OVERCOMING a sceptical fan base seems de rigueur on Merseyside these days.
Yet for Arouna Kone, unlike Roberto Martinez or even Brendan Rodgers across Stanley Park, the challenge does not amount to winning back the trust of the masses. Circumstance means Kone has never had their backing in the first place.
Half-an-hour later, Kone had assisted one equaliser and gone on to score another. The relief evident in his celebration was for the result first, but also betrayed the hope his fortune may finally have changed.
The scar on the Everton striker’s knee remains a legacy of the serious injury he sustained before even making a Premier League start for his new club in 2013; a setback he has spent the best part of two years seeking to recover from in order to try and turn back public opinion.
When he appeared on the touchline after 63 minutes last Saturday, new boys Watford leading at an increasingly agitated Goodison Park, groans and boos provided a biting soundtrack.
“It was the first time after the injury that everything came together – my skills, my will and my ability,” he says of the crisp, angled shot tucked beyond Watford goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes to rescue a point in the 2-2 stalemate.
“There was a long period when I was coming back from that injury, that I thought it was going well and then you’d have a setback.
“I promised myself during that this was what I would do – I would show the fans that I was here and I would show them what I was capable of.
“I want to do it for myself because I have my own personal objectives, but I also want to do it for the club, impose myself and show the fans I am here.”
Kone’s problems started with a seemingly innocuous blow to his knee after he came on as a substitute in a 2-1 victory over Hull City in October 2013.
Yet Everton manager Martinez’s subsequently gruesome description of the injury – “a chunk of the cartilage has come off in his knee. There is a hole where it should be,” said the Spaniard – hinted at a painstaking rehabilitation.
An operation in Barcelona followed and then six months spent in Belgium – he was accompanied by his young family - where his routine was, he says, “from 10am to 4pm, seven days a week.”
He returned just over a year later, but in 16 appearances last term scored once although there is mitigation that if Kone struggled do himself justice at that point then he was no different to anyone else at Everton.
“I had doubts obviously, but not to the extent that I feared I might not come back from it,” said Kone, who hopes to be involved for today’s exacting trip to Southampton. “I’ve actually come back sooner than expected. This type of injury can keep you out for as long as two years because it is a serious one so I’m really happy to be back after a year.
“The work was initially built around rebuilding the muscle mass that I had lost. That was unavoidable and also crucial after that kind of operation.
“The second part was aimed at addressing issues around balance and stability because you have to be able to use your muscle correctly in order to maintain your balance.
“Thirdly, there’s an issue of confidence because after you’ve had a knee injury you obviously become slightly hesitant about using it in the same way you would have done previously.
“The entire programme is to get you back to a level that will give you full match fitness, but I have to admit that the first six months of that recovery was the hardest time I’ve experienced as a footballer.
“Any period of injury is never going to be good for any player, but this one has been particularly difficult and particularly long.
“I’ve been injured a few times in my career, but this one was the most testing so I’m very happy to be back. I’ve spent all the holiday period preparing for my return and hopefully this is going to set me up for the season so I can show what I can do.”
His opening day cameo is only a start.
The reality, one which exposes the size of the test facing the Ivorian, is that Everton supporters crave a new striker to play alongside, or push, Romelu Lukaku. They want a further expression of ambition from a team that has so far recruited Tom Cleverley, Gerard Deulofeu and Mason Holgate.
Not a comeback from the player, 31, who has been missing in action for so long.
Even Martinez, who made sure Kone followed him from Wigan for £5m soon after succeeding David Moyes, appeared to lose faith.
He spent all summer insisting he was happy with his striking options. Then, six days before the start of the season, admitted he was searching for reinforcements.
“Of course it depends on the club’s objectives in terms of transfers,” said Kone. “It’s not for me to say to the club not to buy a striker because I’m here. The club will do as they see fit but I am ready and I’m ready to do the maximum that I can.
“I’m fully prepared and if another striker was to be brought in I think that would help the club to move forward, but I’m here to do my best for the club.”
If the challenge comes it will provide one more motivating factor for Kone, who finds himself out of contract at the end of the campaign.
“It is a bit of a delicate period for me because when your contract is up you have to look at where I would be going,” he said.
“Should I try to stay here or look somewhere else? It is what you have to do as a footballer in my situation. I have to put in a performance. You have to do the best you can while you are here.
“Here (England), this is home. I have always loved the Premier League since I was a little kid. I jumped at the first chance I had to be part of it. I wasn’t ever going to turn it down. I go back to Anyama on holiday to see my parents.
“Yes it is a pressure season but I would call it positive pressure that would encourage me to work with more heart and more courage. It is not a negative thing at all. I know what I can go for this team.
“I look back to my time at Wigan. I had the time there to really impose myself, show my skills and demonstrate precisely what I could do. So far that has not been the case at Everton.”
Kone knows he must put it right.
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