One of the most fascinating aspects of Mikel Arteta’s premiership is the total lack of a managerial back story. Broadly, we knew how Carlo Ancelotti would operate at Everton, that he would cock an eyebrow and try to cobble together the system and set of principles that most suit the players at his disposal. This summer he bought two players who he had worked with previously. The Jose Mourinho “three season syndrome” narrative is so deeply entrenched that we wait for it to unfold impatiently. Even when his managerial reigns do not especially conform to this pattern, we retrofit the events to fit the mould. Guardiola’s intensity, we are told, begins to wear on his players after a...
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