• Berth

  Dev day!!!! we are all glad you exist.

• joel t

  < ![CDATA[wow...Dev must have been up a bit late for this one!!

  Anyway, onto Andrey..(that's how he prefers his name spelt in English apparently). I think it's a good signing, not great....but good. There are a few issues I have with it.

  Pro's - He's the type of player we NEED at the moment. People calling for defensive midfielders and CB's obviously haven't watched our matches recently. Our defence is solid at the moment and the central midfield is fine. It lacks creativity though. He should provide some dynamism to bridge the gap from midfield to up front in a different way to v persie. Where RvP can hold up the ball and pick a killer pass, along with lethal finishing, Arshavin has unbelievably explosive pace which will really help us get behind some tight 10 man defences. He's a good age...but thats purely based on age, for a midfielder he has another good 3 years in him at least and then if he is clever he will be able to adapt his game. People who criticise Henry for "losing his pace" and therefore not being the player he is....have you not seen the guy play recently?? He's on fire...even if a player does rely on pace...it doesn't mean he can't adapt his game later on in his career...let's hope Andrey can do the same. He's experienced aswell...but....

  Cons - Experienced...in the Russian league. Does he have what it takes to take on the Premier League? If he really is pure class...he will, we'll have to wait and see. Wenger usually does worse in the market when he splashes the cash..let's hope this is £16.75 million well spent. Against Spain in Euro 2008 he looked knackered. Now, there may be a number of reasons for this. The Russian League is weird so he may not have been 100% fit for the championships and he had missed the 1st two games. Or was it simply that Russia were outplayed by the best team in Europe and he couldn't have the same impact? Or, is there a genuine problem with his stamina?? All will be revealed.

  Also..I don't think we should expect this guy to work miracles over night. For one, he's not fit...and even if he was, he prob wouldnt have started the Spurs match. Wenger usually starts new signings on the bench. Reyes against Man City, Pires against...Sunderland?? Lets wait for him to get fit and give him a few games to get settled. But what is important....we do need him to do something for us. Thats the reason we bought him afterall. Wenger knew he wouldnt be without Cesc for 8 weeks....8 weeks in which we could totally lose pace with Villa, let alone higher up the table!!

  Welcome Andrey...let's hope he can provide that spark we desperately need at the moment!!!!!!!!!!]]>

• Pissed off

  < ![CDATA[So good to be baaaaaaaaaack. Am really glad I came back to this forum when some postive activities has happened - I hope to stay till the end of the season. I have also been watching from the sidelines, Kieren and zohaib, you havent done badly in my absence, Fabriez, you have been good too and then Dev and Deb i really missed you guys, But I missed kieren the most.

  Hope our bargain (Arshavin) pays off.]]>

• Fabrez

  Hey Pissed off! Cheers! I haven’t seen u 4 quite a while. U crossed my mind recently actually. Hope all is well. Well of course it’s an exciting time with Arshavin coming in…so while we kno he may not work an instant miracle, let’s hope we have a lot more positive results to talk about in the coming weeks… and with more players coming back, should prove to be very very interesting!

• Debs

  < ![CDATA[Welcome back pissed off! Great time to be back!
  And yeah, we know it's not going to be 'instant miracles', but I think sometimes a new signing, even before he plays a game, refreshes the team and I'm sure he'll have a very positive impact on the team! And he seems like such a confident lad! I think he'd fit right in when he's fit...
  He even said he likes a few of the players in the team already- I wonder who?
  Still well excited, and it's going to be very interesting times, these next few weeks!]]>

• RF

  < ![CDATA[Its Time for some Arshawin Now !!
  m excited to watch him play in the Arsenal shirt.

  Go Gunners !!!]]>

• kameron

  < ![CDATA[I’m strongly of the opinion that Arshavin is a special player who will have a decent impact on the club from day one.

  In his interview the Russian suggests that he may not be sharp enough yet to play against Tottenham on the weekend but I’ve just got the feeling that Wenger could put him on the bench and give him a run-out. What a baptism of fire that would be too, a debut in the North London derby at White Hart Lane. Imagine if he scored? It would be incredible.

  Above everything else football-related that Arshavin will bring to the club, I get the feeling that his signing will restore hope not only in the fans but an Arsenal squad that have scrapped their way through the opening half of the season. His arrival as well as the eventual return from injury of guys like Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky means the attacking side of our game should be restored in some force. All of a sudden it’s exciting to be an Arsenal fan again.]]>

• harry

  Arshavin will prove to be a crucial signing, not only can he play as a right wing to fill in while Theo is injured but he can also play in Fabregas’ position and as a second striker, so he gives us many options, especially when Wenger chooses to deploy a 5 man midfield. This will also give us that strength indepth for when we need to bring on crucial players to make a difference in the latter stages of matches, as we’ve been lacking that with all our injuries. Something else to consider is we’ve finally bought a player that many teams were interested in (although everyone was put off due to the hefty pricetag) but now it’ll show all the up and coming players at Arsenal that if they have 1 good season, it doesn’t mean they’re too good for the team, I’m looking at you Flamini, Hleb and Adebayor.

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