Andrei Arshavin: A wasted genius

I would start by saying that Arshavin’s reputation and it’s ascendancy in his home nation may have been a slight catalyst for the fall from grace. With Arshavin made national captain in 2009, he found himself leading Russia against Slovenia in a two-legged World Cup playoff game with the victor heading to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In a shock result, Russia were beaten via away goals and Arshavin would miss out on the opportunity to play at his first World Cup. Wenger noted that on his return from the Playoff games, Arshavin was clearly distraught and soon his form began to dip.

Although Wenger noted a regression in the morale and form of Arshavin, but was he partly to blame for the dip in the first place? Arshavin had excelled in Euro 2008 and at Zenith by playing in the free role off the main striker, usually Pavel Pogrebynak. The free role suited Arshavin as he could use his cunning football brain to exploit areas of weakness in the opposition and it also meant that he did not have to play any sort of defensive role, a part of his game that is virtually non-existent.

On arriving at Arsenal, he occasionally found himself playing through the middle of the pitch, but generally he was lumbered on the left side of an attacking triumvirate featuring Fabregas and Nasri. With Fabregas dropping slightly deeper than most attacking midfielders, Arshavin had plenty of room to cut infield and run at and pick off defences. It is worth noting that all four of Arshavin’s goals at Anfield on that Tuesday night in April 2009 all came from Arshavin bursting through the middle at a stuttering Liverpool defence. It looked more and more likely that Arshavin was destined to become Arsenal’s maestro just behind the front line. It wasn’t to be though.

It was during the opening months of 2009/2010 that I saw Arshavin play in the flesh for the first time, as he captained Russia in a World Cup qualifier at the Millennium Stadium, the home of my home nation, Wales. He was a joy to watch and worth the ticket price alone as he dazzled the Welsh public with a Cruyff-like performance. He was popping up all over field and effortlessly waltzing elegantly through the Welsh defence. He was perfect. Yet the second time I was to see Arshavin play, in August 2011 as Arsenal took on my beloved Swnasea, he was a shadow of the player I witnessed had two years previous. Despite scoring the only goal that day (a freakish mistake from Michel Vorm and Angel Rangel gave him an empty net to fire into), he was slow, sluggish and ultimately uninterested in performing. I wondered what the hell had happened to him over those 2 years?