikel has never once complained and simply got on with the job, whatever he was asked to do.
In each role, he hasn’t only played football with a style, panache and nonchalance that served as a doff of the cap to some of our legends of yesteryear, he has worked his socks off too.
There are few players in world football with the genuine ability to have impacted top level games from the left, the right and the centre as often as Mikel Arteta has over the course of his Everton career, and that’s a fact.
He has had countless stand-out displays in each position, against a range of opposition, from putting poor sides the likes of Hull to the sword with a conductor-like central midfield masterclass, to his traction-engine display from another planet on that night under the Goodison lights against Fiorentina.
Quite simply, Mikel Arteta is the kind of player, and man, that I feel truly satisfied, happy, proud and privileged to have paid my money to see on such a regular basis.
There have been times when he has been genuinely world class, and there have been times when he has been out of sorts. But through all of those positional changes, and all of the peaks-and-troughs in form, there has always been one constant in the way Mikel Arteta has played his football – the way it should be, the School of Science way.
“He only passes sideways” they tell me, as if ignoring the plethora of interchanging, fast-flowing, intelligent moving options up-ahead of him..that clearly don’t exist. I have to wonder, if he didn’t already have a name and reputation, I wonder what kind of reception a player like Xavi would get at Goodison these days? “Don one Xavi laaaad, £80 grand a week and ya caaan’t even beat 7 men from yer own ‘aaaf and smash one in.” But then it’s easy to go forwards when you have the likes of Iniesta, Messi, Villa, Pedro, Sanchez buzzing off you, isn’t it?
Maybe the downfall of Mikel Arteta in the context of the current “People’s Club” is that he is incapable of playing in whathas now become “The Everton Way”. What was once about the Corinthian Spirit, The Holy trinity, The School of Science, is now all about playing percentages, not getting caught on the ball in dangerous positions,not taking 10 passes to “hit the front-man” when you can lay it off to the skippers pitching-wedge and get the job done in one?
Everton fans seem to have very selective memories, and strangely history re-writing memories. “He’s not been the same since the injury” is a popular one that has been doing the rounds this week, yet I can’t quite fathom that one.
It is just 18 months ago, post-injury, that Mikel Arteta was made Everton’s highest paid player ever, to universal acclaim. As I recall, there were no doubts at all about his form or fitness then, as he was tearing midfields the likes of Manchester City to shreds. In fact, I would go as far as to say, he was in the form of his career. But then, as you can pinpoint during most of the hugely successful spells of Arteta’s career, he had someone to ‘play off’. That man was Steven Pienaar.
Arteta’s quality, from the first game to the last, has in my opinion never diminished. His game has altered, modified and adapted several times, as would the game of any great player over a period of time from his early to late twenties. Just look at the progression and metamorphosis of Paul Scholes’s career from an out-and-out attacking midfielder/forward to a deep-lying playmaker at Manchester United as an example.
Of recent Mikel had been asked to play much deeper than he had previously,and despite the fact that I don’t like him much, I do credit manager David Moyes for his intentions in making that change.
Our team, for too long, for almost the entire Moyes era, has been far too direct. Whether down to Moyes himself, or perhaps with the input of Steve Round, Arteta was deployed as our own ‘Paul Scholes’, asked to take the ball from the defence and make the play. Sadly, it seems to me, that this is a role – perhaps because it has been notable by it’s absence for so long – that is simply not understood or acknowledged by Evertonians as an important one these days.
My view on that is quite the opposite; it is an essential one in this team’s progression if we are going to reach beyond being anything more than a plucky ‘also-ran’, a side that can “beat anyone on their day”, to a side capable of taking out the trash on a regular basis and getting the job done.
Top teams nurse the ball, they boss possession, and they control football games for the majority of the 90 minutes. Whether you are looking for a goal, or looking to stop a goal..the best way to do either is by having possession of the football. You will only ever achieve that by having more players of the quality of Mikel Arteta, not by complaining when they refuse to needlessly give the ball away, or by celebrating less ‘subtle’ players, like some of the bumbling buffoons who have partnered him of recent.
Mikel Arteta is the quintessential possession footballer and it is not hard for me to see just why Arsene Wenger would want him at Arsenal, with the experience, composure, know-how and class that he will add to that team.
When a player is as good as Arteta, I think that certainly fans start to take things for granted. I don’t. I look around the pitch at the likes of Fellaini and Tim Cahill, players revered by large sections of our fanbase, and at times trapping a football, or simply turning in another direction to the one they are facing with it at their feet without looking like a JCB just seems too much to ask….yet the punters ‘lap-up’ these types of player.
Whilst Mikel, gliding across the turf, taking it right foot or left foot, twisting and turning, maneuvering the ball and his body with an impudent elegance that makes it all seem effortless..has been pilloried for not playing imaginary ‘Hollywood’ defence splitting through-passes, that in reality simply aren’t on. It really is a crying shame.
The ability to trap a football, with either foot, to control it and turn into space at the same time…even to find a players feet crisply, on the deck, who is just 10 yards away, but then have the intelligence to still move towards him instead of turning your back, to offer the out-ball….these are beautifully simplistic attributes that people simply cannot see the value in right now, it seems to me.
All I can say to those people who have missed it is that sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. But, you will, mark my words, you will.
Mikel Arteta, thank you. Thank you for the last 6 1/2 years. Thank you for playing football in a way that this club was once renowned for, thank you for honouring the style, substance and character of some of the great men who have gone before you, and thank you for being a true gentleman and the ultimate role-model during your time at Everton Football Club.
Thank you for making it a pleasure to watch you. For the free-kicks, the little turns, the touch, the guile, the craft, quality and sheer excellence of more or less every touch. Thanks for being a shining light of real football through the last 9 years of bland efficiency.
A great player, a great man, and a great, great loss to Everton Football Club.
A modern-day Everton legend, without a shadow of a doubt.
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28 Comments
For once , I actually agree with you , his impact off the pitch will be a massive loss also . He was one of the few players the rest of the team looked up to , a quality like that is difficult to replace without a transfer budget that is way beyond us . For £10m , Arsenal have got a bargain
you say everyone is entitled to there opinion so how come you slaughter anybody who disagrees with you .
vile
What a superb article.
A testament to the class and grace of Mikel Arteta.
The School of Science never will close down.
Though I have started watching football since 2006-2007 as an Arsenal Fan, I do not have very clear recollection of seeing Arteta in action. This article is a very well written one an I wish more of the Gooners pay this type of tribute to Fabregas. Really appreciate the sentiment and hoping his off-field influence will be even better than the on-field one.
To digress, I think the same mentality (hoof it up and stick it in) is taking root in Arsenal fan base too. Which is a shame.
I remember Arsenal team of 2007-2008 when as a team we played like that for most of the season but since then we have slowly giving it up in terms of aggression(playing for one another in that, you pass the ball to an empty space and you can expect one of your team mates to arrive there).
I agree this approach is mostly negated by teams which play two banks of 4 people deep in their own half. But to really use it properly, you need to have a different caliber of people (all of the team not two or three in the molds of Fabregas, Nasri and Wilshire). We needed Hleb and Pires type of players on the wing and RvP & Bergkamp up front.
superb article…hail the author 100 times..much of the bad comments of toffees fans are from the frustration about losing him..
Arteta..a class act to the football world from spain..
my team will benefit from that in the upcoming yrs.
Getting a bit fed up with all this self pitying and mawkish nostalgia. I’m sorry we’ve lost Arteta – undoubted great player and we will all have fond memories. But as for “…there have been times when he has been out of sorts”… afraid to say that included most/all of last season and seemingly spilling over into this one. Looking forward we can expect Baines now to be the undisputed main man for the dead ball (long overdue), hopefully Rodwell will seize the opportunity to step up and develop a partnership with Fellaini and for Osman to be more expressive, plus more starts for young Barkley (hoping Moyes doesn’t mishandle impatient talent as he did with Rooney). Also serves to keep spotlight on Kenwright and Co to shape up or ship out.
Tho’ not as large as we’d like we still have a squad of good players who could yet surprise those who already have us relegated.
Graham….. “vile”
Bit melodramatic that mate, was a good article all in all, be nice
Great article
‘The ability to trap a football, with either foot, to control it and turn into space at the same time…even to find a players feet crisply, on the deck, who is just 10 yards away, but then have the intelligence to still move towards him instead of turning your back, to offer the out-ball….these are beautifully simplistic attributes that people simply cannot see the value in right now, it seems to me.’
Very true. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, sadly.
Great article that many Arsenal fans will read as well as it has appeared on our news feed. Kudos to the author.
Arteta has massive boots to fill but I’m sure he’ll do a sterling job for us. I identified him as an Arsenal player many seasons ago and finally in our time of need we’ve gone for him.
Arteta and Wilshere will be a superb partnership in midfield. He’ll enjoy his football at Arsenal. Fsbregas is of course irreplaceable, but we didn’t have one before and we won titles. Manchester United didn’t have one last season and won the title.
I have every confidence that Wilshere and Arteta will create plenty of chances.
One big bonus about Arteta is he’s been through the footballimg school of hard knocks and considers playing for us a massive privilege unlike some of the spoiled youths who graduate with a sense of entitlement and a false sense of superiority. One such example is Bendtner who I’m delighted has left us. He’ll never be as good as Adebayor.
Arteta is the new type of signing we’re after, eager to play for us, delighted to be in the Champions League (rather than considering it a birthright), willing to put a shift in and not afraid of the hard knocks, they’ve been there and can handle it.
Fantastic piece. Always thought he was a class act on the pitch but have also now realised he’s the same off it. He left your club with a lot of dignity as did Cesc with arsenal. Looking forward to his partnership with Wilshere, should be some fantastic play from those two this season.
Good luck for the season, a proper club, I hope things turn round for you soon
Agree 100% with the article. Gutted Arteta has gone – fine footballer, and a class act as a person. Hope he finds success at Arsenal
Great article, quality player, amazed he’s never played for Spain
He was a fantastic player till his injury. Good luck to him, but he isn’t the player he was
Wow, stunning article. Great read.
I think we (The Arsenal) are really lucky to get Arteta. I have watched him play right across the middle for Everton and often wondered whether his best position would be in the advanced midfield role of a 4-3-3. Guess I’m about to find out.
As a previous poster said, Good Luck for the season. A proper club.
Here’s a deal. We’ll try harder with Arteta’s help to overturn your horrible neighbours next time around, and in return, you can stuff the Spuds for us.
Cheers and have a good ‘un.
forget whatever happened to Mikel..
once he get a chance to play amongst the likes of Wilshere,Robin,Song,Gervinho,Yossi…etc he will be lethal than before under the guidance of master Arsene n before the Gunners faithful…
A fantastic player, a gentleman who I had the honour of meeting a couple of times, and I genuinely believe if him and Jags had been fit for the FA cup final, we would have won the trophy.
What doesn’t sit well with me, though, is his desperation to leave..his willingness to take a 10-20 grand a week pay cut to see this move go through. It wasn’t like last year when there was rumours he wanted to go back to Spain, we could understand that. However, Arsenal are on the verge of imploding and I think they’ll struggle to finish top 6 this year, never mind top 4.
I don’t particularly want him to have success, but thats based more on the fact that Arsene Wenger is a crying, moaning, lying piece of turd.
I’m sure he’ll have second-guessed his decision when the Arse crash out of the Champions League, or when he looks around a silent Emirates of a weekend, whether they are winning or not.
Up the Toffees!
Shame you turned a “tribute to Arteta” into a “defence of Arteta” – he doesn’t need defending, he has always been class, from his first touch to the last. Yes there have been some wobbles along the way, but I used to love watching him play, just wish we had more like him.
He will stand out at Arsenal as they play his style of football, we do as well, but Arsenal have better technical players – he will bring a focus to their play.
I’ll miss him, but I fully expect the remaining players to step up to the plate and maintain possession and play football like it should be played, my only worry is the Straq Attack guy, if we have a big number 9 who can “hold the ball well” will we revert to hoofball?
Hope not, I’m hoping that Drenthe and Coleman will provide the width he needs to get in the box and Cahill or Fellaini will be there for any knockdowns.
I’m starting to get quite excited about the new signings, we have a good team and a good manager, we’ll miss Arteta for all he bought to the club, on and off the pitch, but we are Everton and we’ll give him a good reception when he’s back – just as long as he doesn’t score like…
Quality read that- a paean to a great player and more importantly to the embodiment of real footballing skills. There are sections of the Arsenal support that would also prefer a more direct, grafting and less elegant style. Hopefully Arteta will be back in the form of his first 5 years at Everton when he plays for us against Swansea. Sad for Everton to lose him so late in the window- always had real respect for your club and “the school of science”- I wish you good luck with the season
Top article – Of all the things he did the most memorable for me was the way he represented his club off the pitch – he understood what it meant to play for Everton and I am gutted he has left us. But great players have left us before and we carry on and make the most of what we have …….write us off at your perill “Big Club” wannabees… things will feel and be better soon……For me I say thanks for your class Mikel – good luck to you. And finally onwards and upwards and watch out world Ross Barkley is about to astound you!
syzlack………. yeah i agree mate bit out of place that after that post , should react to his other comments after he makes them . keep smiling
. love the banter anyway . he called me brick for brains once (shocking)ha ha
Graham , brick brain!!!!! Well I hope you are recovering from that one mate.
Sorry didn’t realise there was some history there. I’ll keep my nose out in future, all the best
There is so much to admire in this piece, which rightly emphasises Mickel’s achievements at our club. He was and I think still is a class act. He is and always will be a real gentleman and is a huge miss in the dressing room. Watching him was great, a real school of science player and at times a joy to behold when let’s face it we rarely can say that about a lot of our performances on the field. He owes us nothing and I wish him all the best at Arse where, with some very good players around him, he will improve, a lot, on the last 18 months.
BUT…. I hope there remains room for voices not quite in tune with the argument about his sale which feels to me to be more about the blue unions view of the mess we are in, and yes we are in a bloody awful mess. It feels like this is all about “history”. Yep he was a great player for us, one of the best, no doubt. But you cannot write off the last 18 months as if it didn’t happen? MA has been very poor since his new wage deal. He has always been a player a little pronevto injury and you have to live with that. But his form over the last two seasons has not just been iffy it’s been awful. He has made little impact when we needed it most. Some moments of course, UTD at home, that gutsy penalty last week. But honestly, it’s just my view, he was not doing it on the pitch and yes we hailed his new deal as signs of ambition but then his performances have been far below that level. I’m very sorry to see him go, but whatever the conspiracy theories I just think £10m for a guy approaching 30 and not playing at his best was good business, timing terrible, but there are some positives in a sad situation.
I appreciate the chance to respond given by SOS and hope I don’t get a “vile” slagging in return !
Cheers,
Thanks for all the great comments, first thing I have written for a long time…I had to make the effort for Mikel.
Great article mate. I’ll always feel privileged to have seen Mikel live many times, he was invariably a pleasure to watch and I wish him all the best. It will be a long time before we see a player like him in a blue shirt again, sadly.
Arteta wll be missed so much. I pray Everton will find another player like him.
When Arteta played well Everton played well
I appreciate everything he did for the club but the manner in which he left make it difficult to call him an “Everton Legend”. “Everton Legends” don’t wait until the club’s darkest hour before walking out. “Everton Legends” don’t gladly take record pay packets from Everton when funds are low at the club but then volunteer to take less at another team just to get away from us. He did not leave in style. He bled us dry for the past year and a half and then left for less wages. He broke many of our hearts.
At last, an article that I agree with. The loss of Arteta is more than the loss of a player, it’s the loss of what he (& Pienaar) embody – quality, quick thinking, creative adaptive footballers. Real football players, players that you are proud to have in the club/team. Everton, whether through chance or design, have a lot of functional football players – Neville, Cahill, Jag’s, Distin – this is not a bad thing, but all graft over craft is not what we should strive. To give Moyes his due, I believe he had to get the team functionally effective prior to adding flair, sadly, just as he started to assemble a team (midfield, at least – Pienaar, Arteta, Felli) that were comfortable on the ball, it has been sold from under him. If the situation remains as is in the boardroom, I really fear for the future of Everton – Kenwright is no Hicks & Gillette, but in his own way he is killing the club.