He was the reason we went on to retain Champions League football.
When, in 2012, we loaned him out for no apparent reason other than to guarantee him the chance of appearing in Euro 2012, it was the reason we failed to finish off a hard-earned fightback and ultimately went out of the CL.
Yes, we have no-one to blame but ourselves for that abysmal away performance; but now we've potentially lost Theo and AOC for the upcoming Premier League run-in and all for the sake of some pride.
I take nothing away from the team on the night, they put in a fantastic performance with the ref seemingly determined not to let anything flow, but I can't help but think that if we'd had Arshavin tonight, we'd currently be waiting for extra-time, rather than licking our wounds.
When we bought Arshavin in 2009....
posted on 6/3/12
I agree with you too, Darwin.
Last 15 minutes who would you rather see coming on... Park or Arshavin?
There are no guarantees in football.
Except that Park will have no impact whatsoever on an Arsenal match.
posted on 6/3/12
Come on people ffs, Arshavin if miles better than Chamakh and Park combined. Whether you like him or not you cannot deny it is a fact. Maybe he would not have done anything to win us the match, the difference between him and the other 2 though is that maybe he could have.
posted on 6/3/12
I don't know if he was playing, but Zenit lost 2-0 tonight.
posted on 6/3/12
Arshavin was behind Gervinho, Walcott, Chambo and Benayoun in the pecking order. He probably wanted to leave himself.
posted on 6/3/12
Oh he definitely wanted to leave. We couldn't guarantee him first-team football (hell, he even played a game for the reserves shortly before he left).
But the fact is, with out injury record, many of us said it was a bad idea. Tonight just proved a prime example of how easy it is (even if your wing players are fit) to find yourself regretting such a move when, from the club's point of view, you have no immediate need to do so.
posted on 6/3/12
with our injury record we need to keep hold of anyone who is half decent while we are in the various competitions.
posted on 6/3/12
Darwin, you know I would've caused chaos on this article if I didn't like you! This really isn't the right time to be posting articles like this.
Look at the other Arshavin article for evidence
posted on 6/3/12
"his really isn't the right time to be posting articles like this."
I agree! I was hurting after suddenly realising how close we were and what could have made the difference.
I regretted posting this as soon as I hit 'publish' and then looked at the 3-0 scoreline.
But once I'd done it, I had to defend my point
posted on 6/3/12
I think you were totally justified in writing this article, Darwin.
It's objective and not without it's positives.
We did well tonight, but the squad's weakness was exposed when the subs came on.
Arshavin might not have made a difference of course...
Ozyakup definitely would have though!
Right Kam?
posted on 6/3/12
That's right Lexy!