Andrei Arshavin: After his dazzling 4 goals at Anfield in 2009, Arsenal fans must have felt that they were witnessing the making of another Arsenal legend. Fast forward two years later and Arsenal fans are now booing the diminutive Russian after he put in another lifeless, lethargic and lazy performance against Leeds United.
Arshavin has always been a player who performs only when in the mood but this season he has never looked in the mood. Arshavin on his day is capable of splitting any defense, is more than capable of scoring great goals and can score and set up goals for fun. But this season he has looked uninterested in playing.
Ever since his famous four goals vs Liverpool Arshavin has always been expected to deliver the goods and succeed. He has the quality, substance and the style to be a great player. But this season the drive and will to succeed has been missing. Arshavin’s main strength is at taking on defenders and beating them but this season he seems to be incapable of doing that.
The statistics paint a wrong picture on his performance. He has managed the most number of assists by an Arsenal player this season with 13 assists. That along with 7 goals may show that he is having a great and successful season. But his season he has been anything but dazzling.
What the statistics do not show is how ineffective he has been, how his indifferent and lazy attitude is breaking down attacks. Several times this season, Arshavin has lost control of the ball and has not made any attempt to win it back. Arshavin’s passing has been sloppy and he has given away possession cheaply. The statistics also do not show the number of great chances spurned by the Russian. Even in the Weekend’s fixture against Leeds United, Arshavin had a great chance to put the Gunners 1-0 up after 16 minutes but threw away a great 1 vs 1 opportunity.
Arshavin had a torrid game against Leeds United and nothing went his way. Every player has an odd bad game or two. But this was just another game in what is turning out to be a long list of games in which Arshavin failed to turn up. His passing was astray, his finishing miserable and his link up play disastrous. Several attacks broke down due to a sloppy pass from Arshavin and many a times he just made no attempt to chase down the ball.
Several times he lost control of the ball and did not even try to win the ball back. This prompted the Arsenal fans to boo the Russian and call for his substitution, something that never happened. What prompted the boos was only partly due to Arshavin’s poor display. The main reason for the boos was his indifferent attitude and laziness that were there for all to see.
For any Arsenal fan seeing the game it was frustrating to see their side throw away a multitude of chances and the centre of their frustration was Arshavin. What the Arsenal fans did was an extremely dishonorable act. Arshavin may be playing some poor football and may not be living up to the hopes and expectations of the fans but booing him like the fans did was crossing the limit. Arshavin is an outstanding player who can still deliver the goods when in the right frame of mind.
In this crucial juncture what he requires is the fans behind him and cheering him on, and not booing him.
This is not the first time this has happened. They even booed him against Partizan Belgrade. Such acts will result in him losing confidence in his own ability and will result in his performances further deteriorating. Also Arshavin has had a few good performances. He was great against Fulham and Aston Villa and was at his best in those games. If Arsenal fans need to see the Arshavin that destroyed the Villa defense they need to be cheering him on.
Arshavin can still win Arsenal games. He is immensely talented. With a few extremely important months coming up Arsenal will need a full strength squad and firing squad. If that has to happen Arshavin has to regain his form and booing him is not the solution.
Wenger too is partly to blame for Arshavin’s display. For everybody watching the game it was painfully evident that Arshavin had to be substituted and that there was no point in playing the Russian. Wenger still has a lot of trust in the Russian but it’s high time that he benches Arshavin and shows him that one does not have a straight ride into the Arsenal squad. He has to show the Russian that he needs to deserve a place in the starting lineup and cannot merely feature out of talent.
This will possibly make him realize that he either performs or he stays out.
The last player the Arsenal fans booed was Emmanuel Eboue. Following that obstacle, Eboue has bounced back to silence his critics and regain support among the fans with some good displays. One can only hope that Arshavin manages the same.
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