Van Persie has often followed the same pattern as his Arsenal Club: starting strong, showing glimpses of genius, and then inevitably falling apart, getting injured, and never quite fulfilling high expectations...always failing to reach his potential. But now it's hard to imagine Arsenal without him, and he's making a strong case for being the Premier League's best player.
For Arsenal fans, Robin Van Persie’s current form isn’t surprising. The bigger shock is that he’s remained healthy for this long. Van Persie, otherwise known as “The Flying Dutchman” or “RVP”, is famous—or infamous—for being susceptible to injuries. Broken toes, torn ligaments, ankle issues, and fractures have kept Van Persie out for large portions of multiple Premier League campaigns, creating a huge scoring deficit for Arsenal at the most inopportune times.
The injuries have been so frequent that Van Persie has gained a notorious reputation for being “soft” and a player that is easily prone to injuries. Opposing fans have ridiculed him by chanting “Robin Van P***y,” and Youtube videos (such as this one) poke fun at Van Persie’s inability to remain at full fitness.
Even with a litany of injuries, Van Persie is known for being somewhat quirky. He once traveled to Serbia to receive a bizarre placenta-related treatment that many claimed be from a witch doctor—the procedure didn’t work. And recently, he’s come under fire for performing a weird goal celebration that appeared similar to a Nazi salute (video).
Despite these oddities and the ever-present fear that Robin could suffer a season-ending injury at any given moment, Van Persie’s recent display of scoring does reveal that he’s still capable of being a first-class player, and he currently leads the Premier League with 10 goals.
Even more impressive is the fact that he’s scoring without the help of Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, and Jack Wilshire. For Van Persie, the departure of Fabregas and Nasri may have been a blessing in disguise, as Arsene Wenger appears to be tactically adjusting his approach to be more striker-friendly.
For years, Arsenal fans have been begging for a world-class striker to provide some sort of attacking threat to compliment Arsenal’s seemingly toothless forwards. But season after season, cross after cross and pass after pass would harmlessly land at Van Persie’s feet as he stood all alone up top, surrounded by three or four defenseman. With no helping options, he would either have to hopelessly try to cut through the entire defense on his own, or more likely, pass the ball back to the midfielders and wait for them to methodically work the ball back and forth, slowly making their way into the attacking zone and waiting for the perfect tic-tac-toe pass that would lead to a quick scoring opportunity.
Arsenal is still a team that uses quick passing and fluid ball control, but their movement is distinctly more aggressive, and Van Persie is reaping the rewards, no longer playing in the shadows of Fabregas and Nasri. With a depleted defense, and a midfield lacking their former superstars, Wenger is shifting the focus of Arsenal onto the strikers, and the club’s recent 5-3 win over Chelsea showcased why Van Persie has 10 goals in 10 EPL games. For Arsenal’s opponents, the scariest fact isn’t that Van Persie scored a hat trick during the game, but rather it was the reality that he probably should’ve scored at least two or three additional times.
For Arsenal and their fans, the biggest worry isn't whether or not Van Persie suffers another devastating injury, instead, it's the increasing fear that Manchester City's will swoop in for another steal during the upcoming transfer window. Because as Van Persie gets better and better, he will become increasingly more lucrative to a Man City Club whose funds are seemingly endless. For special soccer jerseys, visit http://www.SoccerPlus.net today
No comments:
Post a Comment