Robin van Persie | 2012-14 Performances

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When Rooney was on the break after 90 and he didn't even bother to pull up alongside, I was infuriated. At times he looks like he really gives a shit, and at other times he looks half-arsed.

Where is the little boy?
 
Zen86 said:
What the fcuk was that lack of running for the break at the end
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Thought that too. I was shouting "WHY IS HE JOGGING?!".

I adore him for the performances he put in last season, but he's pissed me off when he's played this season. I know he's scored for us at important times this season when he's actually not injured, but he really does look as if he isn't that bothered at times.

I still think he's off this Summer.
 
Hernandez - BFA said:
Thought that too. I was shouting "WHY IS HE JOGGING?!".

I adore him for the performances he put in last season, but he's pissed me off when he's played this season. I know he's scored for us at important times this season when he's actually not injured, but he really does look as if he isn't that bothered at times.

I still think he's off this Summer.
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He carried us last season, he's done anything but so far this.
 
I'd drop him for the Palace game. He should have scored today and generally didn't look arsed.
 
How did he not look arsed? He was throwing himself into challenges, making wild and mistimed tackles and running a lot. It's possible he just tired out by the end after playing 2 in 3 days. He's just returning from injury as well. There is a real habit of players being accused of not being arsed on this forum.
 
It was awfull performance from him, one of his worst ever, he looked completely lost.
 
ISSYNAZAR said:
When Rooney was on the break after 90 and he didn't even bother to pull up alongside, I was infuriated. At times he looks like he really gives a shit, and at other times he looks half-arsed.

Where is the little boy?
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He was clearly knackered - unsurprising given all he did all night was try and chase long balls and lost causes.

Amar__ said:
It was awfull performance from him, one of his worst ever, he looked completely lost.
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What could we honestly expect from RVP in a game like this? He had zero service to feed on. He created one glorious chance for himself, and did well with the header from Rooney's cross. But really, he had such little of the ball, and so litte play to his feet that really, expecting him to shine tonight is really expecting quite a bit.
 
wr8_utd said:
How did he not look arsed? He was throwing himself into challenges, making wild and mistimed tackles and running a lot. It's possible he just tired out by the end after playing 2 in 3 days. He's just returning from injury as well. There is a real habit of players being accused of not being arsed on this forum.
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Yeah it's getting ridiculous.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
What could we honestly expect from RVP in a game like this? He had zero service to feed on. He created one glorious chance for himself, and did well with the header from Rooney's cross. But really, he had such little of the ball, and so litte play to his feet that really, expecting him to shine tonight is really expecting quite a bit.
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I wasn't expecting him to shine, but I was expecting him to win at least 2 duels against Koscielny or Mertesacker, and he did nothing for the whole game. Even when he has no service, he keeps the ball very well, and his movemant is great, but tonight his movemant was ridiculous for a world class player, he was never even near to the ball or making a good run, it was really shit performance from him.
 
wr8_utd said:
How did he not look arsed? He was throwing himself into challenges, making wild and mistimed tackles and running a lot. It's possible he just tired out by the end after playing 2 in 3 days. He's just returning from injury as well. There is a real habit of players being accused of not being arsed on this forum.
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Indeed. He was chasing lost causes and long balls all night. He lost pretty much every single aerial dual he had with MertaGiant... but yet he still challenged for the ball every time we hoofed one long.

It was realy a thankless time for him tonight - it was never a game where he was going to be able to shine - and yet, that means he clearly wasn't bothered?!
 
Amar__ said:
I wasn't expecting him to shine, but I was expecting him to win at least 2 duels against Koscielny or Mertesacker, and he did nothing for the whole game. Even when he has no service, he keeps the ball very well, and his movemant is great, but tonight his movemant was ridiculous for a world class player, he was never even near to the ball or making a good run, it was really shit performance from him.
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You expected him to win headers against Per Mertasacker? Really?
 
Annihilate Now! said:
You expected him to win headers against Per Mertasacker? Really?
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Duels doesn't really mean just air duels. And you would expect him to win at least one air duel against Mertesacker, fecking Giroud won at least 5 of them against Vidic.
 
Amar__ said:
Duels doesn't really mean just air duels. And you would expect him to win at least one air duel against Mertesacker, fecking Giroud won at least 5 of them against Vidic.
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.... no I wouldn't... because Per Mertesacker is about 6"7 and a man mountain in the air. Also, it's not like our long balls were flat, they were generally long and looping. If you expect RVP to win those type of battles in the air, you expect way too much.

Still, he kept going for them and generally kept plugging away.

I don't get this his movement was ridiculous either, there was a brilliant moment in the second half where we had the ball on the right corner of their box, and RVP brilliantly peeled away from his man at the far side and screamed for the ball.

Valencia passed it backwards to Rooney.

Like I said, he did what he could with the very, very little service he had, and the non-existant fashion he was being brought into the game. He wasn't an outlet for us simply because we didn't allow him to be one.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
You expected him to win headers against Per Mertasacker? Really?
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It's great to have arguably the best technically gifted forward in the league and ping balls at his head. Next season, we should sign Andy Carroll and keep playing it to his feet.

You can't blame RVP for not doing much with all the aerial balls. He needs it into his feet in and around the box, and it just isn't happening at the moment.
 
We didn't really cross much today, no more than we have the last 20 years, dunno why it's being made a big deal of. every team crosses from time to time, rvp didn't win any headers so what? he bagged a header vs arsenal in the league earlier in the season
 
I have been in full defence of the players, but I must make an exception today for van Persie. Typical of van Persie in our most important matches. He always finds a way to miss the easiest chances when we need him most.

Perhaps he has lost faith in Moyes, and who could blame him, but it was also extremely frustrating to see his disinterest and lack of involvement.
 
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Crashoutcassius said:
We didn't really cross much today, no more than we have the last 20 years, dunno why it's being made a big deal of. every team crosses from time to time, rvp didn't win any headers so what? he bagged a header vs arsenal in the league earlier in the season
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I have no idea what point you're trying to make here? Nobody is lamenting anything to do with crosses?
 
Annihilate Now! said:
.... no I wouldn't... because Per Mertesacker is about 6"7 and a man mountain in the air. Also, it's not like our long balls were flat, they were generally long and looping. If you expect RVP to win those type of battles in the air, you expect way too much.

Still, he kept going for them and generally kept plugging away.

I don't get this his movement was ridiculous either, there was a brilliant moment in the second half where we had the ball on the right corner of their box, and RVP brilliantly peeled away from his man at the far side and screamed for the ball.

Valencia passed it backwards to Rooney.

Like I said, he did what he could with the very, very little service he had, and the non-existant fashion he was being brought into the game. He wasn't an outlet for us simply because we didn't allow him to be one.
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Service in this game wasn't any better than today, and he won lot of 50/50s against Koscielny and Vermaelen. You're making it sound like it's impossible to win air battles against Mertesacker, when in the same game their striker won so many air duels against probably one of the strongest CBs in the air of all times. And anyway, as I said, it's not just air duels, he he got few passes at his feet and he was nowhere near to controlling it. They outmuscled him so many times, their fans were enjoying it.
 
johnmufc said:
I have been in full defence of the players, but I must make an exception today for van Persie. Typical of van Persie in our most important matches. He always finds a way to miss the easiest chances when we need him most.

Perhaps he has lost faith in Moyes, and who could blame him, but it was also extremely frustrating to see how disinterested and involved he was.
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What a completely insane statement...

Crashoutcassius said:
Someone said it's great to have the best technical player in the league and pings crosses onto his head.. I just don't really think that was much of an issue today
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He said aerial balls - as in long balls from the back. Not crosses.
 
ISSYNAZAR said:
When Rooney was on the break after 90 and he didn't even bother to pull up alongside, I was infuriated. At times he looks like he really gives a shit, and at other times he looks half-arsed.

Where is the little boy?
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that really really pissed me off.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
What a completely insane statement...



Crashoutcassius said:
Someone said it's great to have the best technical player in the league and pings crosses onto his head.. I just don't really think that was much of an issue today
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Annihilate Now! said:
What a completely insane statement...



He said aerial balls - as in long balls from the back. Not crosses.
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This. RVP was basically watching balls being pumped up the pitch on to Centre Back's heads all game.
 
Amar__ said:


Service in this game wasn't any better than today, and he won lot of 50/50s against Koscielny and Vermaelen. You're making it sound like it's impossible to win air battles against Mertesacker, when in the same game their striker won so many air duels against probably one of the strongest CBs in the air of all times. And anyway, as I said, it's not just air duels, he he got few passes at his feet and he was nowhere near to controlling it. They outmuscled him so many times, their fans were enjoying it.
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Right, well 1) Giroud is much, much better in the air then RVP - I don't think that is an outlandish statement, and probably one everyone would agree with. 2) Giroud is more adept to aerial balls then RVP 3) With Vidic being shorter then Mertesacker and RVP being shorter then Giroud - it is a much more even aerial battle. 4) The long balls he had to contend with today where of the long, looping type - basically the ones that hang for ages and are far easier for tall defenders to deal with... if they had been flat, aimed balls at RVP, I'm sure he would have done a lot better with them.

The service today was far, far worse then that Arsenal home-game... it's not even comparabile. For one, we hit a lot more long balls today, and not to mention the fact that RVP touched the ball twice as much in that home game as he did today, which is a testament to how often the ball was actually given to his feet.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Right, well 1) Giroud is much, much better in the air then RVP - I don't think that is an outlandish statement, and probably one everyone would agree with. 2) Giroud is more adept to aerial balls then RVP 3) With Vidic being shorter then Mertesacker and RVP being shorter then Giroud - it is a much more even aerial battle. 4) The long balls he had to contend with today where of the long, looping type - basically the ones that hang for ages and are far easier for tall defenders to deal with... if they had been flat, aimed balls at RVP, I'm sure he would have done a lot better with them.

The service today was far, far worse then that Arsenal home-game... it's not even comparabile. For one, we hit a lot more long balls today, and not to mention the fact that RVP touched the ball twice as much in that home game as he did today, which is a testament to how often the ball was actually given to his feet.
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1. He is taller, but is far from being "much, much, better". He is better in air, but the difference isn't that big. 3. It's not, considering that Vidic is much much better in the air than anyone else out of those 3. I would say that difference in the aerial duels should be bigger between Vidic and Giroud than van Persie- Mertesacker. I don't know how much you watched him, but Mertesacker isn't even that good in the air for a tall guy. 4. I agree with that, but even short players win duels against much taller ones, see Rafael vs Giroud. Van Persie should have at least one of those moments. And while you're at statistics, van Persie won 4 aearial duels in our first game against Arsenal. I don't think the quality of our long balls have been anything better in that game. And as I said, I don't know why are you so persistant just about the air duels, I said just duels, both air and ground, and he won zero in total.

As for his involvemant, that's more down to him than anyone else, we had even less possession in that first game than we had today, most of our players had around the same number of touches in both games, only van Persie had much less today than he had that day, and I don't think there is much difference in our style now to what is was back then.

Van PErsie was really poor today, I really can't see how can you defend that.
 
I'm guessing he'll be off in the summer. Didn't look bothered today.
 
Was'nt at the races, caught offside a lot and gave away lots of needless freekicks out of frustration, not being utilised correctly imo.
 
Both he and Rooney have been feeding off scraps the whole season, they're both frustrated. Slightly more signs of them linking together today but they just didn't have enough of the ball to feet to do much. That said, RVP did have a big chance at the start and could've done better but strikers are the least of our worry at the moment.
 
ISSYNAZAR said:
When Rooney was on the break after 90 and he didn't even bother to pull up alongside, I was infuriated. At times he looks like he really gives a shit, and at other times he looks half-arsed.

Where is the little boy?
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The little boy is probably wondering where SAF is and why a team of ££m players are either camping or playing hoofball into the box!! 2 shots on goal tonight, who had them?
 
I thought he was definitely putting in a shift although I didn't see the bit that most people are talking about. He certainly chased a lot of balls down during the game and pressed with the rest of the team, took the ball off Arteta early on but blew the chance and made a lots of runs for Carrick and Mata to play him in.
 
He worked hard but was starved of chances. You can't expect your striker to do much other then defensive work when we try going forward as little as we did today. Should have scored 1 and then Szczesny had that nice save late on, but he was making good runs throughout but couldn't really get picked out, other then the one time Mata played it through to him. Anyways though, he'll struggle to get involved just as he has been all season pretty much because of the way the manager has us playing. Van Persie's strengths come when the ball is on the ground, and through passing it around, quick interplay and through passes, and playing the ball to his feet. Definitely not the endless crosses we saw on the weekend or the hoofs we saw today. The style we played these last two games would have been perfect for Crouch or Andy Carroll, but that's about it.
 
I don't get the worry about losing him, he is under contract and there is no way we are going to let him leave. And if we do it will only be for big money anyway
 
I'll be completely honest, due to the age business and potentially what the player can offer us, I'd be willing to sell RVP this Summer just so Mata can play with Rooney.
 
Disappointing performance by him, don't think he's quite back to full fitness yet. He needs a couple of strong performances, not just goals, for him to get back in the swing of things and go on a good run of form.
 
Hernandez - BFA said:
I'll be completely honest, due to the age business and potentially what the player can offer us, I'd be willing to sell RVP this Summer just so Mata can play with Rooney.
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You are assuming, like we have for 6 seasons now, that we are going to sign an established CM (or two) next summer...Otherwise Rooney will be playing behind Mata, or for another club.
 
wr8_utd said:
How did he not look arsed? He was throwing himself into challenges, making wild and mistimed tackles and running a lot. It's possible he just tired out by the end after playing 2 in 3 days. He's just returning from injury as well. There is a real habit of players being accused of not being arsed on this forum.
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Ssshhh - you are making far too much sense here!

He looked absolutely knackered at the end. He ran a lot throughout the game though.
 
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