Why isn’t Robin van Persie getting the respect he deserves? 10 goals this season and van Persie is yet to receive a automatic starting place in the side. He was fit enough to play against Everton FC but Arsene Wenger did not want to risk him getting e-injured. I can understand that, but in the Carling Cup a competition RVP has started every match, was put on the bench in favour of Dennis Bergkamp the man Wenger said will play a bit part role before the season started. Bergkamp a great player yes, but has only scored 2 goals this season. The Carling Cup Semi-Final against Wigan Athletic should have been a match that van Persie should of started, and if he had started Arsenal would prepare for a date with Manchester United in another Cup Final.
Yes van Persie eventually scored against Wigan with a wonderful curling free-kick, but that goal didn’t get much attention because it was cancelled out by Jason Roberts last minute away goal. Another turning point of that game was the penalty miss, why in the hell did Jose Antonio Reyes take that penalty! And why was he playing ahead of Robert Pires who is far more better at taking a penalty than him, even van Persie can take a penalty better than Reyes. After the comical penalty miss against Manchester City at Highbury when a the Henry/Pires trick went all wrong, Thierry Henry refused to take the penalty. Pires wan’t on the pitch at that time so what was he so scared about? This is what cost us that match, we don’t even know who our first choice penalty taker is. If Henry don’t want to take anymore penalties then for god sake just put van Persie on the spot for now on. Van Perise has never missed a penalty in his footballing career and Wenger should relise that his potential of taking penalties.
Remember van Perise scored in a penalty shoot-out against Manchester United in the FA Cup final and he scored another penalty against Sunderland in the Carling Cup this season. But now it is like he has fallen down the pecking order in terms of taking penalties, van Persie won a penalty against FC Thun in the Champions League Group Stages, but Pires teped up to take it a scored. Again in the Champions League against Ajax, Henry this time took a penalty and missed. Only this time van Perise was nowhere to be found but on the bench, and if he had started and took the spot kick himself then Arsenal would not only have won the match but they would have made history by winning the Group Stages with 6 consecutive wins.
Actually RVP should be both first choice for penalty and free-kick taking looking at his performance against Wigan. Van Persie deserves better than this, it is time to put more responsabliliy on his shoulders than just on Henry. I hate people saying that “RVP’s time hasn’t come yet”,”he needs time to make an impact”. Listen van Persie has made an impact and i believe he will in the PFA Young PLayer of the Year Award from the rest of the young nominated stars like Wayne Rooney, Darren Bent, Shaun Wright-Phillips and co. I also believe that he will make an impact in this years World Cup in Germany, van Persie in only his second match with Holland scored his first goal and had two assists on the day and both of them where goals. RVP is th perfect partner for Ruud van Nistelroy, But is still playing second fiddle to Roy Makaay. You have a 22 year old at the top of his game entering his prime and yet a 20 year old called Arjen Robben is first choice going into the World Cup? That just makes me sick!
25 Responses to “Robin Van Persie deserves better!”
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January 29th, 2006 at 7:37 am
RVP should be Arsenal’s player of the year and is definite contender for PFA young player of the year also.
I firmly believe (and have posted countless times) as you said also that RVP should now be a starting regular. I believe Bergkamp’s time has gone now and he really should appear for 10 or 20 minute cameos of the bench from now on and that also not for every match. RVP is ready to take charge. Let him and Henry be unleashed inevery game from now on….
It seems everytime RVP comes off the bench he scores and he scores cracking goals in the mould of Henry. The scary part is that he is still getting better and better and his temperament is improving very much in the mould of Bergkamp. I believe Bergkamp has alot to do with RVP’s development…..
Now if somehow Reyes can start to score to go with his impressive work rate - then Arsenal will really be all set!
January 29th, 2006 at 7:59 am
You very right there Lioneleddy. Sometimes I wonder what some players have to do to get Wenger’s attention. One game here and there and 5 minutes off the sub bench have destroy lots of kids under Wenger. Under Wenger our youth policy will never make any sense and never will it.
Anything I see Rooney on the field I think about RvP. Two young players who don’t give a toss about what people say but play their heart out with real passion and grit. Like Rooney, RvP should get automatic start each week but under Wenger that is not possible.
January 29th, 2006 at 9:24 am
I just loved the way RvP played yesterday against Bolton. He really did give them a scare with his pace, shooting accuracy and strength. Pity, he couldn’t score.
His confidence is sky high. He doesn’t mind making mistakes. He just gets up and continue trying out stuff that he knows he is capable of. That’s the difference between him and Reyes. If Reyes makes a mistake, he goes hiding, fearing team-mates (Henry in particular). RvP just doesn’t care. It’s a bit like Rooney.
I don’t about his penalty taking skills. But I have to say that we need to have atleast 3 proper penalty takers in the team to cover all scenarios. We can’t afford to miss 5 out of 11 penalties!!!
As for RvP being first choice in free kick taking, I don’t think it will happen. Henry is the boss in the team and he will always step up first. But I don’t want to see RvP taking corners (Henry neither, but that’s a different topic). Anybody saw his header against the bar against Bolton? He needs to be in the box. Along with Adebayor, he could give us the aerial strength, we are missing.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:06 am
Oh well, looks like I was right again unfortunately. I thought all the Blton injuries would even the game up, and it did to an extent. Had they a fully fit squad we definitely would have got pasted. Still lost though.
Don’t know why Wenger played 4-5-1, totally uncessesary considering the amount of injuries Bolton had.
Wenger has really damaged himself this season, talked to a couple of gooners this morning, both of them agreed that Wenger is absolutely 100% tactically clueless. Yesterday was another example.
I no longer think of Wenger as a genius, a great manager who has done a fantastic job domestically - but as every month goes by I downgrade my opinion of him, and I definitely think there are managers out there that could improve Arsenal where Wenger simply cannot - when he retires one day I will look forward with optimism not fear.
I must say, Diaby looked very good yesterday, I think he will be an excellent addition.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:52 am
RvP didn’t cost 17 Mil., Reyes did. Reyes will play no matter how much rubbish he dishes out, and boy hasn’t he done so. As I’ve said before it’s a shame when players like Quincy can’t get a decent run, yet Reyes can play rubbish game after game and keep his place because of his overblown pricetag.
January 29th, 2006 at 10:56 am
I’m going to put the question out there. Bear in mind it’s just a question… do you think Wenger has done all he can at Arsenal?
It seems the club is going backwards very fast and the majority of these kids will never amount to much. He’s starting to buy duds too, Hleb looks poor, Flamini’s a joke, Reyes isn’t working out.
Tactically he’s so inept that he’ll never win us anything in Europe, I’m completely convinced about that.
Is the club going in the right direction, is Wenger too stubborn in his youth policy.
Sometimes as manager can be in one place too long. If someone like Hiddink came in tomorrow would you be optimistic or scared?
I’m not suggesting either way that Wenger should go, just find it an interesting debate considering the total collapse of the team over the last 18 months.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:15 am
-Yes
-Hleb will improve I think
-Wenger will never win a European trophy
-Too stubborn on youth, yes
-Hiddink? Optimistic. Capello? Scared.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:21 am
It would be nice to see what Wenger could do with wads of cash, but I get the feeling he would continue to make the wrong buys regardless.
Tactics is the real problem for me, he just seems to sit there and not have a clue what to do when things are going wrong. He seems to think berating the 4th official for 15 minutes wil help, which is embarrassing and makes me think he’s an idiot and should know better.
Yesterday, he didnt make any changes to the formation when it was clear we were not creating any chances. Did we even have a shot on target yesterday. He didn’t even make substitutions, we were just waiting for the inevitable Bolton goal.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:27 am
I have a feeling that Wenger, given a hundred million pounds to spend, would spend twenty-five million on the world’s best young talent and then hide the rest under his mattress.
I didn’t see the match, so I can’t comment on it at all, but your assessment sounds classic Wenger.
I do think Wenger’s time at Highbury is definitely winding down, and his faith in youth is an attempt to leave the club in good health for the next manager.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:57 am
I think Wenger’s stubbornness is causing him to stay on as manager so he can prove that you can win the CL with “beautiful football”. At the moment, it doesn’t appear that this will happen. Personally, I think Wenger should move upstairs (deal with general manager duties - continental style) and bring in a coach. In every sport, it is rare to see a GM/Coach last this long.
- Hiddink would be great;
- O’Neill would be good too, but
- I would like to see Le Guen @ Arsenal.
January 29th, 2006 at 11:58 am
With tongue firmly in my cheek I have to say, it?s hard for me to be objective on this topic. Why? Well in my opinion, you aren?t much if you ain?t Dutch and Wenger should always start the Dutch players first. :)~ You can see why I have a problem.
The Dutch league is equally as rugged as the EPL can be and so most Dutch players do not struggle between grinding tackles and finesse play as players from other first division leagues coming to England.
As for RVP the guy has a fire in his belly and you really get the felling he?s giving his best to win ? gotta respect that where ambivalence by some players this year seems too commonplace. I like him and feel fortunate that he?s in red (currant).
Maybe the Boss doesn?t play him the full 90 because he wants him to be fresh and thus powerful. I think we should start him but I can understand why Wenger doesn?t want to burnout him out, as it?s a long season. I hope that now that most of our cups aspirations are realistically out of reach we?ll see more of him.
I?m not convinced that Wenger is as bad as some say he is currently. In fact he?s looking ahead and from what I can see it seems to me the future is bright with the new signings but indeed and sadly it?s come down next year or the year after. I agree with ScottyUS though and that is I wouldn?t want this to be the norm and be willing to accept yet another downgrade next year. My hope is we?ll salvage our CL spot this year and then the hardships of this year will turn into the glory of years to come.
I?ve won a lot in life but not everything and I like it that way as it keeps a challenge for me in my work. Why would it be different for any other passion like football? I?m sticking with the boss on this one but think that the buck truly stops at his desk and we?ll see next year but preferably this season improvement in play.
January 29th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
Don’t go there Danny - You know what will happen next with some of the guys here. But saying that the folks on the street are losing some respect for Wenger and the way he is short changing us. If we don’t beat West Ham on Tuesday things might start turning nasty.
January 29th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
He didn’t cost that much doing a wicked job than the diving tosser. With Wenger youth policy that bad, I’m waiting to see where Adebayor will fit in with all his baggage and not to forget Theo. Theo wants first team football so what happens to Quincy, Bendtner and Lupolli will be interesting to watch.
January 29th, 2006 at 4:17 pm
One said he is doing a Sven with our money.. I don’t think his time is winding down but there is a feeling among most fans that he is losing the plot. Going by Peter Hill’s comments the board will stand by him for now but come this time next season if we that sh*t again questions will be asked.
January 29th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Yet, we really should have won the game. And in the past, our finishing has killed us off, too. 4-5-1 may look a mess, but we might really have gotten pasted had we gone 4-4-2 and left the midfield to attack. I won’t offer any conjecture on what would have happened if all Bolton’s “stars” were there, as it was Stelios that does it to us every time.
He’s been the most successful manager in The Premiership for the last 10 years, and he seems to be striving to take that into Europe with some interesting buys. He gave it a go with the kids and tried to play the kind of football he loves, and he may have pissed up a rope a bit.
I don’t know if its possible to overcome the small defecit for a European spot, but when you take the entire year and all its variables into account, it was one effed up season for any manager. I imagine he lays in bed at night and ponders Chelsea’s 140 million loss and how its really disgracing the game. He shouldn’t, but I’m sure he cares.
I’m not saying he hasn’t gotten a little lost on the forest as he chased his dreams in the trees, but we’re going into a new stadium because of him and we should cheer our arses off and be grateful.
January 29th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Well we know three or four guys who will be pissed anyways
It’s cool, were going to win that match anyway!
January 29th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
“hasn’t gotten a little lost in the forest as he chased his dreams in the trees”
nice expression! do i need to quote you when i use it cause i’m gonna, nice.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:15 am
Arsenal is bigger than one upset or one upset season. Big clubs fall from time to time. But wake up bigger and stronger …
We are bigger than getting upset from leaving the FA cup and the Carling cup. We are walking the Liverpool way of last year. No , I am not saying that CL is ours, but if we focus on the CL and get passed Real Madrid I would welcome this more than being and FA cup semi finalist or so.
I think this season would help us wake up fresher for next year. AW was hopefullt that some players can use the rest of their gas tank to help us do well this season, but they did not do as much as expected.
Not upset any more. my GF was suprised that I was not as upset as expected after our FA Cup exit. I am just waiting for the world cup !
January 30th, 2006 at 12:19 am
” RVP is th perfect partner for Ruud van Nistelroy, But is still playing second fiddle to Roy Makaay. You have a 22 year old at the top of his game entering his prime and yet a 20 year old called Arjen Robben is first choice going into the World Cup? That just makes me sick! “
National Teams soccer is different than club soccer. Holland lately has been playing in a different way than before. Rather than using names they are using talents to create the best belnd. Makay, RVN, RVP or Robben are all different. Van Basten tends to play RVN in the middle with Robben and RVP on each side. Mkaay is one who is not playing enough. But we will see a cool dutch NT team in Germany. Specialy their subs are also young such as Babel, Maduro and Kuijt.
January 30th, 2006 at 12:21 am
By they way Robben is 22 now ! His Bday was last week. I remember cause I am 2 years exactly older than him.
January 30th, 2006 at 2:57 am
i think that midfield is da problem.ok this has not been every common,but
juventus,inter milan.
a look at some of the best teams AT recent times will convey that some of these teams have
atleast 2 really strong midfielders ie.chelsea,arsenal
these r only some examples,of coure there r many teams in the world who do not have 2CDM’s and
still they r succesfull.but in da last 8 years arsenal had 2 strong CDM’s and coz
of this the flanks were given the oppurtinity to go forward as much as they wnted.
even cole and lauren were given that freedom.
but now that is sadly not happening.so it would be common sense that it would be
great to have atleast 2 CDM in the team.even though f’gas is a great player he just wouldn’t fit into the team.
i have noticed that flamini has even better skills than f’gas but coz of the boss’s instructions
he is just preoccupied with tackles and that is why he is not going forward and that does coz a lot of problems,
coz opponent players make him almost invisible.even diaby is said to hve various skills on the ball.
i think that it would be great to have 2 cdms in da team
by the way flamini was great in that match against bolton
January 30th, 2006 at 2:58 am
i saw all the goals scored by walcott this season and atlest 3 or 4 came at st MARy’s itself.
2 of those goals were typical goal mouth scrambles.
and 1 of those goals was truly magical ,he ran down de left flank and took a shot on goal
which was like a cross but it went into the goal.but to be true for not even one second did it seam
that he was going to cross the ball as there was only one player who was rushing to the box.
i noticed from all the goals,that he had great feet some sort of a beckham.he also had gr8 pace
his ball would actually curve in de air.also his shot acurracy is da best best and even better than rooney himself.
thank god that we got him.people had said that he had power on his shot which i sadly did not
notice .but he has got really good feet and his legs are really strong.DURING HIS PRESENTATION
I HAD NOTICED THAT HE WASEALLY SHORT IN HEIGHT AD CMPARED TO WENGER.BUT ALL THOSE CONCERNS WERE ABSOL
LUTELY UNTRUE,I MEAN IN ONE OF THOSE GOALS HE ACTUALLY GLIDED THROUGH 2 MIDFIELDERS TO SCORE A GOAL
HE CAN DEFINATELY COPE WITH THE PREMIERSHIP ATLEST I AM SURE ABOUT THAT.
January 30th, 2006 at 7:35 am
I agree that RVP is a great player that should play more. But I don’t agree with some post here that Reyes is crap, I think he’s rather awesome. He just can’t score a goal to save his life (or anyone elses..). But his passes are fenomenal I think, just look at the passes he gave Henry in the M’boro game.
Maybe he’s a little light weight, but he’s a winger.. He’s no CDM or CD, and he is also one of the players that works a lot. Which is something that frustrates me sometimes when I watch games, it seems like a lot of players walk around not caring (even when were 1 nil down).
About Wenger: Think he’s a magnificent manager but he seems to have serious trouble to change things, can’t remember the last time I saw him do a tactical change. Like putting on atleast ONE of the two strikers you have on the bench when playing 4-5-1, being down 1-0 and there is 5 minutes to go.. Ok, those strikers are only reserves, but they average above 1 goal a game… What do they have to do to play in the first team?
But, that’s enough whingeing..
Still is rather fun that were having a rubbish season, makes the victories we’ll have next year so much sweeter!
January 30th, 2006 at 8:12 am
Public domain, gerard, as I borrowed liberally from another anyway.
January 31st, 2006 at 12:39 am
I agree that he deserves much more run, but I have noticed that RVP does seem to show more spark when he comes off the bench. Even the games where he hasn’t scored, when he’s subbed in, he immediately changes the dynamic. Alternatively, in some of the games that he has started, if he doesn’t get a quick start, he seems to disappear for awhile (no more guilty of disappearing than TH14 though).
I’d be curious to see his scoring breakdown of games that he’s started to game’s that he has scored coming off the bench.