Andrey Arshavin – Lost in Translation or The Truth? A QnA With AA23

A lot has come out in the week about Andrey Arshavin’s negative views in the media and has caused many fans and pundits to tell him to button it and concentrate on matters on the pitch.

What has slightly disappointed me is that a minority of fans that actually believe everything that’s written in the media.

Arsene Wenger has insisted it was an old interview done straight after the Van Persie injury and off course that period brought a lot of negative thoughts and morale dropped after losing back to back at the Stadium of Light and at the Emirates against Chelsea. I am sure Andrey was not the only one who was disappointed and spoke out, personally I was near rock bottom after seeing our team lose 3-0 to one of our main title rivals and memories of last year’s 4-1 defeat at the same ground against the same team came rushing back.

I was fortunate enough to be present in a question and answer session with Andrey Arshavin and for me, the interview with the media that came out was either false or was in the past.

Andrey was extremely positive about the up-coming clash with Barcelona and positive generally on Arsenal chances this season.

The main points of the question and answer session were:

When asked about who he would sign for the club, he said ‘depends on the budget’ and if there’s no budget then he would sign Messi but that’s not always possible he said. He then said it was the job of the boss anyway.

He said he love’s living in London because of the freedom and the pressure is a lot less in London then in Russia. In Russia he felt he did not have as much freedom as he was recognised everywhere he went. In addition to this, he also said he enjoyed shopping in London.

When asked about the atmosphere and if it make’s a difference to players when the crowd are chanting and are noisy, he said ‘off course, the more the crowd chant, the more the players feel like they must do something’. He said the players noticed how the noise level was very low in the home game against Sunderland.  

I got to ask him which player he rates highly that he plays with and also someone who he rates highly who he has played against. His response was simple. Cesc Fabregas and Edin Dzeko

He was unhappy with Sam Allardyce after the comments he made about Arshavin’s home town of St Petersburg and said ‘I can accept that but then I went to Bolton!’

When asked why Arsenal cannot seem to beat Chelsea when Drogba plays, the answer was out of Arsene Wenger’s book, ‘Drogba isn’t their only good player’.

Sol Campbell has been great since he has been back at the club.

There were many lighter moments and Andrey showed how much of a sense of humour he does have and seems to have picked up the England Language well.

Apparently Alex Song is always late to the team bus and take’s it easier then most in training.

Theo Walcott is the best at Fifa10 and when Andrey tried to play it, he drew 1-1, scored with Van Persie and had Alex Song and Tommy Vermaelen sent off. (Quite a game!)

None of the Arsenal players actually play as Arsenal on fifa10.

The most active person on the training pitch seems to be the goal keeping coach.

The full explanation about his celebration will be explained after his career is over.

Finally, Andrey thinks one big duck would beat 50 horses the size of ducks in a fight rather then one horse beating 50 horse size ducks (don’t ask!)

So I was indecisive what to believe with the media stories coming out but after meeting Andrey personally and listening to what he had to say, I come to the conclusion that sometimes, somewhere, words and translations can be mixed and lost and more importantly changed before us, the public read or hear them.