25 – Goals scored for Arsenal before January 2011
6 – Goals scored for Arsenal since January 2011
4 – Goals scored for Arsenal since the famous Barcelona goal on 16th February 2011
1/1 – Date on which Robin van Persie returned for Arsenal in 2011 ready to play for a contract at another club, scoring a goal in the 3-0 win over Birmingham.
Here’s a weird thing I noticed: if you split Andrei* Arshavin’s career into two eras, before van Persie and after van Persie, you can track a steady rise in minutes, goals, assists, and games started, to the moment that van Persie “gets healthy” in January 2011 which is then followed by a marked decline in all of the above.
Now you’ve probably already seen the numbers on Arshavin’s career at Arsenal in various places and if we take all matches played in all competitions (League, Champions League, CL Qualifiers, FA Cup, and League Cup) they look like this:
| Starts | Subs | Min | Goals | Assists | |
| 2008-2009 | 14 | 1 | 1193 | 6 | 7 |
| 2009-2010 | 31 | 6 | 2815 | 12 | 6 |
| 2010-2011 | 36 | 16 | 3162 | 10 | 17 |
| 2011-2012 | 13 | 13 | 1171 | 2 | 4 |
| 2012-2013 | 2 | 9 | 350 | 1 | 5 |
| TOTAL | 96 | 45 | 8691 | 31 | 39 |
Most people would be forgiven if they looked at that record and thought that the decline happened in the summer of 2011. In fact, it looks like the floor just dropped right out that summer but Arshavin’s career actually ended in January of that year.
If we look at just Premier League play (where I have much more reliable data) we see that from August to January of the 2010-2011 season Arshavin started 17 League games and was a sub just once. In fact, in that time, he played 1368 minutes for an average of 76 minutes per game. Then from January to May he started just 8 times and came on as a sub 11 times, playing a total of just 816 minutes for an average of just 43 minutes per game.
Thus, if we divide his Premier League career into a first “half” consisting of 2008-2009 to January 2011 and a second “half” dating from January 2011 to the present, it looks like this:
| Starts | Subs | Min | Goals | Ast | Min/Game | Min/Goal | Min/Ast | Min/G+A | |
| First Half | 54 | 7 | 4621 | 20 | 15 | 76 | 231 | 308 | 132 |
| 2nd half | 16 | 29 | 1627 | 3 | 5 | 36 | 542 | 325 | 203 |
For the next 2.5 years, from January 2011 to the present, Andrei Arshavin would score just 3 League goals and 6 goals total in all competitions for Arsenal.
Some people want to find a reason why Arshavin’s form dropped or why Wenger dropped him to the bench and there was a rather famous proclamation by Arshavin himself that he didn’t want to play football any more after Russia failed to qualify for the World Cup in late November 2009.
I am inconsolable and desolate at what has happened. My family keep telling me that I should forget it as soon as possible, that I should now switch to the club matters and the Champions League but that’s easier said than done. Nothing revives me so far. When Arsene Wenger asked me what state I was in, I honestly told him that at the moment I just do not want to play football at all.
But the period from January 2010 to January 2011 was easily Arshavin’s richest vein of form scoring 11 goals and assisting on 13 more. 35% of his total goals scored and 33% of his total goals assisted in one calendar year immediately after Russia’s World Cup exit looks more like a player who redoubled his efforts for the team not like one who didn’t want to play football anymore.
No, if I have to pinpoint the moment that Arshavin’s career at Arsenal hit the brakes, it was the return of van Persie. We won’t know if that’s because the two didn’t get along, or if Wenger had wanted to bench him a year earlier but couldn’t because of Robin’s injury problems, or if there’s even any causal relationship between the two events. So,while we don’t know if there’s causation we do know that there is correlation.
Yet another fact I hope will be explained one day in Wenger’s autobiography.
7am
*I spell his name that way because I always have. His real name is Андре́й and even Wikipedia spells it both ways in English. You’ll get over it.
It all just makes me really sad. After he shanked in that long ranger at Old Trafford I thought we had signed the best player in the league, for a short while.
I’ll never forget that goal at Old Trafford. I was in London and I walked into a pub not knowing if it was an Arsenal pub or not. Being Australian all we hear is be careful wearing your jersey around on match day you can get beat up if you’re in the wrong place.. So there I was with my blue away kit hidden under a jacket sitting at the bar when these 2 blokes come up and started talking football. My ears pricked up and I started chiming in. They heard my accent and once they knew I loved… Read more »
So what you are saying is that Arshavin has a good cunt radar…
Genius!
He could also be saying RVC is a black cat (And no i dont mean a Sunderland player although I would gladly have sold him to them instead). Robin is healthy and Arshavin losses all form. Robin is healthy and chamack who functioned really well in our team scoring goals and assists loses confidence and form . Robin goes to United and what happens to Rooney ? Now United are paying 225k£/week for Scouse Arshavin.
I think he’s saying RVC is a form vampire.
I find it really sad for both Arsenal and Arshavin the way things have gone. He is undoubtedly a talented man but, as you indicate above, something changed drastically in 2011 and his form/attitude appear to have just collapsed. Unfortunately, it seems too many Arsenal fans used Arshavin as a scapegoat at times and, undoubtedly, that impacted on his mental state too. We have seen more this recently with Ramsey, Diaby and Santos – players who need support in hard times and receive none. I hope whatever Arshavin chooses to do, he is happy. I won’t ever forget the 4… Read more »
I agree. I understand fans frustrations, I get them too, but its counter productive to bash and boo your own players. That’s likely to only hurt their confidence even more, which clearly wont get their form back to where it should be. Also, this is interesting to note a link between RVP and Arshavin. Perhaps there was some issues between them. As you recall, RVP clearly expressing his disapproval of Arshavin coming on for the Ox vs Man Utd. The same moment some of us “fans” boo-ed as he entered the pitch. Sadly, that marked the point of no return… Read more »
I always remember the one at Anfield the next season, think he was at CF that game? Smashed it in.
Arshavin scores 10 and gets 17 assists in the 10-11 season. Nasri scored 15 and got 5 assists in the 10-11 season.Cesc scored 9 and got 14 assists in that season. Nasri moves to City for f £25 million and Cesc moves to Barca for around €29 million. On the other hand Arshavin’s career goes downhill from there on.Strange isn’t it? His attitude should have beeter and it wouldn’t be fair to blame Arsene for his decline but i think its fair to say Arshavin could have been managed better.
So the Dutch skunk ruined Arshavin’s career? Just when you thought you had enough reasons to hate that cunt.
Hope Arshavin will be the one to shove up a vodka bottle up the Skunk’s arse.
Chamakh and Bendtner’s careers also went down the toilet around the same time. Vela didn’t really get much opportunity to shine either. Park? Well he didn’t even get a look-in before he was written off. Nasri’s performances also tailed off fairly rapidly. Admittedly one or two may have started to look at moves elsewhere, but that’s still 5 or 6 players you could claim were adversely affected by the return to form of van Persie. What does that tell us? That we’re better off getting 2 or 3 top class players and rotating them, rather than making do with 5… Read more »
Yeah, I was thinking Arshavin wasn’t the only one who was ruined by the return of Van Persie: Chamakh looked a decent player at one time…then Van Persie happened. No more game time, no more form. Park was also destroyed, because suddenly, instead of being a back-up to a striker, he was the back-up to the back-up. None of us, least of all Wenger, imagined Van Persie would actually buck the seven-year trend and stay fit for as long as he did in 2011.
I haven’t had sex since that slinky cunt came back either…..partly due to how ugly I am,but still I believe it’s skunks fault.
FUCK YOU JUST FOR MEN WANNABE SPOKESMAN!!!
Sorry but I just got word from Just For Men, the lack of sex is direct causation from using their product.
🙁
Good player. Bad outcome.
I think its a lot to do with the carling cup final disgrace. Lets not forget arsenal fucked up big time that season.
Someone mentioned this on twitter as well. Sure, it could be the League Cup final… it could have been a problem with one of his kids at school, it could have been a lot of things.
I’m careful at the end to mention correlation not causation.
Other people below have mentioned other factors which seem more reasonable to me than losing a cup final: Theo’s return, Nasri’s form, and van Persie’s return all correlate to that same period.
I hope we secure our top 4 position before the last game so we can give Andrei a farewell run around.
Well, a farewell casual lope around maybe….
When Arshavin was awesome, he was awesome. Sometimes it’s just hard to keep that up. But that takes absolutely nothing away from what he was at his peak, and irrespective of his form he’s always been a player who I have enjoyed supporting as a Gunner.
Or as he would say, “goonar”
Let’s not be silly here, we all were rejoicing when the dutch cunt got us to the UCL last season, we cared more about that than arshavin’s numbers or lack off. Arshavin is a very talented footballer but not a consummate professional and let’s not avoid the fact that for the most part of his short career here, he was deployed wide left/right and even as a CF instead of his most familar position that he’s had throughout his career, just behind the main forward in a loose ‘no. 10’ role, i’m sure that helped in the downfall of his… Read more »
Actually, when you look at per minute contribution and per minute mistakes they were pretty much exactly the same throughout his Arsenal career. Basically, he wasn’t any worse (per minute) or better (per minute) in any season from 2008/2009 to this.
So, I’m really struggling to see any correlation much less any causation for a drop in form based on position played.
Given our paucity of options, it seems likely that he will make the bench for the weekend. Would love him to come at around 75 minute mark and either score or set-up a winner (Much like he did against Sunderland for Henry last year)
I used to think it was an irrational notion, but maybe it isn’t: I often get the sense that RvP eats up the oxygen in the room, for both club and country. Others who play well in his absense don’t seem to play well when he gets back. Talented internationals who coordinate well with club teammates can’t seem to coordinate well when playing for Holland – and the problem seems to get worse when Robin is in top form. I’m pretty sure a dramatic drop in Chamakh’s performance matches with one of Robin’s injury returns as well.
Sounds more like a coincidence.
Arshavin hadn’t been playing well, so Wenger dropped him for Theo.
Theo came in against Chelsea, did well and became first choice.
Perhaps you should compare Theo’s record against Arshavin, pre/post Dec 27 2010.
Arshavin was playing just fine before he was dropped in January 2011.
In the 7 games prior to van Persie’s return, Arshavin had 5 assists and 2 goals.
Arshavin was benched on 27 December against Chelsea, a game which Robin started, then played on 29 December against Wigan where he should have been the match winner, scoring one and setting Bendtner up for one, only for Wigan to rescue a point after N’Zogbia’s red card thanks to a Squillaci own goal.
It was the game which Arshavin scored this brilliant goal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_OaKN4QQMI
I don’t think it was Arshavin’s form.
if I remember correctly arshavin’s stats were high and good, but he still played in a frustrating way. I remember wenger kept saying look at his stats look at his stats in the press conferences, but everyone was on his back. something like gervinho maybe?
I always liked arshavin anw, shame to see him decline in such manner.
I like arshavin think he has his moments of brilliance but inconsistency and stats speak for themselves.
I’m sure RVcunt used to moan about Henry being a game killer for him and then the cunt does it to our little meerkat….. No excuse now though arshavin he’s gone and left us the judas cunt
Great lad and his website is well funny. Oh, I hope the BFG stomps on RVP’s head 🙂
Now do the same for Chamakh- let’s see his stats before and after RVP returned from injury. Uncanny. Dutch skunk ruins lives.
Not sure if there is a bigger fan of the Russian boyscout that I am. I don’t for a second believe he’s lost the will to play, but I do think he needs a change of scenery. I think the EPL is too demanding for him as is the case for many players, even one such as Vela. If the rumors are true about a Sevilla transfer, than all the best to Arshavin because I think he will see out a fine finish to his career.
I wrote this on the 12th Aprill” Finally, a bit of pure unsubstantiated speculation on my part. Some have suggested that RVP had it in for some players. Those players who did not bow to his will and fan is enormous ego. Ramsey and Andrey, apparently, were two of them. If that is the case I understand . Why should Arshavin bow down to any player? And if he did not like Judas, then that’s a good thing as it turns out . He was right not to like the prick. It could though explain his rapid exclusion from the… Read more »
I remember Arshavin and RVP went to the tennis at the o2 together, so they choose to socialise. I dont think that RVP had ‘it in’ for him
Is Arshavin the little boy inside him?
So why hasn’t Arshavin been playing well since RVP left?? What a load of utter fucking bollocks! Get some new writers in please arseblog.
It’s not 7amKickOff’s fault you have misinterpreted the collection of stats showing a correlation as a theory linking the two players performances.
Try reading the last paragraph again.
Please learn the skill of reading comprehension. Also, read the article.
Even though he hasn’t performed as well as we all would have liked, his transfer was still a success. Without him we wouldn’t have qualified for the champions league in his first season, and that alone justifies his price. But what a player he could have been if he wasn’t so incredibly lazy.
Wow. I was pretty impressed with his stats. I was expecting something a bit worse. I heave to admit Arshavin was a signing I didn’t want at the time as I wasn’t convinced by his style but the lil guy won me over quite quick! cheers Andrei for everything! Wish things went better for us both!
I think he was mainly benched because Walcott and Nasri became the first choice options around that time, and Cesc was undroppable.
And since he got benched for some time, he lost confidence and motivation.
I still think he should have gotten a lot more gametime than he has the past 2 seasons.
Perhaps Nasri was the preferred option but in 22 appearances for Arsenal after 1 January 2011, Nasri scored 3 goals and had 1 assist. If you remember, that was the 1/2 season Nasri took off after being tapped up for Man City! As for Walcott, he played on the right which was almost never Arshavin’s position (natural or unnatural) but he did link up very well with van Persie and in the final 21 apps scored 4 and assisted 6. But I will admit that the combination of van Persie returning, Walcott returning, and Nasri playing well before being tapped… Read more »
Nasri’s good form that season also correlates strongly with Chamakh’s presence in the starting lineup.
Arshavin is still a better player than theo.
And Nasri
More talented sure. But to be a good player thats only counts for so much. Gotta put in some effort.
Talk of correlations (All correlations not this one in particular- the news is plagued with them) always remind me of The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters belief that global warming is caused by the decrease in the numbers of pirates sailing the seven seas and the graph showing the correlation.
Santi Claus spot on mate. All this it was down to rvp bollox. The bloke left because the club lacked ambition and he wanted to win things, and has been proven right.
Arshavin became lazy and over weight and was played out of position and then decided to sit on his fat contract. His fault or wengers but not rvp’s ffs.
Never seen a more honest player than him.evenif things didnt workout in last few years i still love him as a player and he is not bad off it.
RVP is to blame. Now I know why we kept paying Ashavin 90,000 pound a week to host banquets at his mansion and get fat. RVP also prevented Chamak, Park, Bendtner and Girvinho from becoming a 200 goals a season strike force. It is also clear that Djourou, Denilson and especially Squilacci and Santos would have been better than Franz Beckenbauer and Bergkamp but RVP cast his spell, and they became useless overpaid dead wood. We all know that it was RVP who made Fabregas, Nasri, Cliche and Toure leave the club to play in teams who won Trophies. Let… Read more »
Arshavin’s career disappeared down the same pit of complacency as Chamahk’s, Bendtner’s Santos’s and Walcott’s.
When you are at a club where there is no ambition, where finishing fourth is seen as success, and where the manager can still survive after eight trophyless years, then it’s easy to see why certain players lose motivation and just give up on their careers.
Hi Fatgooner, you are the 1,000,000th visitor to Arseblog and you have just potentially won yourself a prize!
Here’s what you have to do. Post a comment that does not include a dig at Wenger, and you will win £1,000 in cash and two tickets for a holiday to Morocco!
Go on, I dare you!
@fatty. Yeah I hate it when a club spends £400m+ on building a state of the art stadium and rejuvenating an entire postcode. Then paying it off with hard work.
Such a lack of ambition.
Please, for the sake of those poor red thumbs, just do one. Well until next season anyway, when you can eat your words. Something I assume you do quite regularly.
Maybe at the end of this season we should go on an open-bus parade around the streets of Islington with a model of the stadium.
Sounds good, only you’re not invited.
Even though Arshavin had better stats than the rest of midfield in the 2010-11 season, but everyone here would remember that for every assist he used to give away posession cheaply at critical positions. He might have been better behind the striker but i’m sure Arsenal would not have been a better team. You also need to remember that he had the ability to beat defenders and was a very good crosser as well. It is foolish to suggest that Wenger wasted him on the wings. The man was an extremely talented footballer though and on his day was incredible… Read more »
Like arshavins name is Андре, i’d like to clear something about carzola, cathorla, or Quaxuwlry if you like. It’s none of that, it’s actually Cazorla.
That’s incorrect, Андрей is his name. Can I still call Chambo – Ox? or Chambo?
Call him champagne mate, idc
this theory would make sense if Arshavin had picked up form again the moment van persie left… the reality is that he cannot get in the current team so it has nothing to do with can persie
Arshavin comes on, jinxes his way past his marker and delivers a pinpoint cross to legend henry for the simplest of tap ins (Arsenal 2 – 1 sun’land, stoppage time shit!) He may not be something to talk about right now but he did create some good memories. (See; barca liverpool)
The problem of Arshavin is all the goal he scored against Liverpool , the 4 goal in one game.
After that people were expeting that he sore a lot and himself he put this burden on his shoulder, every time he wanted to do the same …..and every time he was thinking to much and loose his football.
I bet illegal immigrants are responsible for his dip in form.
Was he not a bag of shite when he returned to Zenit on loan?
I think they won a trophy… no?
Lets just hope the curse of that grey skunk continues to ruin the careers of his teammates.
What happened to Sneijder after they played in the WC and Euro’s together? The poor guy can’t make the grade at Galatasaray…
RVP is a satanic man-witch that sucks up the souls of superstars. Get away from this dark disaster before its too late!
Also, don’t forget that Ozyakup was under RvP’s wing at Arsenal. It was reported that RvP advised him to leave.
[…] 来源:[Arseblog News] […]
Damn, I really love Arshavin. I started to support Arsenal following his footsteps after the Anfield game 🙁
Looks eerily like the story of Chamakh, whose productive Arsenal career ended when RVP returned. Winger is on record as saying the two could not be played together, said late in 2010.
I wonder if Wenger felt similarly about Arshavin. Wonder how often Wenger included both men in the starting lineup.