AA23’s form this season????

Andrei Sereyevich Arshavin or AA23 joined the Arsenal during the January transfer window of 2009 or to be exact on the 2^nd of February 2009. He came to Arsenal on the back of a great Euro 2008 and a brilliant UEFA cup run with Zenit Saint Petersburg.

During his time with Zenit (2000-2009) he made 309 appearance in total scoring 72 goals and creating 108. When he joined us we were in a battle for the forth place in the league and he produced some magical performances to make sure we secured that vital forth place with relative ease that season and was an instant hit with Arsenal fans.

However, this season he has come under some criticism by some fans who argue that he is not at his best and that he does not contribute enough to the team. Arsene Wenger categorically dismisses this claim and continues to pick AA23 as a first choice player. So far this season in 12 appearance he has scored 5 goals and created further 5. His goals per game ratio at Zenit was 1 in 4 and this season for us it is just over 1 in 2 and his assists with Zenit was 1 in 3 and this season again it is just over 1 in 2. This stats alone shows that he is having a far more efficient season this season than what he produced in Average before joining us. Stats only paint a part picture and there are other factors that must be taken into consideration before deciding how well AA23 is doing this season.

AA23 developed as a No10 playing behind the main striker in a free role. When one watches him playing for Zenit we can understand that his role was not about tracking back and winning the ball and covering every inch of grass. That was the job of the team, they had to win the ball and give it to Arhavin and his job was to create magic and he rarely disappointed. With Arsenal his role has changed and he is played as a wide forward who is expected to track back and support the full backs. Anyone who has played the game will understand that it is hard to change once games easily and at times this is evident on the pitch. This is the Arshavin we bought and changing his game has been a bit harder for him.

Arshavin is very proud of the fact that he is the Russian national team captain. Since the departure of Guss Hidink the national team has underperformed and as the captain and star player AA23 has come under heavy and unfair criticism by the Russian media and it seems to weigh heavily in his mind and surely his perceived drop in form for club coinciding with the relative decline of Russian international team illustrates this. Can we blame him for taking pride in representing the nation and hurting by its failure or should we back him and help him over come his disappointments.

His first two seasons he played through injuries without complaining or pulling out and played every role asked from him, including striker against Stoke City. If he is a less of a team man his first inclination would have been to pull out and recover from his injuries so he can keep up his high level of performance. Running around the pitch does not make one a team player. Rooney does just that and then goes on national media and humiliates his team…ask your self, who is damaging the team most..AA23 by not tracking back or Rooney by taking apart his own team mates on the national media..

We also remember from the past two seasons that AA23 had the tendency to disappear during games but this season it has not been the case. He has tried to get involved more in the game and influence it greater. The greater the involvement the greater the chance of misplacing a pass or giving away the ball is a simple logic no matter who the player is.

Arshavin is a player who improvises and looks to produce magic and that is the player we bought, not a safe option like Park or Velencia. When one tries to improvise and produce special balls the chances of getting it wrong and giving away the ball are far greater. This is why AA23 gives the ball away more than some other player, not because he is not bothered or not good enough.

Another aspect of his play that has not been mentioned much is the understanding he has developed with Chamakh and Jack and the three have been part of some great moves and those moves at times have broken down not because of AA23. There was a one two with Chamakh at city this weekend, and had Chamakh got his back heel right it would have been one of the finest moves in the game (about 30-35^th min). The fact that he has created the most goal scoring chances in premier league also shows that has those chances been taken by the rest of the team he could have assists in double figures and we would be claiming that he is having a storming season. The chances not being taken can not be blamed on AA23, just his luck.

Having said that I do accept that he is not at his very best and there is much more to come from this magical player. Make no mistake he will re discover his top form again this season. Currently we have Nasri, Jack and MC all on top of their game and may be it might work out that when the form of these three dips a bit it will be AA23 who finds form at the later stages of the season to push us onwards towards glory.

Let me finish by asking you this question,…would you have an out of form Rooney ( 1 goal since March) Torres ( 1 goal this season) or AA23 ( 5 goals this season) in your team. Give him time and back him and he will play a big part come the business end of the season.