From Tim : Fergie on RVP
Hi Myles,
Have recently finished reading Alex Ferguson’s autobiography and the following is what he had to say about RVP.
“We were hardly strangers to majestic individual talent, but it took us a while to understand just how good Robin van Persie is. The quality of his runs was not immediately apparent to even our cleverest players. Even Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick, two of the best passers I ever had, had trouble at first picking up the speed of his movements.”
“If we had a bad habit going into the 2012–13 season, it was overpassing in the middle of the pitch: players circulating the ball to acquire a feel of it. With Van Persie, we learned in time, you needed to look for that early pass to split the opposition defence. Until we grasped those possibilities, we could not make the most of Robin’s marvelous mobility and killer instinct.”
“I said to Robin quite early: ‘Don’t be afraid to instruct the other players. You were the leader at Arsenal and if you don’t get fed, get into them.’ He was quieter than I expected, but with a vicious left foot that would freeze goalkeepers with its force. ”
“I always remember Arsène saying to me about Van Persie: ‘You don’t realise what a good player you’re getting. I thought of Cantona and Ronaldo and Giggs. But Arsène was right. Robin’s movement and the timing of runs were mesmerising. He was also blessed with a formidable physique.”
Myles says:
He was always physical.
When Robin was a kid and played in enclosed hard court pitches in Rotterdam they used to call him “The King of the Cage.”