Alexandre Hleb: Hit or Miss?

In the summer of 2005 Arsenal announced their first signing, Alexander Hleb, for a total fee of £9.94million.

The Belarus international arrived with a reputation as a skilful and exciting attacking midfielder. At Stuttgart he was employed behind the strikers or in a floating position wide on the left.

With a combination of quick feet, pace and balance he is devastating with the ball at his feet. His game is based on his unpredictable and fantastic dribbling ability.

Initially the playmaker struggled to adapt and he eventually broke his duck six months into his Gunners career by scoring in the 7-0 thrashing of Middlesbrough.

His next goal arrived in March 2006 in the 3-0 victory over Charlton and then in April against West Brom, who were overpowered 3-1 by Arsenal.

His first season ended as a success story as he and Emmanuel Eboue developed an excellent understanding that transformed the Gunners’ right flank into a dangerous outlet.

The north Londoners reached the UEFA Champions League final and most Hleb sceptics had been won over by his work rate, close control and never-say-die attitude.

Now in his second season at Arsenal, Hleb is fully acclimatised to the demands and rigours of the English game.

The classy midfielder was expected to show his true worth this term and to fulfil his potential as an extraordinarily talented footballer.

Instead he has ended up dividing Arsenal fans into two camps; those that vilify him as a thoroughly useless midfielder with a pathological fear of shooting, and those who believe he just needs a bit more time.

Hleb started the campaign with a bang by scoring his first Champions League goal against Porto in a 2-0 victory and then netted his first away goal in an Arsenal shirt as the Gunners taught Reading a lesson at the Madejski Stadium.

His next goal arrived at Blackburn in a 6-2 thumping and Hleb’s Arsenal career was looking promising until he picked up a hamstring injury. The luckless Hleb has failed to rediscover his very best form since recovering from this injury.

In summary, Hleb’s record reads a petty six goals in 82 games for the London giants. At his old club VfB Stuttgart he scored 13 goals in 137 games, which gives him an average return of a goal every ten games or more.

This could be down to the fact that he is not playing in his natural central playmaker role but it is more likely down to his tendency to pass rather than attempt the shot.

This has been the trademark of Arsenal’s style of play in recent seasons and Hleb seems to be suffering from this disease, unlike his more illustrious team-mate Tomas Rosicky, who rarely hesitates to pull the trigger when the opportunity presents itself.

His dearth of goals would not be such a major problem if he was assisting the way he did at Stuttgart where he topped the assists chart with 14 in his last season at the Bundesliga club.

The hapless Hleb has also been below-par in this department with a poor return of three assists in the Premiership. His lack of assists may, however, be down to the fact that he is not playing in his natural role behind the strikers.

Arsene Wenger will have to shoulder the blame for this as his abundance of central midfielders has lead to Hleb learning a new position as a right winger.

Hleb is not the only player to have found himself recast as a wide midfielder, as Abou Diaby, Mathieu Flamini, Rosicky and Cesc Fabregas will testify.

With Denilson and Gilberto also competing for central midfield positions it is understandable why Flamini and Fabrice Muamba are more than eager to jump ship.

A team that lacks natural width will always struggle to break down opposition that are more than happy to defend the whole 90 minutes and unfortunately Hleb and Rosicky have been shoe-horned into wingers at the team’s expense.

Wenger should listen to captain Thierry Henry and sign Frenchman Franck Ribery while Freddie Ljungberg and teenager Theo Walcott are the only recognised natural wide players in the squad.

Wenger’s most successful teams had prolific goalscoring wide midfielders such as Robert Pires and Marc Overmars. The current Arsenal midfield lacks goalscoring ability and Hleb’s inability to find the back of the net from right wing puts even greater pressure on the strikeforce, which is sorely missing Henry and Robin van Persie.

Hleb’s ability and work rate are terrific but it is of little use to the team as he consistently fails to deliver an end product.

If the tricky Hleb cannot drastically improve his performances next season then he should be sold. To say the least he has been a proper disappointment at Arsenal given his fantastic ability and trickery. He has never scored a decisive goal in his Gunners career.

If Wenger is happy with his contribution then the Arsenal fans’ biggest fears are true.

What is this fear I speak of? The fear that Wenger is happy that his beloved Arsenal are not challenging the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United for the Premiership title.

Jorge de la Fuente