Wally with a Brolly

After the destruction of an overrated Czech team in the first game, the suddenly-dark-horses Russians turn their attention to Poland, with the clear intention of spoiling the hosts' party and send them crashing out of their own Euro.

Unable to watch too much Russian football, but also unwilling to do so (Terek Grozny vs Spartak Moscow anyone?), it was a pleasure to see the return of the mercurial Andrei Arshavin against the Czech. The little Russian had disappeared off the radar after his move back home to Zenit, and I was genuinely looking forward to watching him play for his nation.

What I witnessed was a footballing lesson by one of the misunderstood players of the last few years.

Sure, Alan Dzagoev got all the plaudits, and rightly so, for a performance which belied the fact he is still only 21.
I can however safely say that none of this would have happened without Arshavin. Andrei was everywhere that night, and had it not been for Kerzhakov managing to hit that barn door an impressive number of ZERO times in 7 attempts, Russia would have recorded an even greater win.

There was Arshavin threading what has been the ball of the tournament (with Sneijder's outrageous outside-of-the-boot through ball to Huntelaar), splitting the Czech defence and leaving Kerzhakov one-on-one with Cech (in case you're wondering, he missed).

Kerzhakov: without him, Arshavin would be top of the assists chart. Yes, this photo symbolises his performance. No, it is not photoshopped.

There was Arshavin, upping the tempo when its team got too comfortable at 2-1, despite Czech pressure.

There was Arshavin, dictating play and dropping off the two Czech central defenders to come collect the ball and initiate attacks.

It was an absolute lesson in how to play the Number 10 role, and one I'm sure Dzagoev himself has been lucky to learn whilst playing alongside Arshavin for Russia.

A helpless defender trying to stop Arshavin. A common sight in international football

Most importantly, it was proof that Arshavin had been misunderstood all along.

(On a sidenote, Arshavin is not only misunderstood in footballing terms. The man is a genius, full stop. Check out his answers to questions by fans on his website. Our favourite two are:

Q: How do you see yourself in 50 years?
Arshavin: 78-year-old man, with aching legs and a glamorous walking stick

Q: In what order would you place the following animals: a tiger, a cow, a pig, a horse, a sheep?
Arshavin: A pig - it will always get the last place! A tiger, a cow, a horse, a sheep. And I'll repeat that a pig is always the last one, because it is a pig.

Brilliant)

Arshavin: footballing genius, and part-time philosopher with an irrational hatred of pigs

Let's go back in time to Euro 96. The Three Lions were romping to victory over Holland, igniting the closest run to ending God knows how many years of hurt. Gascoigne was actually considered to be a fine professional footballer, even though we all knew he was an unrepenting obese alcoholic, which perhaps made his accomplishments on the pitch even more impressive.

Personally, Euro 96 also remains the moment I discovered Gheorghe Hagi. And he's probably the Euro 96 version of Arshavin.

Gheorge Hagi was also known as 'mercurial'. He was also erratic, prone to laziness and probably even crazy. He played for Barcelona and Real Madrid but never really shone. Put him in a Romanian shirt, and Hagi was a genius.
In that yellow shirt, he was unstoppable. He literally carried Romania in the World Cup 94, and even though the Romanians lost in the first round of Euro 96 (to a group containing France, Spain and a Stoichkov-led Bulgaria goddamit!), he was the best player on the pitch every time. Two years later, he would lead an ageing Romanian team to victory over England in the World Cup.

Gheorghe Hagi: erratic, scum, crazy, a cheat, under-performing player at club level. A genius with Romania. Arshavin's 'ancestor'.

So Hagi was a genius number 10 for his country, an underachieving player for the big clubs he played for. Does this sound familiar?

Now go back to Euro 2008. Russia, for a long time considered to have deserved their place only because England, led by a man who inspired this blog (Thanks Schteve!), had been so abject they had forgotten to actually qualify.

Russia were underrated and romped to the semi-finals of the Euro, led by the brilliance of Arshavin who single-handedly destroyed the much-fancied Holland. Again, an underrated Russian team led by Arshavin, sounds familiar?


"But wasn't he absolutely rubbish when he was at Arsenal?" And here's where and when Arshavin has been most misunderstood.

When he arrived in 2009, Arshavin was the first real established star that Arsene had bought in the last few years. Here was an old player (by Arsenal standards) who had just terrorised teams at Euro 2008, joining Arsenal and settling in.

98 league games and 23 goals (and many more assists) later, and Andrei was unceremoniously dumped back to Zenit St Petersburg.

Whilst his desire was often lacking towards the end, and the difficulties in learning decent English proved too much for him, let us not forget that this man was played out of position for many years and still produced at a good level.

Here was a player used to playing in the hole for club and country. Playing as a number 10, he had not only terrorised teams at Euro 2008, but had also led Zenit to victory in the Europa League in 2008 as well.

But as soon as he arrived at Arsenal he was turned into a Left-Winger, continuing a trend that has seen Arsene waste players such as Hleb, Rosicky and Bentley by playing them out on the wings. OK, that last one was a stretch. It was clear for us to see that Arshavin only wished to play Number 10, without the many defensive duties demanded of a modern winger and which, to his detriment, he continuously disregarded.

Arshavin at Arsenal: my thoughts exactly Andrei

Whilst his attitude in stopping to care once he realised he was never going to get his wish after several years should not be commended, we have to realise that Wenger seemed particularly inflexible, especially when you consider that players in his position have not been as productive yet have been given chances. Walcott, for example, has only attained double figures in the goal in the Prem this season, yet is continually starting.


Whilst it is clear that Andrei didn't show the best of his abilities whilst at Arsenal, he was also let down by his manager and by so-called experts who totally disregarded his stats. Didn't the man score 4 in a single game past Liverpool? Didn't he score 10 goals in his first full season from a position he hated playing in?

Arshavin with Russia: at his eccentric best. Unstoppable.

So don't be surprised if he tears Euro 2012 apart. Arsenal's loss is Russia's gain. And we should be glad that international tournaments give players such as Arshavin a chance to truly shine.