Terje A. Jensen asks : COULD VAN PERSIE FIT INTO WENGER’S 4-5-1?
I’m a keen admirerer of Robin’s skills and I’d like to see him start more games for Arsenal.
For now Wenger seem to prefer Adebayor (as a partner for Henry) when playing a 4-4-2 and Henry (when fit) or Adebayor as a lone striker in a 4-5-1. No question; van Persie could never play as a lone striker in the 4-5-1, but I’d like to see him on the right wing with (from left) Hleb-Gilberto-Rosicky-Fabregas-van Persie.
This would give Rosicky and Fabregas to roam the middle for decent support for Henry and it would give us the obvious presence of Robin’s marvellous skills. Germany showed us that van Persie easy could play on the left wing though in a 4-3-3, but isn’t a 4-3-3 just a 4-5-1 with attacking wings?
Mourinho claimed Chelsea last year played a 4-3-3, but in reality Drogba played up-front with Duff and Robben and they’re no strikers in my opinion, but attacking midlielders. So could van Persie fit into Wenger’s 4-5-1?
Myles replies :
In the 2-0 win over Porto, van Persie played on the left wing in a 4-5-1 and he was Arsenal’s sloppiest player.Too many passes were short or too long. The keeper saved a shot that was going outside the post and made it look better than it was. Unmarked in the box when the score was 0-0, he got a pass from Henry and blazed over the bar.
Robin van Persie is talented but not a team player. He exists to do things for himself. There are too many times when he will not make a run for you. The logic of the move dictates that he should run away from the penalty area, to support the move, but he does not want to do that.The penalty spot is magnetic and he is metallic and he is pulled towards the box, not away from it. But when I first saw him he always gave me the feeling that he would score. And Adebayor didn’t.
How should RvP be used? I don’t know.But I’d agree that a powerful, left-footed forward would be more penetrating on the right side, attacking the box with his stronger foot.
Does Thierry Henry like playing with van Persie? If not then he could be the next Reyes, on his bike at the end of the season.
This is a big season for RvP. And that is the understatement of the millennium. He has a patient, liberal manager and he is playing in a very promising Under-25 team and it will soon be October. August-September-October will be a third of the season. He has to produce.The calendar is ticking.
He is 23 and his mentor Bergkamp is not there every day for him now. He has to stánd up and grow up and improve. His first touch was shocking against Middlesbrough and he was Arsenal’s worst player against Porto. A few more games like that and he will slip off our radar screens.
Will he make it? Will he score goals and find true happiness? I don’t know. I just think van Persie is a player who needs early service, a fast 30-yard pass.
He is not a craftsman, he’s a bang!bang! player, a bit like Batistuta.He is artillery. He is a big daft Dutch lad with a rocket shot in his left foot. His function is to fire shots
But Fiorentina built their team round Batistuta and Rui Costa gave him fabulous passes every ten minutes.
Having only seen highlights of Holland’s recent games, I don’t know how they play.But he is better for Holland than he is for Arsenal. That happens sometimes.Maybe he is inspired by playing for his country. Maybe he is ten times more comfortable with Dutch voices all round him.
Years ago, when Trevor Francis played for Nottingham Forest, he was better for England than he was for Forest.Why? Because Forest were a method team and Francis was quite individualistic. Fast and tricky,Francis could get the ball, beat two guys and score. England did not train together every day, had intermittent methods, so they relied on individuals more than Forest did.
Van Persie has been on campus at Colney for two years.His temperament has settled down, it seems. But maybe in suppressing his temper, part of the player has been suppressed.