Daily Archives: November 14, 2011

A quick focus on Robin van Persie and his top 10 football attributes

Born on the 6th of August 1983 in the Dutch City of Rotterdam, Robin van Persie began his youth career in Exclesior before making a move to the club that gave him his football education, Feyernoord. In his three-year stint in Feyernoord’s first team from 2001 to 2004, van Persie won the UEFA Cup with the Dutch outfit but he had a lot of irreconcilable differences with the manager and present Dutch coach, Bert van Marwijk.

He won the best young talent of the EreDivisie award in 2002 and had a tumultuous time in the tail end of his Feyernoord career. After making 59 appearances and scoring 15 league goals in three years at the club, van Persie parted ways with Feyernoord and joined Arsenal as a long-term replacement for the great Dennis Bergkamp.

In Arsenal, Robin van Persie made his debut against Manchester United in the Community Shield of 2004 and has been a loyal servant to the club ever since. Van Persie has had the pleasure of playing beside excellent forwards like Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp but the early seasons of his Arsenal career has been blighted by injuries.

With the exit of his predecessors, van Persie has stepped up the plate to become the most important player in Arsenal Football Club and he has currently amassed a total 108 goals in just 248 appearances for the club with 77 of those goals scored in the Premier League.

On the international scene, van Persie has represented the Netherlands on four different levels and he’s currently an essential piece of the Oranje’s jigsaw puzzle. It’s really funny to know that its the same Bert van Marwijk that’s the present  manager of the Netherlands but they’ve put their differences aside for the good of the game.

The Flying Dutchman has also been recognized for his football exploits with the EreDivisie Best Young Talent award (2002), Rotterdam Sportsman of the Year (2006), Euro 2008 Bronze Boot and Arsenal Player of the Season (2009). He has also won the Barclay’s Player of the Month on three occasions, Arsenal Top Goal scorer on three occasions and Arsenal Goal of the season for that brilliant strike against Barcelona on the 16th of February 2011.

Goal of the Season

The goal was also Gooner Daily’s Goal of the Season in the 2010/11 Season Awards written by yours truly. 😀

Robin van Persie is a player that’s abundantly blessed with bags of ability but I’ll like to give my top 10 football attributes that striker possesses:

Amazing Finishing Ability

If you check a dictionary for the meaning of the word “van Persie”, the definition would be “a perpetual goal scoring machine of the first kind”.  Robin van Persie has been on fire in 2011 and he has currently smashed in 34 goals in 38 appearances for Arsenal this calendar year.

He’s a striker that can be relied upon to hit the back of the net and he has assumed his captaincy role at Arsenal in the best possible manner leading by example with 13 goals already this season.

Gifted Technique

There are only a handful of forwards that can do what van Persie does with the ball. Van Persie’s close control with the ball is amazing and he’s a live-wire with the ball at his feet.

It’s also fair to say that van Persie is a core member of the League of Extraordinary Technically-Gifted Strikers that’s headed by Zlatan Ibracadabra. Dimitar Berbatov is still the Vice President though; the Bulgarian can bring any ball under control, even if the ball was launched from orbit by an astronaut in space.

Powerful Shooting Range

Robin van Persie is not the kind of a striker you would want to give half a chance at your goal because you’ll be very sorry. His left foot has venom that’s very potent and he’s equally adept using his right chocolate leg.

He has also added headers to his game and this has made him one of the most complete forwards in the business.

Sleek Dribbling Skills

Robin van Persie is one of the most unpredictable players to come against. The way he twists and turns with the ball on his feet gives defenders eye-turning moments.

Van Persie ability to get past his man is a weapon he uses to great effect and the best defenders in the business can attest to His Royal van Persiness. Even a rock-solid center back like Wes Brown showed van Persie his ‘number’ when Sunderland visited the Emirates recently.

Set Piece Taking Ability

When Arsenal wins a corner kick on the right side of the opponent’s goal-line, there’s a certain player than can always be relied upon to provide in-swingers that goes to the heart of the opposition’s defense line. As for free kicks, van Persie’s touch of the ball is always a stroke of genius and the goals resulted from his dead ball situations are always regarded as masterpieces.

When Arsenal faced Wigan in the Carling Cup semis of 2006, the goalie was rooted to the spot when van Persie swung it in from the right hand side. Premier League goalies like Tim Howard, Craig Gordon, Ben Foster et al have been on the end of RVP surface to goal curling missiles and the outcome has always been the same.

Sunderland’s Mignolet was the latest installment in the van Persie free kick chronicles. 😀

Deft First Touch

Van Persie’s first touch is a key attribute that he uses well to get on the end of somewhat difficult passes from his teammates at times. There are times when van Persie treats the football like a pet especially when he wants to put it in a position to pull the trigger.

Flamboyancy

Van Persie can be regarded as one of the forwards in the football world that adds flamboyancy to his play. Another forward that’s synonymous with this attribute is Antonio Cassano.

Good Passing Range

Van Persie is a selfless striker that has an eye for a pass and even if he’s renowned primarily for his goals, he sure knows when to give an assist for a teammate.

In Arsenal’s last game against West Brom, his drilled effort into the box was dispatched with consummate ease by Thomas Vermaelen while his carefully guided pass to Mikel Arteta was finished aplomb to hand the midfielder his first goal at the Emirates.

Composure

You can’t wake up in the morning and have 34 goals in 38 games if you don’t have a bit of composure when faced with the adversity of the playing against opposition defenders and the towering goalkeeper.

Even after that infamous slip by John Terry, van Persie still had to move a distance with the ball before facing the Rugby Helmet wearer in goal but he still had the composure to dribble him before planting the ball to an unguarded net. A confidence bereft striker like Marouane Chamakh would have been odds-on to miss that glaring chance.

Versatility

Robin van Persie started his football education in Feyernoord as a left winger but he was deployed as a supporting striker by Arsene Wenger shortly after his move to North London. Touted as the long-term replacement for Dennis Bergkamp, the Flying Dutchman thrived well in this role behind Thierry Henry and was one of the primary reasons (with Eduardo) why Emmanuel Greedybayor flourished in the 2007/08 season with 30 goals to his name.

With the exit of all these players and the new 4-2-3-1 formation deployed by Wenger in the start of the 2009/10 season, van Persie has been primarily deployed as the center forward and Arsene Wenger has richly rewarded for that action.

In the Dutch national team, Klass-Jan Huntelaar is the main center forward used so van Persie is given a free role in the team even though he drifts a bit to the right wing though. If that’s not versatility then I don’t know what the word means.

Summary

Van Persie has really matured from the hothead of Rotterdam to the exemplary leader of the Emirates. Arsenal has lost great footballers over the years for more reasons than one; Patrick Vieira paid his dues and left in search of Champions League glory, age caught up with Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, David Seaman et al while Cesc Fabregas left to play for the club after his heart.

The striker’s contract expires in 2013 and we all believe that contract extension talks are ongoing to keep Arsenal’s most prized asset for years to come.

Here’s to Robin van Persie.

An Arsenal legend in the making and as I posted a few days back,

Forget Cesc Batman, we’ve got Robin. 😀

Sayonara.

A brief review on Arsenal’s ambassadors on international duty this weekend

I guess that I’ll have to start by apologizing for some of the content in my last post. I wrote that I was probably going to get some stick by putting Eduardo and Carlos Vela in a list that had Pascal Cygan, Denilson and Mikael Silvestre and boy, did I get some stick or what. Many gooners expected names like Francis Jeffers and Sebastien Squillaci to be in the list but as I wrote in that same post, the list is endless..

Moving on from that minor setback, this weekend turned out to be a boring affair because I was forced to watch some countries bore me to tears with 0-0 draws as well as a 1-0 England win in a game that I anticipated to have a boatload of goals at least. From a neutral point of view, it was an interesting match between two football heavyweights but Vicente del Bosque had to succumb to just his sixth loss as Spain’s manager which is pretty impressive if you ask me.

The most important fixtures from a European perspective where the European Championships playoffs that took place between eight teams with only four joining the remaining 12 that have already qualified. In other parts of the globe, Arsenal sent 16 ambassadors to represent their national teams and here’s a full list of the Gunners in action:

Aaron Ramsey

The Welsh captain led his fellow dragons as they breathed a baptism of fire past Norway in a resounding 4-1 victory. The world’s best left-footed Chimpanzee opened the deadlock before the fastest hobbit currently playing in Liverpool made it two. Wolves Sam Vokes completed the rout with a brace.

Laurent Koscielny

The Kosinator has been in inspired form this season and it was only a matter of time before he was going to be called up by Laurent Blanc. He finally made his first cap for France in their 1-0 victory over the United States. Fulham’s Clint Dempsey was ubiquitous on the pitch and Everton’s Tim Howard made an unbelievable save from Karim Benzema’s free kick. Marseille’s Loic Remy scored what proved to be the winner with a placed effort from an over the top pass.

Tomas Rosicky

Little Mozart captained his side to put one foot in the European Championships after a 2-0 win against surprise package Montenegro. Rosicky was voted as the Man of the Match as he pulled all the strings in the midfield.

Theo Walcott

The pacey winger played 45 minutes in England’s 1-0 victory over Spain. As expected, the Spaniards dominated possession but the Lampback of NotreDame bellied his years and came up with the goods again.

There was so much talk at the start of the season that the Lampback was past his prime but he has been impressive in the Premier League since AVB handed him another chance. He even got a goal and gave an assist when Chelsea played Arsenal but the pick of the bunch was the performance of Captain Van-tastic.

Gervinho

The fore-headed one was in action when the Elephants took on last summer’s World Cup hosts in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium at Port Elizabeth but it ended in a 1-1 draw. Sibuniso Gaxa scored an embarrassing own goal to put Gervinho’s side ahead but a Katlego Mphela free kick leveled the contest.

I will never forget Mphela’s free kick against Spain in the 2010 Confederations Cup. It left me screaming so hard that my mum came out of her room to check if anything had happened to her beloved son. I would like you all to scream like me so I’ve decided to put the video of the goal in this post.

Andrey Arshavin

Russia’s football czar led his country to a 1-1 draw against Euro 2004 winners Greece. Roman Shirokov gave the visitors a quick lead in just two minutes but the experienced Kostas Katsouranis leveled the tie. Arshavin played all 90 minutes.

Robin van Persie and Johan Djourou

This lethal forward got injured for five months in a fixture against Italy last year so Arsene Wenger took out time to talk Bert van Marwijk about the striker’s availability in the friendly game against Switzerland. He played the entire match and shot blanks in a 0-0 draw but he was sent back home on a Red Ribbon as Holland is set to play Germany tomorrow without the Flying Dutchman.

Johan Djourou was on the other end of the pitch for 90 minutes and he was among the players that made sure that van Persie and the rest of the Dutch attack remained quiet throughout the game.

Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski

Both goalies were called up by Poland’s coach but Wojciech Szczesny got the nod when Poland took on Italy. Mario Balotelli and Giampaolo Pazzini scored for Italy in the 2-0 win but Szczesny can be happy with his performance because he kept the Italians at bay several times.

Lukasz Fabianski will probably get the nod when Poland plays Hungary on Tuesday.

Thomas Vermaelen

The Verminator enjoyed some good time out at the dugout as Belgium defeated Romania by a 2-1 scoreline. The man-mountain Daniel van Buyten put the Belgians ahead and an own goal from Rasvan Cocis but Vermaelen’s side two up. Romanian veteran Daniel Niculae reduced the deficit for the visitors but it wasn’t enough as the game ended like that.

Vermaelen has followed the Belgium side that will play France in Paris and I’m pretty sure that Vermaelen will want to get him some French fries on the pitch on Tuesday.

Alex Song

Alex Song was in the starting lineup when Cameroon brushed Sudan aside in the LG Friendly Cup. The game ended at 3-1 in favor of Cameroon.

Per Mertesacker

Arsenal’s beanpole defender spent time on the bench like his defensive counterpart Thomas Vermaelen. However, it was a free scoring contest as Ukraine and Germany ended the game with three goals apiece.

Andriy Yarmolenko opened the scoring for the hosts and Yevgen Konoplyanka made it two. Bayern’s Toni Kroos pulled one back for the Germans but Serhiy Nazarenko brought Ukraine back to their comfort zone as the first half ended with a two-goal advantage for the Andriy Shevchenko captained side.

Joachim Loew probably went haywire in the dressing room as the Germans came back strongly in the second half. Bayer Leverkusen’s Simon Rolfes made it 3-2 before Bayern Munich’s Young Money singer turned footballer, Young Mueller Baby scored what proved to be the final goal of the fiesty encounter.

Park Chu-Young

Everybody expected Park Chu-Young to score again when Korea Republic visited United Arab Emirates and he duly delivered. Park has been a goal scoring machine for his nation this season and his goal against Bolton was a thing of beauty.

With the present form of van Persie, Park and Marouane Chamakh will have to be content with a place on the bench and they’ll have to strut their stuff when deployed in Cup matches.

As for the Under-21 level, youngsters like Francis Coquelin and Alex the Chambered Ox continued their fledgling careers.

We have one more week before we go back to civilization n the form of club football.

Till then,

Sayonara.