Arshavin

[Olivier's xmas twist]

Nah, the boos were a carry on of the initial "booing", which was broken by a brief cheer for AOC. It just co-insided with his name being called out. It was followed by the fans singing "We Love You Arsenal" and the a section singing "You don't know what you're doing".

None of it was aimed at Arshavin, and the reaction would have been completely different if it had been Walcott coming off.

The fans could see that bringing AOC off was the wrong move. As he was having an impact. It was out of disbelief at a mad decision to bring off our most effective player.

NOTHING to do with Arshavin. Because if he had been bought on in place of Walcott, or Ramsey or Rosicky...not much would have been said. Normal sub, normal polite applause.

I agree with that, however if it was henry that came on for AOC would there have been boos?

[Niall_Quinn]

I agree with that, however if it was henry that came on for AOC would there have been boos?

I think yes, because it was Ox coming off that was being booed. There might have been some applause for Henry too, but what are the fans going to make the effort for Arshavin when he gives nothing back in return?

[LDG]

He's lost a lot of pace, or else everyone else in the Russian leagues are slow. He was a hell of a player in that league and even looked like he was picking up where he left off when he first joined us. Was it against Portsmouth where he rifled that goal from his once typical impossible angle? Right into the roof of the net. The calm finishing. The mazy dribbles at intense speed. All gone. I did notice at Zenit they had this weird way of playing where when they had the ball the forwards would head towards the box at pace and give him options, or at least drag markers away from him. We've moved away from that old fashioned type of play. Now when we get the ball in dangerous areas we slow it down and pass backwards. We've become more adept at this since he joined so maybe he's just become incompatible with our sophisticated style of play. Same with Ox, the poor kid just charges towards goal, beating his men and trying to score or set people up. Naive.

Wish we had the freedom to give him the freedom to roam. Think we'd see something different.

You're right though. He's now conditioned to slowing the ball down and playing it backwards and sideways. And if he does do something a bit different, there's nobody on his wavelength.

That said, he can't even pass at the moment, such is his confidence.

[LDG]

I agree with that, however if it was henry that came on for AOC would there have been boos?

Good point actually.

Annoyingly so.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

I think yes, because it was Ox coming off that was being booed. There might have been some applause for Henry too, but what are the fans going to make the effort for Arshavin when he gives nothing back in return?

True, i know if theo came off there would have been no boo's and i know they were not booing the fat russian, just hope he did and his confidence is not dented tbh.

[Fist of Lehmann]

we need him out of the club right now. he sets a dangerous prescendent for younger players, who will look at this multi-capped national team captain sitting around not caring what happens and think this is what you can get away with once you've 'made it'.

Or he could stand as a shining example of what can go wrong, that no matter how talented you are you can't relax. Sport is littered with guys like this, masses of talent, but for one reason or another, never win anything in the majors.

The question of whether he cares or not is a subjective one, some games he does try hard, though the tightness of his shorts suggests someone with a fairly relaxed attitude to training. It's an attitutude that's probably as much physical as mental, some people just don't train well, but that's not to absolve anyone who can't stay fit.

Confidence is clearly an issue. But to get the best out of him we'd need to give him a free role, and absolve him of defensive duties. And I doubt this is something we can offer. Our wingers need to do huge amounts of work backwards and forwards. This is true whether we have conventional fullback who push up high, or stopgap fullbacks who struggle to cope with opposition wingers.

[Olivier's xmas twist]

As for Arshavin himself like gary Neveille said let him go because he does notcare about the club, the fans andhis motivation is gone we can't afford to carry players now with the sqaud as it is.

Wenger sell him this week but he won't so keep him for the summer.

think he could suprise us in the CL though.

[Letters]

Nah, the boos were a carry on of the initial "booing", which was broken by a brief cheer for AOC. It just co-insided with his name being called out. It was followed by the fans singing "We Love You Arsenal" and the a section singing "You don't know what you're doing".

Unless you've asked each fan what they were booing at it's very hard to say whether it was aimed personally at Arshavin but people's patience with him is (understandably) wearing thin. The reaction near me was a clear boo when his name was read out, it sounded to me like it was directed at him. It certainly sounded like it was aimed at him and Arshavin clearly thought it was. It was an idiotic reaction because as you often say on here we need to get behind our players no matter what. The booing for the substitution was fair enough because it was the wrong decision and that boo was clearly aimed at Wenger. The reaction to Arshavin's name was out of order. As for him being professional...he's also human and these things clearly have an effect as they did on Eboue when the crowd getting on his back only made him play worse.

[Kano]

Or he could stand as a shining example of what can go wrong, that no matter how talented you are you can't relax. Sport is littered with guys like this, masses of talent, but for one reason or another, never win anything in the majors.

i'm not too sure having that living and breathing example in and amongst a crop of players in a big club currently under quite a fair amount of pressure is really beneficial to anyone.

[Niall_Quinn]

Unless you've asked each fan what they were booing at it's very hard to say whether it was aimed personally at Arshavin but people's patience with him is (understandably) wearing thin. The reaction near me was a clear boo when his name was read out, it sounded to me like it was directed at him. It certainly sounded like it was aimed at him and Arshavin clearly thought it was. It was an idiotic reaction because as you often say on here we need to get behind our players no matter what. The booing for the substitution was fair enough because it was the wrong decision and that boo was clearly aimed at Wenger. The reaction to Arshavin's name was out of order. As for him being professional...he's also human and these things clearly have an effect as they did on Eboue when the crowd getting on his back only made him play worse.

You're wrong on everything there.