During Arsen Wenger era, Arsenal always had a couple of good Spanish footballers, technique gifted players who knew how to play and at one point there were two in the team – Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla. One is currently a coach, trying to lead Arsenal to a long-awaited title, and the second is still playing, but at 39, he is at his boyhood club Oviedo in the Spanish second division. But back then in 2016, Cazorla began to realize that his teammate could be a coach.🗣️Former #Arsenal man Santi Cazorla: ‘I love Ødegaard and see myself in him: like him, I found a coach in Arsene Wenger who gave me confidence. He made me captain before I could say “hola” in English.‘Declan Rice reminds me of Aaron Ramsey, appearing everywhere, a brutal… pic.twitter.com/vkzSmktLtN— Arsenal News Channel (@Arsenalnewschan) April 20, 2024 “I used to watch games with him when we were both injured. He would get hold of the remote control and freeze the action and I would say to him: “What are you stopping it for?” He would rewind it 30 seconds more, pause it again, and say: “What do you see? I would say: “I see the action frozen. I don’t see anything!” Arteta would be pointing out a badly positioned player, a defensive line that was too low, or a movement that one team had made to open up space. I would look at him and think, this guy has already started being a coach. With so much stopping and rewinding the game would have finished and we would only be at minute 35. It’s a gift to see the things he sees, because I know I don’t focus on them. I would say yes to everything! He’d question me and I’d say: “Yes you’re completely right now press play and lets see if we can finish watching the match!” remembers Cazorla with a smile.Shearer: ‘I would hate to play under Arteta’And the former Arsenal man also revealed that Arteta confined to him when he got the offer to work with Pep Guardiola.“Mikel had to make the decision. We spoke a little bit about it because he was just coming back from an injury and starting to feel good again. He said: “What shall I do Santi, keep playing which is what I enjoy or take this opportunity to work as Pep’s assistant? There is not going to be any better teacher for me. I told him that if the challenge excited him he should go with it. It’s worked out well for him” he recalls.The 18 Arsenal outcasts under Unai Emery – where are they now?A logical question for him would be if he thinks about becoming a coach one day, since his playing they are numbered. It seems that Cazorla is not thinking about that, considering the transformation he saw in his former teammate Xavi, when the two were together in Al Sadd in Qatar.“As a player Xavi was very calm, never raising his voice, and now!’ My first game in Qatar we were losing at half time and I watched him throw a boot at the blackboard. He was shouting and cursing and I thought: someone’s replaced Xavi with someone else! I can’t see myself in that way. But then again I wouldn’t have see him like that! He always had character, he was a leader, and he spoke well with calm. As a coach, the blood boils more and brings out the character in a different way. He arrived in an extremely complicated time, with one of the worst economic situations in Barcelona’s history. He won the league but it seems that it is never enough” he said about the former teammate.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 34Saturday17:00: (3.20) Luton (3.50) Brentford (2.20)17:00: (2.80) Sheffield Utd (3.40) Burnley (2.50)21:30: (8.50) Wolverhampton (4.80) Arsenal (1.38)Sunday15:30: (2.05) Everton (3.50) Nott.Forest (3.90)17:00: (2.20) Crystal Palace (3.50) West Ham (3.45)17:00: (1.87) Aston Villa (3.70) Bournemouth (4.00)18:30: (5.70) Fulham (4.10) Liverpool (1.58)***odds are subject to change***
