It seems Dick Advocaat is unhappy that Andrey Arshavin isn’t getting a starting place at Arsenal, and has publicly criticised Arsene Wenger for this.
The Russian national manager was recently quoted in Sport-Express saying:
‘One of his problems is that he plays 20 minutes per game. Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger uses him as a player who can be fielded in the second half and who can refresh the game, Andrey is showing willingness to give the team the best of what he has. I worked with him for over two years at Zenit and I know who he is. A brilliant player of a single episode.’
Personally, I think Dick Advocaat has completely lost his marbles – Arshavin never lasts the full 90 minutes no matter who he plays against. Advocaat really needs to concentrate on managing his own side and stop trying to unsettle players further. Advocaat obviously hasn’t got a clue what he’s talking about, because the Dutchman went on to say:
‘At Arsenal it is not enough to be a player of an episode. Expecting from him a ninety-minute running means not knowing and not understanding Arshavin.’
I’m sorry, it now appears that the club are wrong, and do not understand Andrey Arshavin – yeah he’s so hard done by when we expect him to earn his wages and actually lasts the 90 minutes!!! Unbelievable, we pay a player £2.5 million a year and when we expect him to play football and earn his wages we are in the wrong for not understanding the player. Is it just me or are some players becoming lazier and lazier and expecting more money for less work?
Now don’t get me wrong, I was very happy when the Russian forward finally arrived at the Arsenal, but now, I honestly cannot see him staying after his performances this season. Yes, he has at times been great, but most of the times he has been too inconsistent for my liking, and I think that is the reason why he’s not getting the full 90 that Advocaat seems to think he is worthy of.
Andrey Arshavin has openly admitted that he has not been at his best this season, and has also revealed that he isn’t happy.
Despite Wenger wanting to keep him, I think Arshavin is finding the pace of the Premier League very hard to handle, and maybe a move away would be best for both club and player.
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Arshavin is pure class in front of goal. This last year which was an off year he still managed 10 goals and 17 assists not bad for an off year i guess. In the latter part of the season or so he did show that he could track back and do some covering but i agree that he needs to do a better job of that this coming year. I think he just lacked confidence I’m sure he’ll regain that form that we saw when he first arrived to the team. As for supporters calling for his departure i for one would be gutted if he left this transfer window. He’s a great player and one that is needed in the squad to challenge for trophies this coming season.
your comment’s better than this post! and wenger should stop making these players play out of positions because he feels they can manage!
should cesc leave, imagine ARSHAVIN playing that position.
Arshavin in central midfield ? ouch, that’d be suicide. You can forget about dominating possession, we’d be overrun. He simply isn’t as effective as Nasri or Walcott so he starts on the bench, simples.
Advocaat is the man who failed to take a great footballing nation such as Russia (well kind of) to the World Cup so why should we take any notice of his brainless opinions ? He will fail to qualify for the one in Brazil too and if he’s lucky he’ll qualify for the following one because his country hosts it but if they have any sense he’ll be fired long before that.
I think Advocaat is right. When Arsenal bought Arshavin he was a player that could turn a game around in favour of Arsenal even when arsenal lacked goal poaching ability in other strikers. When strikers were injured or not scoring Arshavin took their roles and performs. We know about the 4 goals against liverpool in 08/09 season. If his form dropped i really wouldn’t blame him cos he was the onluy one doing all the playing while others just didn’t care. therefore if you can’t beat them join them. Should Arshavin find himself in a team that is more business like it would be a different ball game
I think most of our problems came from season before last Cesc saga.
It had a very BIG impact on all the other players and was plain to see that on the field the players were obviously affected.
I think Cesc should go this summer, UNLESS he publicly decides to forget Barca(hey all dreams do not come true) and commit to AFC.
All this talk about wanting to play for Barca sometime is seriously affecting AFC players.
The team spirit was completely GONE last season.