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A lot has happened since Mikel Arteta last went to Goodison Park, almost exactly 12 months ago.
Back then, the Spaniard, appointed as Arsenal’s new manager the day before, sat in the manager’s box alongside manager Edu as Everton and his new club played in a goalless draw.
It was a stalemate that showed just how much Arteta would have to change to get Arsenal back on track. They barely bothered Jordan Pickford all afternoon, playing with a lack of cohesion and confidence that Everton should have exploited a little better.
When Arteta returns to Goodison, the field where he played in the Everton colors for six years, this Saturday at tea time, it is tempting to conclude that Arsenal have not come much further since last time.
While the rookie coach guided the Gunners to FA Cup glory amid a season interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, his Premier League form this season has suggested regression rather than progression.
Just four wins and seven losses in 13 games so far, which leaves Arsenal at a humble 15th place in the standings, says it all. Far from restoring confidence in his team, it seems to have been further depleted in recent months.
Arteta is finding senior management a baptism of fire, quickly learning that there can be no shortcuts or quick fixes and that his every move as manager of a leading club is intensely scrutinized.
That day, a year ago, Carlo Ancelotti looked a few meters from Arteta. The Italian had just been appointed Everton coach, succeeding Marco Silva.
His career has contrasted with that of Arsenal in subsequent months. Ancelotti has brought an unmistakable improvement to Everton and given that they are currently fifth in the table.
They will start Saturday’s game as favorites to beat Arsenal, something that was unthinkable during Arteta’s playing days for both clubs.
With Merseyside still at level two, a couple thousand Evertonians will hope their team can set foot on Arteta and their ailing team to further highlight how the two clubs are heading in opposite directions.
Arteta was a beloved figure during his time at Everton, but the nature of his departure to Arsenal in 2011 was bitter and the wounds have not fully healed since.
And therefore, Everton fans would love nothing more than to inflict Arsenal’s eighth league loss of the season here and put more pressure on Arteta’s shoulders.
Arteta, a combative but cultured defensive midfielder, played 209 times for Everton between 2005 and 2011 when David Moyes was coach.
On his initial half-season loan from Real Sociedad, he helped Everton qualify for the Champions League for the first and only time and, after signing permanently for £ 2 million that summer, was the Los Angeles’ Player of the Season. Everton fans and players in 2005-06. .
Soon the Everton faithful were giving him a serenade: ‘Go on, go on, go on / Everton is the team to follow /’ Because there is no one better than Mikel Arteta / He is the best little Spaniard we know ‘with the melody of’ The Entertainer by Scott Joplin ‘.
But the goodwill soon waned when Arteta left for Arsenal on the deadline in August 2011, with his words ‘I’m 29 years old so I don’t have much time left to take a chance like this’ by cutting some ice in Merseyside.
The chance to play regularly in the Champions League was too much to resist even if Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal had passed their heyday as a title-challenging force.
But Arteta certainly burned her bridges with the Evertonians, despite later efforts to make amends.
When Arteta went through his own goal when Arsenal lost 3-0 at Goodison in April 2014, local fans were delighted by shouting “Mikel, Mikel, what’s the score?”
In an interview when he retired from soccer in 2016, he reflected: ‘I don’t think they [the Everton fans] They understood my decision and were very disappointed, which I understand because they didn’t want me to leave.
“When I came back for my first time with Arsenal, they were upset and the reaction towards me was not what I expected. But that’s football and you can’t make everyone happy.
‘I understood that it bothered people and I am very sorry, but it was not my intention. It was because I really think the time was right for me. ‘
Soccer fans have a very long memory and while Arteta’s reception on Saturday night will not be as hostile, there will be little sympathy if Everton get all three points.
Mind you, Arteta clearly expects a different reception. He said on Friday: ‘We were very successful for the team and the resources that we had at the moment and I still have a lot of love, admiration and friends there because I am grateful.
“They treated me very, very well and I enjoyed being part of that family.”
Sadly, it’s a ‘family’ that will happily kick Arteta and Arsenal a little closer to the relegation zone this Christmas.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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