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ARSHAVIN: STILL DO NOT WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL
The forward of Arsenal and captain of the Russian
national squad Andrey Arshavin was the first to speak after the disastrous
Maribor.
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Andrey Arshavin Photo SPORT EXPRESS
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Actually the phone call to London was planned for a later
time when the dust settles after Maribor and gives way to a cold analysis.
But the surge of rumors recently exceeded all possible limits and forced
the events.
"I have not recovered after the Slovenian fiasco," said the
forward. "I can call my state prostration."
"I do not know what I can compare it to though many things happened
in my career. My beloveds tell me now that I must forget what happened
as soon as possible."
"I need to turn my attention to the club's matters, to the Champions
League but it is easily said but not easily done."
"At the moment nothing spurs me to life. When Arsene Wenger asked
me how I was feeling I honestly said that I just did not want to play
football. He spoke to me, advised to switch to new things but it does
not help at the moment."
"In that match Slovenia turned out more organized than we and managed
to impose the kind of football suitable for them. They gave us no space
and converted their own chance."
"As a result they deserved the victory according to aggregated results
of two matches more than we. We played deficiently aggressive and in the
first half even careful."
"It is quite difficult to say what caused this caution. We understood
that we should not try and keep 0:0 but in the first half it looked as
if we were doing exactly this thing."
"I try not to read everything that is being said in the press and
on the Internet now but of course something reaches me. And frankly speaking
I am not surprised that there are so much rumors - it is a typical situation
for our country."
"When people asked me in England about this I called it rubbish.
One cannot treat such rumors seriously. Are we mad to kill our dream by
ourselves?"
"You know usually there is something that triggers the rumors, something
small and insignificant. But in this case there was nothing at all and
could not have been."
"In this national team nobody can drink let alone souse, before the
games. Nobody. And if it had happened this day would have been the last
in the team for that guy."
"Those people who say that we were left to ourselves in the team
but needed sticks rather than carrots are still living in the Soviet Union
where everything could be explained with - binge, bash and breakoff."
"In our team every player is a professional and does his work willfully
not under the lash. And many journalists cannot simply find football reasons
for defeat and seek them in the familiar sphere."
"And sometimes they only revenge on certain footballer that he rejected
an interview or something. They would better think why they deserve such
attitude."
"I did my best on the pitch, but the legs would not run. As for the
personal claims that is my fate: wins the entire team but the main scapegoat
in a loss - is usually Arshavin. And I am used to it."
"There are many football complaints about my game against Slovenia
and I am ready to discuss them. I very much pity that we failed to live
up to the expectation of the country and of our own wishes."
Sport
Express Daily, 27 Nov 2009
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