David Moyes takes Mikel Arteta off Everton set piece duty

Posted Saturday, February 26, 2011 by theguardian.com

• Manager hopes to coax midfielder back to form
• Leighton Baines to help take pressure off Spaniard

David Moyes takes Mikel Arteta off Everton set piece duty
Everton's manager, David Moyes, is keen to see Mikel Arteta rediscover his form.

David Moyes has told Mikel Arteta to reduce the number of set pieces he takes for Everton as he attempts to coax the Spanish midfielder back into form.

Arteta has endured a poor campaign by his standards – although he showed signs of improvement in the FA Cup win at Chelsea last Saturday – with his deliveries from corners and free-kicks a frequent source of bewilderment at Goodison Park. Everton's highest earner has taken responsibility for the majority of set pieces in recent years but Moyes has called an end to Arteta's dominant role as he attempts to steer the club away from relegation danger.

"We have tried to limit his responsibility and moved others on to them to ease the responsibility," said the Everton manager. "You can see the worth of a really good set-piece deliverer, like Charlie Adam off the top of my head, who can make such a difference to your team, so I have tried to tell Mikel to step away from them."

Moyes issued his instructions before the win at Chelsea when Everton were rescued by a late free-kick from Leighton Baines. Moyes admitted at the time that he feared the worst when Arteta stepped forwards to take the free-kick, although it was the Spaniard who advised Baines to strike it. He believes sharing the workload will help Arteta rediscover the form that is integral to Everton's fortunes.

He added: "It has been something that we are aware of but it is one of those things when you want to keep building his confidence. You tell him to go on but in the same breath you are trying to say to him: 'Hey don't you take it all on, pass it on to someone else as well.'

"His form has been down and his corners and free-kicks were not great and that brings your whole play down so I wanted him to concentrate on his play and let others take responsibility. His penalty [in the shoot-out] was terrific and he is very good when he is confident and on his penalties he is."

Moyes has several injury concerns ahead of Saturday's home game with Sunderland, including Tim Cahill, Marouane Fellaini, Jack Rodwell and Louis Saha, but admits he cannot afford to rest any player with Tuesday's FA Cup tie against Reading in mind due to the precarious league position. "We have to get the points on the board in the Premier League and make sure we move away from the wrong end of the table. You don't get too many more goes at it," he said. "We have seven home games left and we have to make sure we pick up as many points as we can."