Why Do Players Like Arsenal's Andrei Arshavin Fail To Put in Enough Effort?

A job's a job. A professional footballer's life isn't the easy ride that many people think it is.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who try to become footballers. Only a very, very small percentage of those actually make it to the professional ranks, and a certain proportion of that journey is pure luck.

They will have had to have played in a match where 'the right' scout was watching, be noticed, had their details passed on, and finally the club for which the scout worked will have had to needed someone. Too many ifs for the majority of players.
 
Of those that make it to the professional ranks, only an extremely small percentage actually make it to a 'top flight' club—top half of the premiership. Let's be generous and say 10 clubs, each with a squad of maybe 25 players on average (some much more). That's 250 players out of hundreds of thousands who wanted and tried to make it.
 
Out of that number, how many actually make it as 'stars'? Are there 30? That's probably generous; especially so for those who shine brightly and fade just as quickly.
 
So, given how hard it is to reach the pinnacle of a tough profession, is a job as a professional footballer "just another job"?
 
While most people can expect 45 years in  a variety of jobs, a professional footballer can expect 12 years, maybe a few more if they're very good, and lucky. In that short time they need to make enough money to last them the rest of their lives. All the while putting themselves in the firing line—a position that, if injured, could put an immediate halt to their career.

Of course many footballers leave their footballing career and go on to have perfectly 'normal' jobs, so arguably one should not feel sorry for them. Most however have few educational qualifications, having prioritised their athletic growth. 
 
Some professionals make a lot of money; a few make obscene amounts; and most, especially down the ranks, make 'enough.'  The truth is also that these players are living their dreams.
 
The point I'm reaching is should we expect a level of performance from them higher than that expected from a regular employee in a more normal job?  Do they owe their employers and fans a consistently high level of effort in every match?

Consistent
 
In the space of 90 minutes a professional footballer can make a mistake that costs his club millions in lost revenue. That it costs hundreds of thousands of fans immense heartache is a subsidiary, yet very real, concern.
 
Fans know the players train and practice regularly during the week. We guess and hope that they sit through tactics sessions too. Those activities are clearly 'work,' although it benefits them as much as it benefits the club.
 
In reality though, they are asked to perform at the highest level for at most two 90 minute stints per week. 
 
In a regular business setting you could consider that something like a couple of high profile client meetings, or maybe some technical activity where there needs to be no mistakes. That's perfectly likely and absolutely possible. Extra care is taken, and additional time is spent making sure the 'performance' is right.
 
Why then do some professional footballers seem to fail to put in enough effort often enough?
 
Arsenal fans have watched Arshavin walk around the pitch many times this season when he should have been running. They have also watched a number of players jog instead of run for long periods of some high-profile games recently. Questions are being asked to try to find an explanation for the lack of effort.
 
Mistakes happen of course; lessons should be, and are, learned. To expect the same mistake time and time again would be foolish—as would accepting it without taking some corrective action. That action may be working on a particular situation in training, for example—something that should reduce the likelihood, but cannot guarantee to prevent the situation happening again.
 
Mistakes can be forgiven though, as youngster Kieran Gibbs learned, having made a serious error for Arsenal versus Manchester United earlier in the season. Gibbs put in extra effort and demonstrated his acknowledgement of that error. In response to the effort, fans showed their forgiveness by cheering him.
 
Lack of effort however is far less easily forgiven.

Often one flash of brilliance (and perhaps a goal) during a match can silence the inevitable criticism for a match where little effort has been made. Too often this season however, Arsenal fans have watched the likes of Diaby walk around with apparently little concern for the pace of the game or his teammates.

One must be careful of course not to believe that it's possible to determine the thoughts of a player simply by observation. Minor niggling injuries can cause behaviour similar to laziness, as can extreme tiredness, or even emotional weariness. 
 
It is fair, however, to expect that for 90 minutes, a player should give his all, and put all other concerns aside. 
 
A classic demonstration of the acceptability of this is Emmanuel Eboue, a man pilloried for both his many mistakes and his appalling lack of effort in the Arsenal team. Yet hard work has won over the fans. His effort in games this season is never less than 100 percent. Whilst some of that effort is clearly wasted, and Eboue will never be a first team choice (albeit a great squad player), the fans love him for his commitment as demonstrated by his effort.

Conclusion
 
A conclusion to this brief analysis is difficult and problematic. Would it ever be fair to offload players who regularly do not show enough effort on the pitch? Should they be managed better in order to get a higher level of effort and performance out of them. Some players do, clearly, respond better to some managers (and styles of management) than others.
 
As a fan, I would like to see some players who put in too little effort be transferred away from the club—but the manager is the only one in a position to be able to assess all relevant factors, and influence them.
 
The conclusion in this case is that one must trust the manager to deal with such players and such situations. Complaints may be valid, but in the end, should be directed at, and dealt with, by the manager.