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My Kop show was just four play - you ain't seen nothing
yet, says Andrey Arshavin
By Matt Barlow
Andrey Arshavin reflected on the first four-goal haul of his
career and announced that he would be better next season once he had found
the true rhythm of English football.
It is hard to know exactly how he plans to top Tuesday night's display
when he scored every Arsenal goal in the 4-4 draw and became the first
player in the Barclays Premier League to score four in one game against
Liverpool at Anfield.
But the ?15million January signing from Zenit St Petersburg insists he
will not produce his best until he is settled into his new life and new
team.
Number one: Arshavin gets his incredible night started,
slotting home his first goal past Jamie Carragher / Photo: dailymail.co.uk
'These games are still difficult for me,' said Arshavin. 'If you look
at the first half against Liverpool, you never saw me at all, not until
I scored the first goal in one moment. It's difficult and I'm trying but
I still need time.
'Everybody needs to learn to play with each other. I have to go through
pre-season and everything will be in a place then, so I will be better.
So, I think, will the team. That is more important than just me being
better.'
No chance of Arshavin trying to run before he can walk then, although
that's not what his mother claims. Tatyana Arshavin reckons little Andrey
was always a bit unconventional.
'He has a particular body structure which makes his manner of walking
and running completely different from other people,' she said. 'As a baby
when he first managed to get into upright position he began to run. He
only learned to walk much later.'
Number two: Arshavin fires home his and Arsenal's second
goal of the night / Photo: dailymail.co.uk
Julio Baptista scored four for Arsenal in a 6-3 win at Liverpool in the
Carling Cup in 2007 but was soon back at Real Madrid. 'I want to keep
playing after this,' said Arshavin, keen to avoid too close a comparison
to Baptista, now at Roma.
He is only the second Arsenal player to score four in the Premier League
- the other is Thierry Henry against Leeds. Yet he refused to accept credit
for his deadly finishing at Anfield.
'It just happens sometimes that every shot flies into the target,' said
Arshavin. 'In my career, I've scored two hat-tricks but never four in
a game. I feel good but disappointed that we didn't get the result we
wanted. Both teams wanted to win. It was unbelievable football.
'We want to win each game and be at the top, not in fourth place. We think
about the teams above us but we want to be up above them.
Number three: Carragher, Agger and Reina cannot stop Arshavin
completing his hat-trick / Photo: dailymail.co.uk
'Confidence comes when you win. This time we only drew and that's not
good. When we press we play well and when we drop back it is very dangerous
for us. We concede corners and some tall players win the ball against
us and get the second ball and try to shoot. So everybody must take responsibility
for conceding four. Not just the defence and keeper. Everyone must help.'
Having spent nearly three months in a hotel since his transfer, Arshavin
reveals the culture shock of moving to London after spending the first
27-and-a-half years of his life in St Petersburg.
'Everybody is telling me things but afterwards, when I see it on paper,
it is not what I heard,' said Arshavin as he explained the frustrations
of renting a home in a foreign language. Andrey Kanchelskis, the former
Manchester United winger, says it is easy to overlook the upheaval for
eastern Europeans.
Number four: Reina looks on as he is beaten by Arshavin
for the fourth time / Photo: dailymail.co.uk
Kanchelskis, who joined United from Shakhtar Donetsk in 1991, said: 'Arshavin
is lucky to join Arsenal, a good club with a good coach who tries to play
football but he'll need time before he can play his best every week. It's
a new life, not just a new team.
'I can remember how it was when I arrived. There is a different mentality,
a different language, different foods, even driving on the left instead
of the right. In a year he'll improve. He needs the chance to learn the
language, that's important.'
In Russia, Arshavin has a reputation as an independent thinker; someone
reluctant to be cajoled into lazy platitudes. Asked about next week's
Champions League semi-final against Manchester United, a game he will
miss because he is cup-tied, he started by insisting Arsenal would do
well. But he stopped himself and added: 'It's easy to say these things
if you're not going to play in the game.'
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Arshavin had the good sense to explain his celebrations at Anfield were
not meant to offend Liverpool fans. He pressed a finger to the lips, his
trademark move, but a gesture which sparked fury when Chelsea boss Jose
Mourinho did it during the 2005 Carling Cup final. The Russian also lifted
four fingers after his final goal.
'I want to say to the supporters of Liverpool that they made it such a
good atmosphere,' said Arshavin. 'When I scored the fourth I showed a
sign to my fans but it was not aimed at Liverpool. I always do that. I
just wanted to thank my fans for their support.'
He later swapped shirts with Fernando Torres, explaining: 'The coach I
had as a child, Sergey Gordeev, collects shirts with No 9. I hope a friend
from St Petersburg who was visiting me and my wife, Yulia, will take it
back to him.'
Dailymail.co.uk,
23rd April 2009
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