Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk might use Robin van Persie in his Arsenal role in their upcoming friendlies against Italy and Paraguay.
The Dutch invented 4-3-3 but the national team has never used RVP as a central striker. He’s been playing on the right side of a front three during their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Since Arsenal started to play him at CF, he has adapted well. He has matured nicely and plays for the team. He is not just a bang!bang! striker any more, so van Marwijk says, “We have discussed it extensively among the technical staff but it also is important that the players around him function well.”
Does that mean : We should play like Arsenal ?
To win a World Cup, Holland need lots of automatic. Two weeks ago Kaka , having moved to Real Madrid from AC Milan, said, “We have no automatic.” Madrid have new players and no fluency, no automatic. At Milan it’s so automatic that the team can play training games blindfolded. Kaka was the new boy and he was there six years. Arsenal also ooze automatic. That’s why they’re unbeaten in 13 and second in the table.
Maybe Holland need to train like Arsenal but that will be difficult because Dutch players are argumentative. If the technical staff need “extensive discussions” on how the team could play round RVP, how long will the squad need to explore that change?
Man United have been the karate champions of English football for 30 years.
Players who wear a red devil badge on their chests are allowed to inflict grievous bodily harm on other teams.
In Sky’s Sunday Supermatch, big centreback Jonny Evans headed a ball away in classic style while simultaneously karate-kicking Drogba in the chest with his right foot. Even Daniel Passarella couldn’t do that. Last night Drogba was sent for a scan to determine if he had sprung a rib out of his breastbone. Assault usually requires initiative : Do to others as they would do unto you, only do it first.
United nullified a below-par Chelsea but lost 1-0 to a dubiously awarded free-kick which John Terry tried to head. Replays suggested the ball went off his shoulder and then off the back of Anelka’s head and into the bottom corner in 76 minutes. JT is playing well for a centreback who can’t jump.
I love a tight, tactical game with good defending, so I really enjoyed the first half. But after 70 minutes I was beginning to think that both sides might settle for not losing, so I picked up Saturday’s Guardian Review section to look at some book reviews. A 0-0 was no good to me, as I had bet on Chelsea to win, and then, at the last minute before kick-off, when I saw United’s 4-5-1 line-up, had another bet on Chelsea to win to nil. Chelsea cost me £30 when they lost 3-1 at Wigan and now they were going to cost me again. But it all came right in the end. The best team didn’t win but I did.
Manchester City 3 Burnley 3 showed that City don’t have much automatic.
City are not clicking but they’re not losing. Five draws in a row and Mark Hughes has seven weeks to Xmas but he would be mad to buy. Already he has to keep big names happy, so he drops Ireland to play De Jong and draws. Then he drops De Jong to play Ireland and draws. He plays Tevez, who occupies the space that Ireland needs to run into to score goals. A tenacious little Argentine dribbling across defences is the precise opposite of what made Man City unique in European football.
Adebayor was lethargic, always looking for the tackle, not the ball. He has reverted to type, as all Gooners knew he would.
This City team is a pig’s breakfast. Petrov only has one knee, so he’s on the right, not the left, where he needs two. The back four can’t mark, tackle, win headers or play as a unit, so the back four will have to be re-configured, probably with Lescott moved to left back to replace Bridge. If the back four can’t do the job, Ireland and Barry can’t pair in midfield.
Ireland-SWP is the heart of the City team and the core of their style. Those two play for each other and with each other. It’s a game of partnerships.
In essence, money has turned the Man City team into a shambles. Like Real Madrid, they have no automatic. But there’s a big difference. Florentino Perez can sign the players he wants. Mark Hughes can only sign the players who want him. He need this lot to take him to the point where the players he wants will sign up hungry to play. Robinho is not one of those.
When Oleg Luhzny joined Arsenal from Dynamo Kiev, I realised : In the future, Champions League clubs will mainly buy players from each other