Good morning.
Poor old comrade Pavlyuchenski. A number of things have conspired against him. Before we dip into these, it’s important to remember that every player is ultimately the master of his own ship. This isn’t a race horse that wasn’t trained right, wasn’t fed right and nobody knew because the horse couldn’t speak.
In true Dragon’s Den speak, here’s where the old mad Russian is at right now.
“I have to do something in the transfer period. We’re ahead of the European Championship. If I don’t change my club then Euro 2012 will be played without me. I was fighting and fighting but it was useless. Does Redknapp believe in me? Now I don’t think so.
I do the training as good as the others. I do everything with 100 per cent effort. I don’t cry and I don’t say that everybody is bad but I’m a good footballer.If I score in each game then I can play but it’s not a reality to score in each game. That’s all.
“Will I ask the club to sell me in December? Yes, it’s 100 per cent.”
So about these conspiring factors then. Getting on the pitch was an occasional issue. There was a rumour flying about that the manager preferred Tall Circus Man and a Midget Gem to him. Was this a justified preference? Well, the most common way to assess this type of situation is usually to tally up the goals scored. And 3MP & Defoe were routinely bloody useless.Pav’s ‘not much better’ stats are artificially bumped by a number of Europa games in which he played with a rag tag collective of kids and other second stringers.
That said, when Pav did get a run out all we got were occasional flashes of what might have been. Did he get a fair go and fail to cut the old mustard? Or was he playing against a loaded deck? On balance it was a bit of both. I was a fan and a part of me always will be. This game is as much about the visceral as it is about anything.
The Iversen comparisons are pretty nail on the head. Well-meaning, likable but when the sums were worked out at the end of his stay was one giant… Meh. Good luck to him wherever he plies his trade but he just wasn’t suited for the prem and perpetually looked 2 yards ‘bewildered’ every time the ball got played to him.
In terms of stats, would be interesting to see how many of the goals were in Carling, FA Cup, Europe etc. as he seemed to suit those games better – As was said earlier, when he had time and space.
There are better 2nd, 3rd & 4th choices out there to push Adrian Buyer to take a pay cut and extend his deal and I have a feeling there’s a mustard keen strikeforce waiting somewhere for us between now and next summer – Especially if we break top 4 again.
Saying he does everything with 100% effort is a laughable statement to make.
I like the guy as a player but its his lack of effort that has let him down. Aside from the Rubin game where he was fully aware of a Russian TV audience, he has gone through the motions this season.
He should have gone in the Summer, and the reality is he would have done if we had managed to actually buy any strikers. The same will apply in January. He is nailed on to leave, but only if they manage to get someone else in this time.
Cannot buy until you sell first…. Levy has made it clear. No one wants to buy Pav for our asking price, so he stays. No point in selling him cheap. The way I see it, Spurs have won 6 out of 7, with Pav off the field, so he cannot moan.
Pav reminds me of Chivers in his latter years in football. Lazy lazy lazy!! Would not really work but put the ball at his feet and he was effective. We should have got the other russkie but Levy dithered and he went to Arsenal. Our loss.
Arshavin and Pav are peas in a pod – in terms of temperament. Arshavin is every bit as disappointing – and would have cost more too. We needed Pav at the time of his signing, but his resale prospects are low.
Disagree – Arshvan creates opportunities, works hard and runs. Pav is just lazy.
arshavin creates chances and works hard, oh no he dosnt, the merecat has had about 2 good games for arse in the last 2-3 years, total tripe
Don’t ever cpmpare Pav with Chivers.
Ever.
very precious
won’t cpmpare him then.
But the similarities between him and Big Chiv are remarkable in comparison.
Really?, for a couple of seasons between 1971-3 Chivers was the best and most feared centre forward in England. He could play back to goal, in the air and had “Great feet for a big bloke”.Pav is a “great bloke with big feet” and very little by the way of grey matter, a useless sack of cack with a poor work rate, dire attitude and zero vision, other than that Pav’s worth every penny
see thats a bit of a problem. Pav wasn’t born in 1971 or even 1973. Of course Chiv faded when Gilzean left.
I was refering to Chiv in his ‘latter years in football’ ie 76-79 ie Norwich, Brighton, Dorchester among a few. Best forgotten. I doubt that you are old enough to have seen any of him then.
At the end of the 2009/10 season Pav played the last 14 games and scored 9 goals which certainly assisted our run into the CL.
He may not have a great career strike rate but it’s better than JDs and like him or loathe him he is a decent experienced striker. All strikers need to be played regularly to get the best out of them but aside from that run of 14 games I don’t thing Arry has done that with Pav.
I guess HR just doesn’t rate him or he’s not that popular off the pitch or maybe he’s just another in the long line of enigmatic Spurs players of which we seem to have had more than our fair share.