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I forget how old he is. 31. feck.
31, off the back of an injury hit year and not fit for the start of the season. Doesn't fill you full of confidence does it?
Under LvG yeh it does.
The only reason he's not fit for the start of the season is because he hasn't trained enough after being given time off following the world cup. On this occasion it's match fitness, rather than an injury.
Indeed, though he did get injured at the World Cup and was fairly subdued for at least half the games.
Happy Birthday Robin! Saw this and thought its creative:
Phew!
How does RVP and LVG not fill you full of confidence? You thought he was good before, wait till you see him this season.
Apparently he wasn't fully fit for the WC in the first place. Hopefully the rest would have done him some good. Anyway as long as Wellbeck is fit, I don't think we need him for the first few fixtures anyway.
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Doubt that not in the modern game, how many first choice strikers you know at top clubs being past 33 ? No this will be one of his last seasons I think were he'll be one of our first choice strikers after that we'll have to start looking at replacement, which is also one of the reasons I ain't totally put off by the idea of signing Cavani.
RVP's technically fantastic, LVG will manage him well, I don't think RVP will drop off much despite his age. His game has never really about pace, he did seem to be getting caught offside a lot during the World Cup but I'll put that down to fatigue. I definitely think RVP will thrive this season with no midweek games.
Drogba and Klose were decent enough with 33/34! It doesn't mean that RvP has to play a full game every 3 days with 33/34, but with a bit of rest between games he would still be great in certain games. Anyway, he is not 33 now anyway, only turned 31!
Well yea, I didn't say he is past it, I said 2 years left in him, than he'll be past it however.
He's only not going to be fit because Van Gaal planned it that way. He wanted to give him a full break after the WC. If anything that should make you feel more confident, because it means we're happy to rely on the (so far very effective looking) trio of Rooney, Mata and Welbeck in order to let Robin take his time. When he does come into contention he'll be super-fit and raring to go!
I agree! At some point near the end of WC, RvP even mentioned he wanted to be part of pre season. But LvG knows exactly what it takes to fully recover from the hectic campaign. And then there's the dilemma as to hoe fit he is after being on holiday for three weeks. But when we have the luxury of not depending on one or two players fitness to start the season, it would only be a good thing. Let him get back 100% and he's lethal again.
He will still be our main striker. Rooney had a good pre-season so the hype over him has gone overboard again but when the season starts things will normalize.
It may however, take a couple of games before RVP and Mata become in sync.
It may however, take a couple of games before RVP and Mata become in sync.
Its not so simple as that is it, we all thought Giggs was past it at 33, yet he played on till he was 40. Of course not the same player, but it does not mean even after your peak you don't have to suddenly turn shit. Pirlo is still class at 35(?). He could well be the same player at 33 as he is now, you have to take into consideration if he has injury free seasons or niggling injuries etc.
I'm looking forward to seeing a fully fit and refreshed RvP. Thinking back to our first season with us and he was just 
. Even if he never reaches that level again his price and us actually signing him was worth it just for the 20th title.
. Even if he never reaches that level again his price and us actually signing him was worth it just for the 20th title.Mainly from watching how RVP played in an LVG team at the world cup.
The obvious assumption is that he was jaded after a long season and this break will get him back to his best. He's extremely fit, so turning 31 shouldn't be a biggie but you can see why people might be a little worried about him getting back to his best. Especially when you consider that the WC followed on from a season where he more often than not looked a shadow of the player he was in his first year with United.
For me, the most important thing is steering clear of injuries. His terrible record at Arsenal must play on his mind when he's feeling a niggle and not 100%. Bound to make him inhibited. Just needs a month or two feeling really well in himself and he'll be able to put that behind him. Delighted LVG isn't rushing him to get ready for the next season. Very good management.
He looked really well when I saw him in Ibiza last week. Beautifully maneuvering his jet ski.
He wasn't too pleased when I tried to hug him though.
Don't suppose you gave Justin Bieber a slap while you were over there?
Wish I did add to his misery, although getting slapped by Orlando Bloom really is the lowest of the low.
Those are midfielders, it is a different thing as a striker for me. I can't see RVP as our main striker when he is like 33+, in fact I hope we still get 2 good years out of him and not 2 injurry infested seasons.
He actually said him getting injurred for us was a blessing in disguise for his world cup as he was far better rested and fit to start it, so for me being jaded is no excuse for him not being at his best. The simple reality is that RVP is 31 and clearly reached his top when he was 28-29 playing those 2 fantastic seasons one for Arsenal which earned him his transfer to us and that magnificent last season under SAF were we won the title back. In my opnion that is the best RVP we have ever seen and I think it will be the best one will ever see, you know what phase comes after your top, decline. He might still have something left in the tank for us if he can stay fit, but for me it is clear he is slowly starting to regress and if he keeps on pilling up these injurrys the speed of his decline will just increase. My hope as our main man upfront for the coming years is not on RVP but on Rooney and I believe the club would be wise to look at a replacement for RVP in the coming years.
All of that is definitely possible. I'm inclined to be optimistic in general about football, so I'd be hopeful you've got it wrong. No way to be certain one way or another, though.
Re the last sentence, absolutely. Once any player gets to the wrong side of 30, the club needs to start thinking about who will replace him. We dropped a bollock by not doing this with Carrick, who just turned 33. If we'd planned ahead a bit better his injury wouldn't be such a blow.
With no European football he might be able to get in a rhythm of playing once a week more often than not, which might make all the difference to his fitness. Given that he still scored plenty of goals in a bad season last time around I'd be hopeful we can get him back to something like his best.
Two reasons to be hopeful for this coming season.
Firstly LVG is sensitive to his fitness - how easy would it have been for a new manager at a big club to give RvP a shorter holiday to get him back for his first game? But instead he insisted he took a full 3 weeks after the WC, even though it meant he wouldn't be fit for the start of the season. So we probably wont see him overplayed or brought back from injury too soon.
The other is that we have long spells this season of weekend to weekend games, with no European involvement. Indeed we probably only have one midweek game before Xmas, other than the league cup (which RvP would rarely feature in anyway). For a player the wrong side of 30 that can be very helpful. If you're carrying a niggle you can take a couple of days off, get some physio, or just do gym work or whatever, and still take part in proper training later in the week and be ready for the weekend. If you're playing midweek you just have to carry on playing until something goes, or start missing games or training.
Robben has flourished under LvG fitness wise. If LvG has a similar impact on RvP and Rooney, we'll have the best attack in the league again.
Yea sure us not playing as many games will be good for RVPs fitness in turn that will pay off this season. But if you already have to be so carefull about his fitness we can't hope he'll be our main man upfront for the coming years. As I said pray he stays fit and can replicate his best form for atleast one more season, hopefully two and than it is time to replace him.
Basically the way I see it as well. I think this might be his last season as our top striker as I am not sure RVP next season at 32 and with his injury record would be able to play two games a week(assuming we make the CL).
I don't see it as our biggest problem anyway. If both Mata and Rooney are fit, we have plenty of players who can partner them. My concern would be if we are missing two of those three, not one.
Oh I dont think we should assume he can be our main spearhead for 3+ years. However we're in a funny position with strikers at the mo.
We can't justify buying more young potential, because Danny, Hernandez & Wilson all, to varying degrees, fit the bill and a decision still needs to be made as to whether they're good enough or not.
However we cant justify buying a top level striker either, because the fact is RvP can play a solid number of games, and Rooney is here to stay.
Fast forward 2 years and those young strikers will either be going/gone, or will have shown enough to put them in the first team. Plus RvP will be 33 & Rooney 31, so ponying up for a top quality striker aged 26-28 makes a lot more sense. Either way its an easier decision then.
Cavani?
Possibly, but he turns 28 this season so may be a shade too old by the time we're buying.
I totally agree with this, we're in a difficult situation indeed. I don't think we'll sign a striker this summer as we have to many other more urgent concerns to adress. Yet next summer I think we'll be looking at our options if Welbeck, Hernandez, Wilson don't look like they can lead the line by then we'll sign somebody I'd say. Cavani would be ideal in that respect.
No excuse to buy, the way I see it. Van Gaal will back himself to be able to get Welbeck scoring regular goals, which is really the only thing stopping him from being a top class striker more than good enough to lead the line for us for many years.
Get Wilson game time (either a PL loan or regular appearances on the bench and in cup games for us), and if Welbeck's finishing never does come good, then by the time RVP is too old even to be back-up to Rooney, Wilson will be more than ready. (Usual disclaimer about no guarantees with youngsters, but anyone who's watched Wilson will tell you that he's as sure a thing to successfully transition to the first team as Januzaj was. If people want a young Lewandowski, look no further.)
In the meantime we should do our level best to keep Hernandez, so that if at any point in this transition we find ourselves lacking goals, we've got a guaranteed goalscorer just ready and waiting to step in for a bit.
The idea that anyone would want to buy Cavani seems ridiculous to me.
Technically one of the all time greats imo. Immense compilation.Personally I think RVP aging and becoming a less regular starter will coincide nicely with us moving to a system (433) where we only play with one central striker.
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