Andrei Arshavin is already 27. Did you realize that? That’s just two years younger than Henry when he transferred to Purgatory and Shevchenko when he transferred to his little three-legged stool behind the Chelsea bench. I’ve enjoyed watching Arshavin as much as everyone else during the two games he’s played at Euro 2008, but I wonder if we’re getting slightly ahead of ourselves to declare that a 27-year-old who’s spent his entire career below the Richter scale in St. Petersburg (averaging just under six goals a season, for what that’s worth) is the second coming of Cesc Fabregas.
I commit this act of disparagement because I’m afraid that the image of Arshavin as Russia’s feline savior and the future king of the Premier League is keeping his coach from getting the appreciation he deserves. I want to say that Guus Hiddink’s gameplan in the match against Holland yesterday was the greatest thing I’ve seen from Euro 2008 so far, which is probably not true, but at least is saying something. Hiddink’s tactics were perfectly chosen for the occasion. He pushed his fullbacks forward at every opportunity, daring van Bronckhorst and Boulahrouz to stop them (they couldn’t) and forcing van Basten to adjust (he never did). He kept the midfield tight enough to shore up defensive gaps, and allowed Arshavin as second striker to drop back and bring an element of versatility to the middle of the pitch. It was the perfect way to find shots for a team that can’t yet be counted on to capitalize on its opportunities, and the perfect way to frustrate a more technically talented Holland side that never really had an answer for Russia’s ability to keep them off the counterattack.
Even naming Arshavin to the team was a shrewd piece of checkers from Hiddink—voices questioned the wisdom of giving a roster spot to a player who was suspended for the first two games of the tournament. But the portly wizard’s wizardry goes well beyond the sparkle of Arshavin. As Ursus pointed out in a comment, he seems to have taught his team Dutch football by evoking Soviet hockey. It’s a surprisingly bright, spacious, Rickenbacker-Beatles style of play, the best thing about which may not even be that it works.
Read More: Andrei Arshavin, Euro 2008, Guus Hiddink, Russia
by Brian Phillips · June 22, 2008
Arshavin shits on Cesc from a great height (and that’s not just because Cesc abandoned Barca for the Gooners).
You are, however, absolutely right about Hiddink.
HOW DO YOU LIKE CESC NOW????
Just kidding. I think you think less of Fabregas than I do, but all I meant was that even though Arshavin is six years older, people are talking about him like he’s 21 and full of potential. When actually he’s almost certainly at or near his peak.
I’m undecided about Arshavin’s potential in a bigger league. I, uh, haven’t exactly followed Zenit St. Petersburg, so I’ve only seen him play a few times. I realize statistics don’t tell the whole story, but at the same time you can’t assume he’d be better in the English or the Spanish league than in Russia. And if you transferred his stats to either of those leagues with slight diminishments, and took into account that he’s probably only got two seasons before he starts to decline, and will likely need at least half a season to adapt to a new style of play…that £10m get-out clause starts to look a lot more expensive.
On the other hand, when I think about some of the things I’ve seen him do over the past few days, I think my skepticism needs a vacation. On the other other hand, teams that banish skepticism on the basis of a few brilliant games tend to make decisions they’ll regret.
Ultimately I think he’d be better off in Spain or Italy than in England, which is why it’s mildly dispiriting that most of the transfer gossip has centered on Premier League teams.
I’m off to try to put my mind back together after that penalty shootout. Iker Casillas is NOT A LIE.
How unlike you to gloat.
Wonderful penalties by the Spaniards.
Rubbish penalties by DeRossi and especially DiNatale.
No complaints about the result.
Only British idiots are talking about Arshavin as if he emerged from the steppes three weeks ago; a number of us have been keeping an eye on him for more than a year. He’s a special player, and the kind that may well not age as quickly as you fear.
He’s almost certainly staying at Zenit, as Gazprom have more money than God.
Sorry, I had this crazy idea that someone was describing him as the recipient of a high-altitude shitting. I mean, I wouldn’t want to gloat.
Ursus, do you think Arshavin would be a star in one of the top European leagues? I take your point about his longevity, especially as his game seems like it could survive the loss of some pace, but I worry that England would be too arrhythmic and battering and…England for him. And England-ness is a quality that tends to shorten the shelf-life of fluid players.
None of which matters if you’re right about him staying at Zenit, of course. Still, it’s an intriguing question after the display he’s given us over the last few days.
If Winning Eleven 7 has taught me anything, players have different peaks including early, early-lasting, standard, standard lasting, etc.
Seriously though… players can peak at different periods of their careers right? I accept that in terms of physical prowess, age 29 might be the “peak” but look at players like Anelka and Bergkamp.
Anelka seems to have had all the potential in the world at age 17. In retrospect though you can say his performance peaked age 20.
As for Bergkamp, people thought he was in decline when he came to Arsenal (and he probably was fading) but look at how people remember the twighlight of his career. He came out on top, as threatening as he was age 27.
Just a thought. From a videogame…ah nevermind…
Immense thanks to Chris N. for explaining the likely genesis of what I find to be many North Americans’ over-emphasis on players’ ages. I presume that recent editions of Championship/Football Manager also place a great value on age.
Brian, it is of course at all relative. I actually like Fabregas a great deal (notwithstanding his unfortunate club history and haircut). Were one to place him at the penultimate base camp on Everest while Arshavin is at the one just above, perhaps the scatology would not be as distressing to you.
I think that Arshavin is a very special talent, and probably the most talented player to emerge in Europe since Lionel Messi (who to my mind is standing on top of Everest and working on juggling tricks). You are right that he would be ill served by going to England, but then that is true of many highly technical players who are not also blessed with “great engines” and significant size.* I am quite sure that he would be an immediate star in either Italy or Spain (not to mention Germany). And he would look absolutely gorgeous in purple (though that just ain’t going to happen unless he has a serious addiction to Tod’s or Hogan.
* this is my fear about Modric, btw.
Modric = spitting image of a young Cruyff.
Add / Subtract to your fears about Luka.
I think if Arshavin goes to the right team he would do well in the Premier League as well. He has deceptive pace to go with his tremendous football brain and technique and that goes a long way. There have been players there who were not very physical nor good in the air but still did well, e.g. Henry.
Arsenal and Tottenham would suit him but probably not many of the others in England.
To my mind Russia are playing a very ‘traditional’ Russian/Soviet style of football. It is good to see that in this age of homogenisation of styles, some countries are still adhering to their traditional values and hence keeping alive one aspect of the game that is fast disappearing from the world game. Hiddink has certainly done his fine tuning and then worked his magic through motivation.
Ursus — Probably less distressing to me than it would be to Fabregas!
I think Chris N’s point is that video games don’t over-emphasize age. I haven’t played it in, well, ages, but if I remember right Winning Eleven has several different development models: some players peak at 22, some peak at 35, some drop off sharply at 30, etc. The same is true for Football Manager, although it might be a bit more severe.
I hope Arshavin keeps getting better till he’s 39 and retires at his peak. But if I were a team about to invest a fortune in a player who had spent his entire career in St. Petersburg, I do think 27 would look different to me than 21. You know you’ll have a smaller chance to mold the player, a smaller chance of dramatic improvement down the road, a larger probability (even if nothing is certain) that he’ll decline after a few seasons.
The only reason I’m making the point is that, British media idiots aside, TV coverage over here seems to have given a lot of casual fans the idea that Arshavin is very young. I talked to a guy yesterday who had the impression that he was 19 and was shocked to learn that he was just 10 months younger than Ronaldinho.
I share everyone’s fears about Modric. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Ramos will find the antidote for England-ness.
I’ve been thinking of ditching Arsenal for Spurs for a while now. Part of it has been my growing distaste for Wenger’s attitudes to football and footballers. Another is Modric. And then the chance to escape the Champions’ League for a year* [and hope that the PL is won by Blackburn] in which the UEFA Cup will be stuffed full of exciting teams — in spite of the fact that Milan will also be there. We’ll have the Italian van Basten’s Ajax, Ramos’ Spurs, a Valencia at least marginally better than the bizarro Ches who’ve been in operation this year, a Cassano-led Samp, and gosh knows who else [the last being part of the immense charm of it].
Cesc’s hair is a disaster, but my residual affection for him makes me glad he scored the winning pen last night. To see one of the overpriced young stragglers from their forward line do it would have killed some of my buzz at seeing Giorgio Chiellini’s monster performance.
* – Fiorentina and Roma apart, of course. Bless that Daniele de Rossi, though, he does cut a bit of a tragic figure, doesn’t he?
Why so much concern over Modric’s effectiveness in the EPL? If Fabregas, Rosicky and even Hleb can do okay, why not the Croat, he looks as strong as any of them?
For my part , it has a lot to do with the absence of anyone approaching the effectiveness of Flamini, Gilberto Silva, Diaby or Clichy in Tottenham’s midfield.
Zokora was supposed to fill that role, but has never really given indications of doing so since arriving in London.
That’s it for me, too: I’m afraid Modric will have to do too much and find himself smothered by the responsibility.
And then, I’m afraid the lumbering centurions he’ll be meeting in opposition midfields will be given free rein to bend his bones.
Rosicky and Hleb work for Arsenal, but Arsenal is an island, as Wenger once said in a different context. I think it could work for Tottenham and Modric, and I really want it to—so I’m not despairing, just anxious.
Is someone on here talking about becoming a Spurs fan? On the real tip, yo?
Anyway, I don’t believe Arshavin is really 27. He doesn’t look like he shaves. Um, no pun intended.
Interesting. You’re saying he’s like a reverse Greg Oden. A karmic counterweight to every 22-year-old Little League pitcher, Dominican shortstop with a missing birth certificate, and high-school quarterback on the junior-high football team.
I like this idea, especially since it means Arshavin could be scoring 20 for Everton when he’s officially 42 years old.
Apparently Arshavin fancies Spain, if it makes any difference. Makes sense for him, really, given his style of play.
He does look rather like a peer of Leo Messi rather than Ronaldinho in terms of age.