The curious disappearance of Andrei Arshavin
To some he is a magician who can change the game on a dime. To others he is the personification of a lazy modern footballer. Whatever your opinion, Andrei Sergeyevich Arshavin is certainly the focus of a lot of debate among Arsenal fans this season.
In 2008 Andrei Arshavin was the darling of the Euro 2008 competition. He featured as man of the match in two successive outtings and was named to the tournament’s all-star team. That was even with missing the first two matches of the tournament. It was only in the semi-finals that he was unable to do any magic when his Russian team fell to eventual winners Spain./
Based on the run in at the Euros, Andrei became one of the hottest prospects in Europe with some of the biggest clubs in Europe reportedly were keeping an eye on him. The biggest teams from Italy and Spain were linked to him as well as Arsenal and Tottenham. Curiously though, even after all the noise surrounding the player not one team moved for the player. It wasn’t until January of that 2008-2009 season that Arsenal made a deadline day deal for fee reported to be £16million pounds for a player they were hoping would help them lock down a top four spot.
From first looks it certainly seemed Arsenal got their man. In one magical night at Anfield, the mercurial Russian turned in a display that makes players legends. On his own Arshavin single-handedly ruined any chance of Liverpool winning the title and likely locked in Arsenal to the top 4 that season. His 4 goal performance and the nature of the goals had Arsenal fans in 7th heaven. During the remainder of the campaign he would pop in and out of games and by the end of the season Wenger’s masterstroke of signing the player looked vindicated.
Fans rejoiced at the prospect of Arshavin playing a full season at Arsenal with hope and the start to the 2009 – 20120 was wildly. And early on he didn’t disappoint. His goal at Manchester United from outside the box curling to the far upper right corner that beat Van Der Saar was brilliant. Game on. With 32 starts under his belt (between his signing and end of 2009-2010) Andrei Sergeyevich would score 10 goals by the end of his first full season.
His second season 2010-2011 started to see a decline in goal production where he netted only 6 times in 25 starts but had helped the effort with 11 assists. It was in that season that we started to see an alarming trend with Arshavin. Specifcally, disappearing for long periods of matches. Arshavin for all his brilliance of the past began to show himself to be a rather lazy player. We started to see a player who wasn’t tracking back to help the team defensively. His passing became suspect and when it does go astray, his attempts to get the ball back are non-existent. More time than not, he just stands there with his hands on his hips.
That all brings us to this season. For those that haven’t observed it, Andrei Sergeyevich has just been dreadful.
The height of his ineffectiveness came at the hands of this season’s home tie versus Manchester United. While he was not the sole reason for the go-ahead goal his inability to show any defencive effect on the initial build-up to the go ahead goal was the epitome of everything that is wrong with him.
Now, Andrei can’t even make the starting lineup. He has been pushed aside for new fan favorite, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the 18 year old wonder kid who show a lot more heart and desire he has in the last season and half.
The Arsenal fans – of which I used to be one – say that his lack of form is down to his being played out on the wing rather than the preferred central midfield position he played at Zenit and for the Russian National Team. Somehow they argue merely by moving him to the middle of the field this will some how cure his work ethic and mental preparedness. Additionally, playing him out on the wing didn’t seem to be an issue when he put 4 past Pepe Reina or the thunderstrike past Edwin Van der Saar or even when he scored the winner against Barcelona.
The fact is at Arsenal your position and where you play is less of a concern as there is a constant state of (or at least an attempted state of) fluidity and interchangeability. Sure he is lined up on the wing. But Wenger gives his players freedom on the pitch to interchange as needed.
Those that defend Arshavin often say – how can you get rid of someone who can produce magic like he did versus Barca – miss a couple of things. First, the moments of magic are so far in between now that they are no longer the norm for him. His norm is missed shots, bogus attempts and a lack of general participation and enthusiasm. They also miss that most important part about Arshavin – his disappearing acts are nothing new.
In the summer of 2008 when the height of Arshavin-mania was upon us, for all the teams being linked to him not one made a move on him. As a matter of fact Wenger was reported to have passed on the Russian initially because of his work ethic. It was only in dire need, when it looked like Arsenal would miss a top four spot did Wenger acquiesce.
Wenger knew. There it is. It was all there before. The Russian press were slating him before he got here and they still are.
Andrei Kanchelskis speaking to Soviet Sport at the end of January and had this to say:
“I have always considered Arshavin a mediocre player. At first everyone in England admired him and now they have finally received a wake-up call and see him for what he truly is. There was a good PR campaign, a lot of talk around his name after the Euros 08 but now it has all fallen into place. He became a hostage of his own situation, the press didn’t help either mind you, singing praises and lifting him to levels he never was. I can only offer my sympathy and support. Andre Arshavin is not Arsenal level, it’s obvious now and I have been saying this for ages. He is not able to play the full 90 min. England is not his country and EPL is not his league. In England it’s never enough to have a one-off brilliant game, gather all the praise and then relax for the next 4-5 matches. British football is exceptional, you need to give it your all every single game and fight till the end”.
The criticisms from the Russian press are much harsher, been around a lot longer and paint a picture of player we are now seeing for what seems to be his true form.
In England and amongst some Arsenal fans he is cited as the Captain of the Russian squad. But in Russia there are calls for him to be stripped of that honor and even not selected for the team. Surely this has nothing to do with his playing out of position for Arsenal?
“It’s hard to find the words to describe the team performance during that game. Arshavin looked absolutely dead from beginning to end” – Valeriy Maslov
“I think our manager and coaches should consider not calling Arshavin up to NT for a few games as a disciplinary measure. He is a big name, a captain of this team, all eyes are on him. And after such performances no one will suffer from his sidelining but him.” – Sergei Ovchinnikov.
Andrei has steadily regressed since he got here. Its okay to some extent for a youngster to have some issues beset Andrei. Over time a good coach or manager may work it out of him. But Andrei came here as a 27 year old already beset in his ways. Being lazy and lacking a solid work ethic likely only made the form he is in worse as he failed to correct his problems. It’s very possible that based on his in game work ethic you could surmise that is practice work ethic isn’t much better. This is something that was touched upon in the Russian press even as late as last week.
“Unlike Cesc and Nasri, Arshavin didn’t get to become one of Arsenal’s leaders. After the departure of the aforementioned key figures, Andrei had a chance of a lifetime to prove and establish himself as one of the team’s core players. But in reality a post-Euro 08 image of a great leader turned out to be false. To stay on top in EPL one needs to constantly improve, progress, work on details, etc. I could bet you anything that during training Arshavin doesn’t give his 100%. He is not well built physically but he has good technical abilities and most importantly – a good understanding of the game. He showed it during Euro 08 and it made everyone turn their heads at him. However, let’s not forget that he was disqualified for the first two games. Mind you, he still showed occasional flashes of brilliance even in his Arsenal days but playing to the maximum of his abilities on a constant basis proved to be too hard of a task. His poor Arsenal current form is a result of exactly that. What’s even worse, he plays the exact same way for the NT where the level of players is nowhere near Arsenal’s. The [national] team’s overall performance is hugely affected by that since for Advocaat, Arshavin is the untouchable.” – Alexander Bubnov
Being lazy is just one of Arshavin’s faults, since £115,000 a week Fabregas has left, our little Russian is now the highest paid player at the club on £90,000 a week. What does his work ethic and laziness say to the other players at the club? If a rubbish player is on £90,000 a week, why should those on less try any harder? I’m pointing the finger at the £50-60k a week people: Diaby, Squillaci, Denilson, Bendtner et al. Note that I’ve stopped saying “out of form” because Arshavin is quite simply “rubbish.”
If you look at the other clubs around us and get jealous of the fact that they’re spending big, you must take into account that the names they attract want big wages. Why are we lumbered with the failure of players such as Denilson and Arshavin, when we could offload them and attract bigger names with our new higher wage bracket? Without execution, this theory will shrivel into nothing more than another crushed dream in the heads of the Arsenal faithful.
The promise of Andrei Arshavin was a pipe dream shrouded as Kanchelskis says in a good PR campaign. This was a player never meant to be an Arsenal player and has left us out to dry. Wenger should’ve trusted his initial instinct on this guy and let him stay at Russia or go somewhere else. Wouldn’t a bad Arshavin look good in a Spurs uniform? Unfortunately, Wenger panicked in ’09 got him and now is left defending him. Andrei was never the player he was portrayed to be. Or at the very least never reached the level of hype that surrounded him. The Russian transfer window closes on February 24. Gervinho should be back before that. With the emergence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Arshavin finds himself surpluss to requirements. He is either going to be gone by February 24 or when the first week or so of the summer window comes round.
Until next time . . . Stay Goonerish
