On January 8th, Andrei Arshavin endured one of his worst performances if not his worst performance in an Arsenal jersey has he went through 90 minutes of torture. Nothing went his way, from his finishing to his first touch. All the skill that made Arsene Wenger shell out £15,000,000 deserted him as he looked pathetic in the third round of the FA Cup. The fact that this abysmal performance came against lowly Leeds United only made matters worse for the diminutive Russian.
The Arsenal fans responded to his truly horrendous performance whenever anything went wrong for the Russian, which on the day was almost everything. Throughout the course of the match, Arshavin showed why he had been coming under criticism in recent weeks as he failed to show any effort and failed to track back.
After the highs of his first season in which he scored a stunning four goals at Anfield, there has been a relative lull in his performances this season as he has fluctuated between being unplayable to unwatchable. At one point in the season he went through an extremely bad patch as nothing seemed to go his way and he fell behind the likes of Samir Nasri and Theo Walcott in the pecking order at Arsenal.
But in recent weeks there has been a remarkable renaissance in his form as Wenger has slowly brought the best out of his most expensive signing. He has chipped in with some invaluable goals and continues to show statistical domination over all his teammates and possesses some of the best statistics throughout the league.
His statistics are the surprising aspect of his season as his statistics indicate that he has been on fire this season and should be one of Arsenal’s best players. With 10 goals and 17 assists he has the maximum assists by an Arsenal player this season. But for all his statistics his performances on the field has been inconsistent. One of the reasons for his impressive statistics his is uncanny ability to contribute when he is far from his best.
The second leg against Ipswich in the Carling Cup semi-finals is an indicator of this. While having another poor outing, the Russian still managed to chip in with two assists on the night. This ability of this to come out of nowhere and contribute something significant to the team is further testimony to his brilliance.
By his high standards this season has been a relatively ordinary season for the Russian as he struggled with inconsistency and has been extremely poor on certain occasions. He has been a sort of an enigma this season as he produces a world class display only to follow it with a performance that once again brings the critics pouring down on him.
There is no doubt that Arshavin has the talent to be one of the best in the world but he has not been able to fulfil his immense talent and skill.
His inconsistent performances reached its peak against Leeds United as he was booed by his fans, an act that was completely wrong on the part of the fans.
But since that he has bounced back and has scored some important goals. Arshavin became the second player in recent memory to be booed by the fans with the previous player being Emmanuel Eboue. Eboue responded in great fashion as he won back the fans with his enthusiasm and vibrant displays to become a cult figure at the Emirates.
While Arshavin lacks the enthusiasm that Eboue displays, he has let the performances do the taking as he has shown all the traits that his critics stated that he didn’t possess. From tracking back and helping out his defenders to taking on opposition defenders and beating them, Arshavin has started showing it all.
The first signs of his revival were seen against Everton as he scored the goal that launched Arsenal’s comeback and set Arsenal on the path for an invaluable three points. He showed some great touches and scored the all important goal.
Following that and the injury to Samir Nasri he started against Wolves and put in a great performance. The reason this performance was extremely important because it was in this match that we saw the return of Arshavin the dribbler. Arshavin possess lightning quick feet and is one of the best dribblers of the ball in the Arsenal team.
But during his struggles he failed to get past people like before and it was in Wolves that he dominated the left flank with some brilliant running as he got past defenders with consummate ease.
But it was in the next match that the Russian scored what might be his most important goal in his Arsenal career. After coming on as a substitute for Alex Song in the game against Barcelona, he played a role in van Persie’s opener. But the best moment of the game came in the 82nd minute as he slotted past Victor Valdes to win Arsenal the game and script one of the greatest wins seen at the Emirates.
He made an instant impact after coming on and scored the goal that gave Arsenal a great chance of progressing into the quarter finals, which the ultimately failed to take.
Following that display hardly anything has gone right in Arsenal’s season. Since the win against Barcelona, the Gunners have managed just two wins in the league and three in all competitions.
But during this poor spell, he hasn’t done much wrong and played a key role in Arsenal’s draw over West Brom as he scored the first goal and launched a fightback for the Gunners.
But it was against Manchester United last Sunday that Arshavin showed his commitment towards the Arsenal cause as he came on for the injured Samir Nasri and produced great defensive display.
He tracked back, helped out Gael Clichy and put in some fantastic tackles. That display has gone a long way in silencing the critics who called him lazy and bashed his team effort. While it is true that previously Arshavin did fail to track back often, the criticism on him was a bit harsh. This season’s star for Arsenal, Samir Nasri too has failed to track back often but he hasn’t received the criticism that Arshavin received in this regard.
Defending and working as a team is something that every successful team has to do. While Arshavin was indeed lazy in his performances previously he has changed tremendously which is a declaration of his passion and commitment.
Despite heavy criticism, the Russian bounced back with some superb performances most notably against Barcelona. He deserves plenty of credit for bouncing back especially considering the fact that it was his own fans that booed him on that day.
Arsenal fans were wrong in booing one of their own and they owe the Russian an apology. He has let his actions on the pitch do all the talking and has gone a long way in redeeming himself with his superb all round displays.
With rumours of him leaving Arsenal heating up, it’s time for Wenger to take the bold move and keep the Russian who can offer so much and he could well turn out to be Arsenal’s super sub.
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