Arsenal’s Andrey Arshavin – Plain mediocre or a victim of the English-Russian World Cup war? Part 2
To read Part 1 of this article, click http://www.senore.com/Arsenals-Andrey-Arshavin-Plain-mediocre-or-a-victim-of-the-English-Russian-World-Cup-war-Part-1-a47596.
Reverting back to ‘football’ then: Theo Walcott had the comfort of the well-established Bacary Sagna behind him that enabled him not only to play as his usual self but also have the French defender’s frequent overlapping runs as
decoy to upset the opposing team’s tiring defence.
The question that is still up for debate is whether the former Southampton player has enough quality to last 90 minutes of football and
still be able to give the other team a run for their money? Based on his 20-minute performance, would it be a viable option to have the youngster start in the big game at Old Trafford?
Turning our attention to Andrey Arshavin, there could be a number of reasons that constituted to his lack of penetration in the Partizan half. Kieran Gibbs, the Arsenal left back, was prematurely withdrawn as he limped off after
a recurrence of his ankle injury and replaced by Emmanuel Eboue on the left side of defence. This hampered Arsenal’s wing play on the left flank as Eboue, a predominantly right-footed player, couldn’t overlap like his left footed predecessor could; further
limiting Arshavin’s options and forcing him to dribble wide to compensate for the lack of width. The Gunners were also a playmaker short in the centre as neither Fabregas nor Wilshere were part of the manager’s plans on the night. Denilson and Song, as decent
as they are at retaining possession, exhibit little orchestrating capacity. This subsequently meant that the Russian received little service to make his forward runs into the box.
The attacking midfielder was also quoted to have said in the build up to the Partizan game:
"...it doesn't always depend on defenders. As a team we need to improve defensively."
From these words, it was plain that the determined Russian was urging the Arsenal team to defend as a unit. Building on this point, the 29-year-old wasn’t entirely a lost cause. He was seen tracking back from kick off till his
effective substitution and helping out full back from time to time. He even made a diagonal run to the back to help out Bacary Sagna once in the game - all this points to the sheer grit of a team player who wants nothing but success for his team in the European
competition. True, it is hard to deny that Arshavin was relatively below par unlocking the Partizan defence; what made it more ‘noticeable’, however, was the fact that he was being compared to the high standards that he himself has set over the course of his
stay at North London.
Every player has his off days. However, Arshavin’s work rate in helping out his full back was exemplary.
Therefore, I ask, as an unbiased audience, would you still reason that the British number 14 overshadowing the Russian 23 was solely down to the latter underperforming and not down to a nation’s deep-rooted prejudice of being denied
the privilege to host a footballing event that basically aims to bring nations closer? That the harsh comments of the British media were singularly targeted towards an individual party’s lack of performance on the field and not a subliminal assault on the
governing body of the sport, FIFA?
Football is, indeed, a funny game.
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