Januzaj should have stayed on and Van Persie should have come off after Smalling was sent off. Rooney or Di Marie up top would have chased down all of those hoofed balls with a lot more purpose.
20
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
Januzaj should have stayed on and Van Persie should have come off after Smalling was sent off. Rooney or Di Marie up top would have chased down all of those hoofed balls with a lot more purpose.
This
This. He wasn't this slow 2 years ago, but he just look so laboured these days. Feels like he's lost his sharpness.
I hope the golden boy gets a rest the next game.
If we had 11 men on the field i felt he would have scored a goal today. His movement was very sharp before the sending off but the midfield wasn't finding him.
He's never relied on pace but damn he looks so slow these days and in the second half of most games he's looked completely fooked, seems like he's got fitness problems to me.
I think last week's goal papered over the reality that he's in decline and will probably never return to his form of two years ago.
I don't think he was poor today he just didn't get any service because we spent most the game defending after the sending off.
Agreed. Rooney and Falcao up top with Wilson as a backup looks like the way forward. Taking into account our never-ending injury crisis, RvP would still get some playing time under his belt.
Sorry, what? How the hell is Wilson higher up the pecking order?
He looks like a player thats near retirement tbh. We've all seen them - Shearer comes to light.
He's looks shot with his diggin deep / head down, to run any length of yardage & he cant lead the line anymore. This is only a year & a few months, after he was shit hot with us too.
Seems to have lost it very quickly, so i hope we're planning ahead for next Summer's striker recruitment drive, because RvP as a world class striker - his form days are gone from what i've seen..
He's looks shot with his diggin deep / head down, to run any length of yardage & he cant lead the line anymore. This is only a year & a few months, after he was shit hot with us too.
Seems to have lost it very quickly, so i hope we're planning ahead for next Summer's striker recruitment drive, because RvP as a world class striker - his form days are gone from what i've seen..
Sadly, probably right. I do think he could be very useful as an impact sub, as his predatory skills are still sharp. It just seems to be asking too much to play him for 90 minutes every week (and asking for injury as well.)
Should have worded it better probably. Well, if its Wayne and Falcao up top, then I would certainly not mind to see Wilson get an odd 20 mins time in each game (basically Chicha-style). He looks the real deal. If one of Rooney/Falcao is injured then it would be RvP plus either of those two with Wilson as a sub. Wilson is the future with high potemtial, while RvP seems to be phasing out gradually.
Batistuta's last few years always spring to mind: fantastic first season with Roma, followed by a steady decline (if I remember it correctly.)
The lone striker role requires strength, dynamism and a lot of work, I just don't think it is in RvP's wheelhouse these days.
He couldnt hold the ball up at all - nor run like a player who was fit. Have you not noticed his new running style?
Head down & striving to get the legs goin!
Ahh, fair enough.
He looked spent to me, toiling up front on his own for over half the game. Just before he came off I even saw Demichelis outpace him. It was the right decision to substitute him.
Last edited:
Not so sure Batistuta looked after himself off the field though man. He always looked hungover or drunk.. Same as Mario Kempes too..
Guarantee ya - Kempes was Batistuta's role model
LVG's only mistake today was taking off RVP imo
Maybe we can get a job done on him, like this bloke had:
Not a bad idea, Robo van Persie! That wasn't a bad remake of a classic from my youthful days either.
Yeah - he should have just put him down. I hear ya brother..
Robo Clog
Big time man. I loved that awesome bike & the fact they incorporated his wife etc. into the story, unlike the original..
RVP played fine in the circumstances, I don't have any real complaints about his performance. The problem is I have a massive case of New Toy Syndrome, I'm just impatient to see Falcao lead our line. Fine as Van Persie has been, you can't shake the feeling a fit Falcao would have been better. The only cure for my condition is for RVP to be dropped and Falcao to get a couple of games up front. After that I'll be able to appreciate RVP if he gets his place back on merit.
Its unfair to judge him on today probably. In general though I think Falcao brings more to the table these days.
Would have dented his confidence after last week but I think he should have been taken off for the extra defender. We could have used Januaz's pace for counter attacks, which was the only way we looked like scoring and also added some protection to the fullbacks. My criticism of Van Gaal so far has been being overly lenient towards accommodating him in the side.
His severe lack of pace is frustrating. With 10 men you need a bit of luck and the ability to get something out of nothing. He is too slow to get onto any passes or anything though. Apart from that he was alright. Difficult circumstances so it's understandable. Definitely not the same player anymore though.
Do people criticize players for the sake of criticizing them? How people can watch RVP play and then have a go at his hold up play and strength is beyond me. That's the best part of his game.
Because they want Rooney there instead of him.
It's got to do with Falcao. People want him to start games despite him doing nothing whatsoever that would merit a swap at this stage.
RvP never relied on pace. His hold up play is one of the best I've seen. It is so difficult to take the ball from him. Yesterday was one of those days when I saw him working extremely hard and running after the ball to help the team. There was that one moment of brilliance inside the box that could have resulted in a goal. Yes, we all want to see Rooney and Falcao play upfront but RvP is almost on par with those two and offers something else entirely. He doesn't get the service he deserves. Two years back he had a world class Valencia putting in deadly crosses from the byline and creating chances by the bucketload. Now our wingers are absolute shite. ADM isn't good as a winger for this team. Januzaj isn't playing well either. some of van Persie's runs are excellent but we don't have the perfect #10 to release him. Rooney doesn't have that incisive passing ability and Mata doesn't get much playing time on the field.
LvG needs to make a rigid formation with a system that suits the players. He can have two or three such formations and change it according to the opposition. If he wants to shoehorn every player into the team then it's gonna end up badly
LvG needs to make a rigid formation with a system that suits the players. He can have two or three such formations and change it according to the opposition. If he wants to shoehorn every player into the team then it's gonna end up badly
Nope. Most think Rooney is best placed as a striker and not as a No10, thus they would like to see him replace RVP. LVG is not one of them.
It's got to do with Falcao. People want him to start games despite him doing nothing whatsoever that would merit a swap at this stage.
I largely agree with all of that. He's producing the odd moment of real quality in every game, including yesterday in very difficult circumstances. He does look low on energy and mobility though, and its affecting his ability to make an impact when service is poor or limited. Its far from unreasonable to wonder whether Falcao would have been more consistently threatening if he was fit yesterday.
He wasn't great yesterday but I'm confused as to what more he could have done. He worked hard and held the ball up reasonably well when he received it. Do people expect him to just pick the ball up, beat the entire defence and score by himself when he has very little support? Also he did actually almost score with a great piece of skill.
Fair enough. I agree that the lack of pace and mobility is holding him back, I'd love to see Falcao and Rooney upfront for the next games
He had 18 touches yesterday and he created at least 3 chances.
His hold up play used to be phenomenal, but he was making Demichelis look a lot better than he is yesterday.
That aside, the major problem with Van Persie isn't his hold up play, strength or even work rate, he's just simply too laboured. We're all about pace and power, or at least that's what I think we're attempting to replicate, yet he just isn't giving the opposition centre half's enough to worry about. Wilson came on and worked the back line straight away, winning a few corners, corners we wouldn't have had with Robin up top.
Our attacking play, or lack of it, has actually gone unnoticed in recent weeks. Van Persie is part of this problem, a big part of it.
That aside, the major problem with Van Persie isn't his hold up play, strength or even work rate, he's just simply too laboured. We're all about pace and power, or at least that's what I think we're attempting to replicate, yet he just isn't giving the opposition centre half's enough to worry about. Wilson came on and worked the back line straight away, winning a few corners, corners we wouldn't have had with Robin up top.
Our attacking play, or lack of it, has actually gone unnoticed in recent weeks. Van Persie is part of this problem, a big part of it.
10 passes attempted in 90 minutes. That's a bit shit really. Obviously, being a man down made life really difficult for him but he wasn't much more involved against Chelsea (13 passes). Simply doesn't have the legs to play as a lone striker. Which is hurting us. What makes it even more frustrating to watch is that he has looked a tiny bit sharper in the last two games. Just not covering the ground we need him to.
Its a moot point after Falcao getting injured and Rooney coming back, but I'd have liked to have seen Falcao up front and RVP in behind in place of Mata. There's been flashes of a good understanding between those two (I'm thinking specifically of Falcao's knockdown for RVP's great shot that hit the post against West Brom) and I wonder if Van Persie wouldn't have benefitted from someone else doing the heavy lfting and leading the line while he looked for space slightly deeper. He wouldn't have been any more lightweight defensively than Mata either. Ah well, hopefully its Falcao and Rooney starting for the next few games as you say!
- Status