ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Arteta a genius?

Great to see Everton back to winning ways yesterday, but it stands out like a sore thumb how absolutely reliant we are on Mikel Arteta for the team to produce any decent football whatsoever.

Mikel was out injured for 3 games and Everton struggled badly. We were abysmal in all of them. Surprise, surprise: he comes back into the team against Boro and we get back to winning ways. My question is this, just how good is Arteta? For me he must be one of the best if not the best midfielder in the Premier League. He has great vision, two excellent feet, is fantastic from the dead-ball situation, has a great engine, rarely gives the ball away and chips in with goals. He also possesses that bit of trickery which all the greats have.

If he keeps playing like this he´s soon going to be very hot property indeed and Everton will have their work cut out in order to keep hold of him. In a couple of years if he keeps improving at the rate he is doing he´ll be in the Zidane / Maradona bracket if you ask me. Maybe he lacks a bit of pace and the goal-scoring instinct but he´s certainly the most talented player to pull on a Blue shirt I´ve seen in a very long time.
Robert Prince, Sevilla Posted 01/10/2007 at 20:14:32

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peter sosnowy
1 Posted 01/10/2007 at 20:42:42

The problem is you are right, without him we lack passion, vision, foresight & will to win, he look’s comfortable on the ball & without (making space), if only we had a few more in his mold!!

Keith Glazzard
2 Posted 01/10/2007 at 20:39:09

No doubt - now - about Arteta’s quality. When we signed him I was working with a good lad with Glasgow connections who said ’a bit lightweight’.

And he may have been right, at the time. But it depends on what role you expect someone to play, and then - very importantly - how you bring them through into this very tough league of ours. And Moyes and his staff have done a great job in bringing through a good - great? - player. Certainly up among the best in the Prem right now, and my Spanish mates all tell me he’s going to sign for them. I doubt it.

Peter Singer
3 Posted 01/10/2007 at 21:39:19

He’s certainly not like Zidane or Maradona, he’s a different type of player. What makes him so good is the perfect mixture of hard work and talent.

Philip Jones
4 Posted 01/10/2007 at 21:53:14

"Maybe he lacks a bit of pace"? He showed a clean pair of heels to Ameobe last season (I think it was last season)?

Anthony Jaras
5 Posted 01/10/2007 at 22:45:12

I just hope that we can get all our injured players back asap.

Mikel is sorely missed when he is out, and even just getting one player back made a difference to the way we attacked each time we entered the final third.

The thought of a team line up of;

Howard

Neville
Lescott
Yobo
Baines

Arteta
Graveson
Cahill
Piennar

Johnson
Yakubu/Anichebe/McFadden

Has goals, creativity, pace and power in it.

I just hope that this is the team that will be picked if/when they are all fit together.

I can see a good shape to it.

Blue Swede
6 Posted 01/10/2007 at 23:45:14

I like Arteta as much as the next man. However it is high time we saw him dominate against tuff opposition. God forbid that he bottles it the against tuffer opposition.

John Andrews
7 Posted 02/10/2007 at 00:03:28

Anthony, The chances of you seeing your team selected are virtually nil.
No Carsley or Neville in midfield ? Heaven forbid ! You should remember that our manager does not like the idea of attacking teams and would prefer to grind out a 1-0 win any day.
Blue Swede, The chances of Arteta dominating against tougher opposition are also virtually nil. Unless you expect him to do it on his own ! All the time we play with two defensive midfielders it just leaves two others to create anything. That is why both Johnson and Yakubu appear to be struggling at the moment.

colin malone
8 Posted 02/10/2007 at 00:55:31

I vaguley Remember, Davey dithered over Mikel befor signing him. Can anyone help me out here on this one? We had him on loan?, Then Davey started he,s dithering? Yes or No?

Yankee Blue
9 Posted 02/10/2007 at 01:07:04

I wonder how much would it cost to genetically clone another Arteta. Is this part of Blue Bill’s master plan??

Alisdair Denny
10 Posted 02/10/2007 at 09:01:35

Colin, the answer to your questions would be yes we had him on loan, but no, Moyes didn’t start dithering. However the club did spend a bit of time coming to agreement with his agent on personal terms. If I remember correctly, those negotiations resulted in a saving of about a million pounds a year for the club.

Tommy Coleman
11 Posted 02/10/2007 at 09:03:50

I love Arteta, he is my saving grace in this Everton team and is my fav player since Pat Nevin, but Maradona/Zidane he is not and never will be.
While he has been playing great for the last two years I cannot remember him really doing the business against a top side. For him to progress further he will need to be surrounded by better players, I hope that is at Everton.

John Holmes
12 Posted 02/10/2007 at 09:50:06

Agreed Arteta is the heartbeat of the team but I think you overplay the fact we’re lost without him. Any team is going to suffer from the loss of their best player but remember we’re also missing two European top class central midfielders as well. With them out too it’s hardly surprising that losing your best player is a blow.

Neil Millichip
13 Posted 02/10/2007 at 10:38:34

Arteta is sheer quality. Why he has not won a single Spanish cap is staggering. I think we need to sign another play maker in Jan so that we don’t have to rely on him to be the only play-maker in the team. That would take some of the work load of his shoulders. One genius is great but having a back up would be even better.

rob jones
14 Posted 02/10/2007 at 10:59:54

dont forget we had cahill out as wel so that goes towards losin pace and talent

Martin Berry
15 Posted 02/10/2007 at 11:25:58

Arteta is hot property, and no doubt what were seeing, other managers are seeing with enviable eyes. Yes we have him on a new long contract but in football that means nothing. I think that Moyes next signing in January (we hope) will be his most important to our future, as if it is seen that we cannot attract more class to the midfield then our season could be average and trophy less and maybe Arteta does not see enough around him to convince him that his career lies with Everton.Personally i see alot of him in Pienaar, get the lad beefed up on a good pot of scouse and he could be equally as influential, great skill and awareness, and there are signs that he is coming to terms with the requirements of the premier league. I am also excited to see Arteta play with Gravesen, they could be a dream playing off one another, any good cures for insomnia ?

Ernie Boyce
16 Posted 02/10/2007 at 13:26:22

Agreee with Tommy Coleman, he is not going to be the worlds best like Zidane and Maradona were but he has all the makings of being a better than average international standard attacking midfielder!

In my view he has excellent touch, vision, dribbling ability, zippy passing and quality delivery that stood out a mile on Sunday, and that any side in the prem would want in there squad..... but he is inconsistent, if not played as an out and out attacking mid he does have a few glaring weaknesses to his game - lightweight, lacks pace, poor in the air and poor defensively.

I also agree with Martin, I think Piennarr is showing potential to be a very good player for us, better than your average prem midfielder.

As an aside Stubbs to start instead of Yobo on Thursday - Yobo is too prone to mistakes.