Arshavin loses his pace and form. Or did he? « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
Arshavin loses his pace and form. Or did he?
Arshavin loses his pace
Alek Pan
One of the most constantly re-iterated mantra this season is that Arshavin has lost his pace. Lets take a look at the period when Arshavin began to slow down.
Appearances of Arshavin on the beginning of the season 2010-2011:
| Date | Team | Opponent | Comp | Result | Appear | G | A | G+A |
| 31/07 2010 | Arsenal | H- Milan | Int | D 1-1 | Off 62 min | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 01/08 2010 | Arsenal | H- Celtic | Int | W 3-2 | On 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15/08 2010 | Arsenal | A- Liverpool | Prem | D 1-1 | Started | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21/08 2010 | Arsenal | H- Blackpool | Prem | W 6-0 | Off 61 min | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 28/08 2010 | Arsenal | A- Blackburn | Prem | W 1-2 | Off 83 min | 1 | 0 | 1 |
He is pretty effective for this period. Goals and assists per game ((G + A)/Game) is about 0.66. But if you consider the fact that he did not play for the full period in each of the games then (G + A)/Game is more then 1.00.
Lets take a look on the next period:
| Date | Team | Opponent | Comp | Result | Appear | G | A | G+A |
| 11/09 2010 | Arsenal | H- Bolton | Prem | W 4-1 | Started | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 15/09 2010 | Arsenal | H- Braga | UCL | W 6-0 | Off 69 min | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 18/09 2010 | Arsenal | A- S’land | Prem | D 1-1 | Off 57 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21/09 2010 | Arsenal | A- T’ham | CC | W 1-4 | On 72 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25/09 2010 | Arsenal | H- WBA | Prem | L 2-3 | Started | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 28/09 2010 | Arsenal | A- Belgrade | UCL | W 1-3 | Off 82 min | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 03/10 2010 | Arsenal | A- Chelsea | Prem | L 2-0 | Off 86 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
You can see that Andrei was absolutely effective. He plays 2 games a week (do remember that he plays for Russia too) and produced many assists and goals.
Next period is not so brilliant.
| Date | Team | Opponent | Comp | Result | Appear | G | A | G+A |
| 16/10 2010 | Arsenal | H- Birmingham | Prem | W 2-1 | Off 69 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19/10 2010 | Arsenal | H- Shakhtar D | UCL | W 5-1 | On 71 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24/10 2010 | Arsenal | A- Man City | Prem | W 0-3 | Off 69 min | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 30/10 2010 | Arsenal | H- West Ham | Prem | W 1-0 | Off 79 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 07/11 2010 | Arsenal | H- Newcastle | Prem | L 0-1 | On 55 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10/11 2010 | Arsenal | A- Wolves | Prem | W 0-2 | Off 90 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14/11 2010 | Arsenal | A- Everton | Prem | W 1-2 | Off 65 min | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 20/11 2010 | Arsenal | H- Tottenham | Prem | L 2-3 | Off 76 min | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 27/11 2010 | Arsenal | A- Aston Villa | Prem | W 2-4 | Off 84 min | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 04/12 2010 | Arsenal | H- Fulham | Prem | W 2-1 | Started | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 08/12 2010 | Arsenal | H- P Belgrade | UCL | W 3-1 | Off 66 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13/12 2010 | Arsenal | A- Man Utd | Prem | L 1-0 | Off 76 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What is the matter? (G + A)/Game is about 0.5 – 0.6. This is bad. Absolutely bad.
OK. But let me remember you that for the previous season 2009 – 2010 (G + A)/Game for Arshavin was 0.52. Let me also remind you that (G + A)/Game this season for Garreth Bale is about 0.4 and for Samir Nasri is about 0.5. This is bad or not for Bale and Nasry?
From the beginning of the season Arshavin regularly played two games per week. And Andrei is not a machine. And he is not so young as he looks. He is tired some but produced more assists per game than great Gareth Bale.
Methinks that one of reasons why Wenger did not include Arshavin in the game with Chelsea and other games is that he wants to give him some rest. This is the reason; but not because Arshavin did not deserve to play for Arsenal.
Lets take a look on the next period:
| 29/12 2010 | Arsenal | A- Wigan | Prem | D 2-2 | Off 82 min | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 01/01 2011 | Arsenal | A- Birmingham | Prem | W 0-3 | On 78 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 05/01 2011 | Arsenal | H- Man City | Prem | D 0-0 | On 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 08/01 2011 | Arsenal | H- Leeds | FAC | D 1-1 | Started | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12/01 2011 | Arsenal | A- Ipswich | CC | L 1-0 | Off 79 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15/01 2011 | Arsenal | A- West Ham | Prem | W 0-3 | On 87 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19/01 2011 | Arsenal | A- Leeds | FAC | W 1-3 | Off 70 min | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 22/01 2011 | Arsenal | H- Wigan | Prem | W 3-0 | On 74 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25/01 2011 | Arsenal | H- Ipswich | CC | W 3-0 | Off 83 min | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 30/01 2011 | Arsenal | H- Huddersfield | FAC | W 2-1 | Started | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 01/02 2011 | Arsenal | H- Everton | Prem | W 2-1 | On 61 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 05/02 2011 | Arsenal | A- Newcastle | Prem | D 4-4 | Off 68 min | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 12/02 2011 | Arsenal | H- Wolves | Prem | W 2-0 | Off 71 min | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16/02 2011 | Arsenal | H- Barcelona | UCL | W 2-1 | On 68 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
I remember that most of the talk about the bad form of Arshavin was in that period.
8 Games started. 6 games used as substitute. If one game started is equal to 3 games used as substitute then total games is 10 (10 = 8 + 6/3). G + A = 9
(G + A)/Game = 9/10 = 0.9
Let me say guys that no one of the footballers of Barcelona (Messi excluded) and MU was better this season than Arshavin on this bad period. I mean period from 29/12 2010 to 16/02 2011. NO ONE.
(G + A)/Game. From beginning of season 2010-2011 to 26 April 2011.
| Lionel Messi | 1.56 |
| Pedro | 0.72 |
| David Villa | 0.64 |
| Dani Alves | 0.48 |
| Bojan Krkic | 0.41 |
| Andrés Iniesta | 0.34 |
| Thiago | 0.33 |
| Xavi | 0.29 |
| Seydou Keita | 0.24 |
| Dimitar Berbatov | 0.80 |
| Wayne Rooney | 0.78 |
| Javier Hernández | 0.78 |
| Nani | 0.61 |
| Michael Owen | 0.55 |
| Park Ji-Sung | 0.48 |
| Ryan Giggs | 0.47 |
That’s it)))
Untold Arsenal on Twitter is in the top 1% of all Twitter sites for followers @UntoldArsenal
Untold Arsenal on Facebook here
History of Arsenal including the series on the failures of Herbert Chapman
Making the Arsenal – the book of Arsenal death and rebirth