Arsenal fans need to remember that Arshavin is still class (and out of position!)
Arshavin in recent weeks has become a victim of both the media and all of us Arsenal fans for his defensive mishap which gifted Manchester United with a undeserved win at the Emirates. I admit I was thoroughly disappointed with his performance but I still expect him to do something crucial for us in our search for Champions league football.
He was regarded as a world class footballer by many after the Euros in 2008. Rightly so mind you, he was instrumental to Russia’s success. When we bought him, he became a fan favourite. However, this season in particular, he has lost that certain edge he had to his play. That same edge that made him unpredictable, a world-beater. It was also that edge that helped him score 4 goals against Liverpool and that crucial, memorable goal against Barca. Players however don’t lose that forever. It may disappear for a while but it always comes back. It’s the same edge that coins the phrase ‘Form is temporary, class is permanent’.
He definitely still has something to offer Arsenal. If he regains form and he has shown glimpses of it against Swansea and QPR, he could be a valuable substitute to put on and change the game for us. We all have to accept he isn’t the best defensively and hence was always going to be punished against the top clubs but then again if you get the tactics right, he wins you the game i.e Barca.
We also have to respect he has been played out of position for the majority of his time at Arsenal. He plays in the hole behind the striker and when he does play there (Bolton), he creates great chances, almost Fabregas-like passes. He is definitely suited to that role and ultimately it is the manager’s fault for not playing him in his preferred position.
The point of the article was to highlight some of Arshavin’s strong points as well as identifying why he may be out of sorts at the moment. It is important to stick by the team and that even means our lazy Russian meerkat.
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I would love to see him play behind van Persie instead of Ramsey (when he gets rested) He has a killer pass.
And with Wallcot and The Ox on the wings, it could be a deadly attacking force!
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Good piece. Arshavin is still class he just needs to be put in his position. There arent many who are capable of dribbling in such tight spaces as arshavin. And he has threaded some very intricate passes.
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Wenger is notorious for playing footballers out of position.
Arshavin should ask to play his favored position and if this goes nowhere then ask Wenger to let him go.
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John 3:16, mate this isn’t fifa 12. Stop dreaming and plus why would you sell djorou if he just signed a new contract AND park??? and vertonghen is better at cb…??????????
WHAT IS WRONG WITH ARSENAL FANS NOWADAYS…………..
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Wah wah wah sell this wah wah wah buy vertoghen samba and gotze. Wah wah wah call the wambulance. Nobody gives a shit. Let wenger do his thing and you do your job as a fan to SUPPORT arsenal. And by supporting arsenal that means you shouldnt boo on or off a player who is on the squad. If you arent here to support arsenal go support somebody else.
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Alisher Usmanov is worth
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Alisher Usmanov is worth £12.4bn, Stan Kroenke is worth £1.8bn, Arsenal are the 5th richest club in the world and yet season after season we sell our best players and don’t replace them with equal if not better players. Is it any wonder that we haven’t won a trophy for 6 going on 7 years?
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John 3:16 – stop talking, finally wenger has said something about our economic power and said it’s imperative we make 15-20 million a year. so we may be one of the richest club, but we aint throwing it away like man city. Tbh we only need one player – hazard, but unfortunately we are bound to lose VP to real so we’ll also need a striker but other than that im alright with are team being a realistic arsenal fan we may buy 2-3 players in summer, if where lucky, so stop with these arsenal wet dreams mate (sigh)
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Will somebody just go out and buy Naymar, saw him play today and hes up there with Messi.
Goondog
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I think Arshavin is one of our best player..I don’t see a player @ Arsenal that I can compare him with..Remember that terific goal he scored during the pre-season??He just doesn’t want to play for us..
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It really amazes me as to why AW did not put on Arshavin (and Park!!) in the game against blackburn after the game was literally in the bag at 5-1. It would have been the ideal situation to help him gain back his confidence after the ox substitution saga.
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What amazes me is that people think a 21 year old belgian kid is going to make our defence decent!! i am unsire that he will make our midfield or attack decent. he has yet to do anything major with belgium and in the french league.his stats are worse than gervinho or cjamakh. he has nowhere near the goals records of some of the midfoelders out there and his assists are even worse. sure he can show glimpses of skill that u dont see too often but so could david dunn at blaclburn. 30m for an unproven kid. when wenger spent 12m this summer on another unproven lid every one was moaning. that one has turned out alright but i fear that hazard could be another reyes.
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good attacking player can play anywhere n anytime… Total football nowdays man..
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A formation i imagine that could be special would be
__________Van P__________
OX_____ARSHAVIN____WAL
___ARTETA______________
______________SONG__________
SANTOS _VERM_KOS_SAGNA
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`Blind love`….I totally agree. Here we have the captain of Russia playing out of position to make way for the captain of Wales and neither are performing. How much is this costing in salaries and what on earth is going through Wengers mind?
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Anyone but Ramsey please!!!!
The boy is overrated and prefers piroetting with the ball like a princess than give the urgent pass that is required to score.
How many times has he slowed the forward advancement with his BS tricks and allowed the defence to catch up?
How many open goals has he missed this season so far? I’ve counted at least 8!
Arshavin is well deserved of Ramsey’s place in the CAM. He is quicker and is willing to take players one on one which is an element Arsenal is missing from selling Nasri. The other element we’re in dire need of is directness, which is one of Arshavin’s main qualities.
Finally, I find it strange that now everyone is supporting Arshavin, even the same fans that booed Wenger for putting him on. Is it because Wenger has asked the fans to give him more respect or is it the fact that we’ve come to realise what a true asset Arshavin is to the team?
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If Arshavin was a quality professional footballer, he would sort out his sorry excuse for match fitness and get properly fit. I don’t care if he’s not being played in his favoured position, boo-hoo. The man is a professional athlete, he gets paid a lot of money for the privilege too, the least he could do is get to the point where he can run around with full effort for 90 minutes. When he plays, it’s basically guaranteed we’ll have to sub him off after 60 minutes because he’s knackered which is a waste in itself.
Admittedly, he’s still better than Ramsey, and should be given his place until Wilshere returns.
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Couldn’t count on my hands and toes how many times I have said this. I can’t remember the last time he played in position for Arsenal? Incidentally, where was he playing when he scored four at Anfield? 73 goals and 107 assists in 308 matches at Zenit is a pretty impressive record for an attacking midfielder.
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Arshavin plays in the hole for Russia. But he played on the left many times for Zenit. Nothing really with his ‘natural role’ and all that. I think he isn’t able to cope with the things here.
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1st fans should stick to topics of articles to stop making it look irelevant with meaningless points.AA to me is the most creative AM in the EPL but plays out of position.AW killed his passion 4 playin football n despite Advocatts article on how to fully utilise him,AWs arrogance wouldn’t allow it,even after the bolton carling cup game he quotes,we know how good he is in that position i.e ramsey’s position n how much he loves playing there,but,he still doesn’t play him there,never blame AA for his performances because AW is too arrogant to listen to anyones opinion even his players.we all know how good AA is,walcott is a striker,rosicky,benayoun n arshavin are better than ramsey in his position and are more experienced but AW would risk ramsey under perfome daily than play the other 3,we’ve all seen decisions AW makes n attimes he should just call it a day n let sombody else take over,besides,whats the worst that can happen? it going to a decade without a trophy,agree or disagree change at times is as good as a rest
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@john 3:16,apart from ur squad being a joke,…………….I hate it
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Jambo,
Arshavin he is classic, for a player their is time to be in pick and at a time low pick. Lets excuse him and hope he get a chance in AC Milan. He will do wonders not only behind RVP but even at wings. He had already learnt from Gunners supporters. Am wishing him the best week and prove that he can lead the mid field.
Mombasa, Kenya
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Ramsey might no be technicaly gifted but he covers it up with work rate, he moves all over the place which lazy aa cant do, many players have played out of position and excel remember henry was a winger, kolo was a midfielder van p was a no 9, also whenever arshavin gets the ball from flank he tend to drift towards the hole
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Arshavin is best in a 442 as the second striker. Then, he wouldn’t need to do much defending as he would if playing AM.
RVP Arshavin
AOC Arteta Song Walcott
Gibbs Vermalaen Koscielny Sagna
Szczesny
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you are all forgetting that when gervinho comes back he will go to the left wing and the ox should move to CAM leaving hopefully ramsey and disappointingly arshavin out of the squad. Why did wenger bring henry in, there is no point Arshavin is still better than him ohter than one good goal.
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Ok so wenger play him in his ppsition then….you are the one who destroyed him not the fans…
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To be signed by a club lyk arsenal dat minz u have some quality the same with arshavin….bt when he get into the pitch he doesnt show any intrest in playing and he is lazy…so playing him in the midfield wont b a gud idea coz its the heart of any team and it needs hardworkers and highly commited players.
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We don’t remember greats for their one-off contribution…
Nobody can deny Arshavin’s class…even I was in awe when I saw him playing for Russia in 2008 Euro..he alone killed the games for them, such was his brilliance….
Match after match – year after year he was played in the wrong position by our great assh.le AW ….. He is as much to be blamed for Arshavin’s downfall….
And it has to be accepted that at 31+ and with his dwindling form, we can’t get back Arshavin of 2008…we have to accpet it however bitter the truth might be….
AW would never play him in his prime positive – central midfield…bcos AW is a cock, he is an irritant bast.rd…..he is a narcissist & doesn;t care about opinions from others – even if they are right….
AW needs a boot out of Arsenal…
And his ass-licking lunatics needs a rod up ther……
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AA is a gud player i admit dat bt he seems lazy nd nt ready 2 work, instead of him 2 inprove he doesnt den hw do u expect d fans nt 2 boo on him. Nd moreover AW y can’t he use AA nd park against blackburn wen wen ar leading 5 – 1 he would av been given d chance dan henry.
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Lol. You guys need to learn to be supporters. AA is a good player out of form. As for Arsene you guys are way to easily influenced by media outlets. Arsene has a knowledge of players far beyond any if us and we should put our trust in him.
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AA is past his time,below are player who have been played out of position under wenger and still made it
henry_was a winger
Van p _was a second stricker
Lauren etame_ was amid fielder
Wiltord_ was a stricker
cashly cole_was a winger
gibbs_was a winger
Emenuel petit_ was a defender
ox_ right flank
flamini_ defender/ midfield
etc
Am sorry but can’t see any player replacing ramsey_ the kid is hard working he move all over the pitch which arshavin can’t do (statistics are there)
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He is never going to be as success in the Premier League. Play him instead of Ramsey?- don’t you think Arsenal have enough problems making a tackle as it is. These days in England, dribbling and passing ability isn’t enough to make you a top class player- you need some athletic ability in the modern game and this is a glaring deficit in Arshavin’s abilities.
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one question…why don’t we make an english backbone?
players like studrige(7mil),baines(8mil),rodguel(10mil),darren bent(15mil), jagielka(6mil)…ok many of our stars are going…we can’t do anything for this!!! let’s do something!!! let’s count on the english players who have passion!!!
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I can’t believe that any true caring Arsenal fan, doesn’t want to see the old Arshavin back. Every time he comes on, I want to see him run at defences and score an amazing goal, or make the killer pass. The frustrating thing is, he doesn’t do any of that any more and I, and many others must be, at a lost as to where that talent went. When he was played in his “normal” position a flash of the old magic was back…….so, why don’t we play him, were he feels more at home. I would love to know the answer. I want him to stay but he must be given the chance to do the “business” in a position he feels happy in. Love The Arsenal, Love The Fans
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John, English backbone only won one world cup over 55 years ago!
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Are we STILL on this argument? Arshavin is a form player, not class. You don’t become world class all of a sudden because of one Euro in your mid 20s. World class players are foten spoken about since their teens to early 20s and they get talked about over a period of time, not after one 4 week competition.
If you;re a world class player you don’t disappear for 2 years like Arshavin has. He’s not had a good game in a long time. He’s had games where he’s “tried” but none where you sit up and want to care. That is a form player.
Also out of position? When you do something over 100 times, you can no longer claim that it’s not your area. If you studied to be an electrician but then end up fixing 500 toilets and sinks, sorry but you’re a plumber. Arshavin has played over 120 games for Arsenal in the same position, that’s no longer out of position. A long time ago Wenger said he saw Song as a central defender but he’s since played over 100 games a defensive midfielder. Why aren’t we calling him a defender playing out of position?
This whole out of position argument is absolute rubbish and Arshavin is not world class. Sorry to burst your bubble.
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Umm. Russian god!!!!! Play him and in his spot or i hate to say it he needs to kill off arsenal he won teams trophies and Hell he will do the same once he leaves this shalow minded team
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