Robin Van Persie

[Adi]

OK, I have to start a topic about Van Persie since jabarinho is making some shocking comments.   Here is his post:

van persie scores mostly poacher type goals just like inzaghi. Also his assists are nothing special either, just like inzaghi. RVP though has more strength and ball retention skill.

A better comparison would be with gilardinho or mario gomez. Effective players but nothing spectacular.

Btw your comparison with del piero is total madness! Del piero scored amazing goals from all angles and out of nothing in his prime. Also, he had sick passing vision and dribbling skill.

Van persie's assists are never clever through balls. Van persie assists are always short little passes in to feet or hopeful crosses from the wing. And his dribbling skill is non-existant.

Yes barca would love to have cavani and lavezzi, i guarantee you that.

Strangely, I kinda miss Kingnut in these discussion lol  He always had some crazy shit to say. His top 5 would probably have xavi, busquets, van der vaart etc haha.

Kingnut would rip you a new one if he read this.  Your analysis is completely wrong on this.  Also, Kingnut's top 5 would probably be along the same lines as mine which is probably far more reasonable than yours.  What's your top 5?

Van Persie scores from all over the place... he's definitly not a poacher.  Poachers don't take set-pieces.  Van Persie scored from all over the pitch and can dribble to create his chances.  Poachers don't drop back to midfield to support the attack either, which are all things RvP does.

Robin Van Persie "Hope is Alive" 2011/2012

Van Persie has 8 assists on the season, which is 5th most in England.  How is that not good for a striker?  He has 25 goals in the league already and the next best is at 18.

I'm a Bayern fan and watch Gomez every weekend.  I know more about him than you do... fact.  Mario has no ball control and can't create to save his life.  He's a goal scorer and finisher.  Van Persie has a lot more control, finesse, and dribbling ability.  You're nuts if you compare those two.  I think you look at RvP's finesse and "slow-like" movement and assume he's a Gilardinho.  RvP is quicker than he looks and definitly isn't the stiff you seem to think he is.

When you describe Del Piero in your post, you are also describing RvP, you just don't know it.

Van Persie passing and dribbling clips:

Robin van Persie 2010/2011 - Control, touch & passing

[Adi]

By the way, 80% or more of all goals by strikers will be inside the box.  There is nothing wrong with that.  There is a difference between being a poacher (Nistelrooy) and RvP, however.  One is a link-up striker and the other is a poacher as you would put it.  Van Persie scores inside the box, which all great strikers must do well, but he also links up the player, pulls defenders out, passes, takes set pieces, and dribbles well to create when needed.

[jabarinho]

he has some nice touches. He links up with his teammates, holds the ball up and finishes very well. But i see nothing spectacular in him. Not enough to be considered as top 5 players. For me he is not even in the top 5 strikers.

Players:
1)Messi 2) Ronaldo 3) Iniesta 4) Xavi 5) Rooney

Strikers:
1) Rooney 2) Zlatan 3) Villa 4) Aguero 5) Cavani

You cannot compare van persie to these amazing players, even when RVP in on form. Many other players are also better than RVP like nani, lavezzi, modric, di maria, pirlo. These are world class players who consistently give their teams spectacular plays from nothing.

I never said 8 assists is bad. I said his assists are nothing amazing. His basic dribbling and passing skills are consistent enough to make him a good player, but not a world class player. World class players consistently beat 2 or 3 players and score. Or play a killer pass consistently. Very rarely RVP does those things.

[Adi]

Very rarely does a striker do as much as RvP.

How is Villa better than him?  Villa has struggled to score for 2 years now... he's dropped off plenty while RvP has continued to soar.  Don't even get me started on Cavani.  I guarantee you any professional analyst of manager will choose a healthy RvP over Canani. 

RvP is in the same class as Rooney, Zlatan... and Aguero is a little behind them right now.

You bring up Pirlo.  Are you insane?  The guy is well past it and wouldn't even make the starting line up of most top teams in England.  He can only play in Italy at this point.  Lavezzi is still trying to figure himself out.  You're way to high on the Napoli boys.  They are just now playing on the big stage and haven't proven much yet.  Di Maria is not in the same class as RvP.  Only Modric and Nani are close but most would choose RvP over them right now, but at least those weren't shocking mentions.

[Christof]

he has some nice touches. He links up with his teammates, holds the ball up and finishes very well. But i see nothing spectacular in him.

Most important is to be effective, and RvP certainly is. He's one of the best centre forwards and definitely better than Di Maria.

[Royal Freakiness]

I don't know. I think van persie is just behind rooney and zlatan
I honestly think that v. persie is the perfect replacement for Henry. They have a similar play. Obviously Henry at his prime was better but v. persie fits that second striker position that Arsenal needs so badly
IMO he's definitely better than cavani, lavezzi, aguero and villa
my top 5 players in the attacking areas would be 1. Messi 2. Ronaldo 3. Rooney 4. Zlatan 5. Van Persie

[Adi]

my top 5 players in the attacking areas would be 1. Messi 2. Ronaldo 3. Rooney 4. Zlatan 5. Van Persie

No Xavi?

[jabarinho]

Nice topic haha!! I cannot believe a whole topic is needed to discuss such an average player.

@Christof: Van persie's effectiveness is only in his statistics over the last 2 years. When i watch him play he does not excite me or give his team anything extraordinary.

@Royal: Henry was much different to RVP. A more exciting player who dribbled past players with ease and made unbelievable passes and of course scored goals too.

@ Adi: Pirlo is still one of my favourite players. He never loses the ball and makes crazy passes everytime he gets the ball. Much more efficient than van persie. Pirlo can play until he is 60......in any league. Similar to scholes.

Maybe van persie is on the same level as cavani, but i forgot drogba, so he is still not in my top 5 strikers

[Royal Freakiness]

my top 5 players in the attacking areas would be 1. Messi 2. Ronaldo 3. Rooney 4. Zlatan 5. Van Persie

No Xavi?

Xavi is more mid-field i think? He is a lot more aggressive now but I think at most he's an attacking mid-fielder, his main position being center. What I was saying was in the attacking section of the pitch. or whatever... 

on a side-note... I think my list implies that those are MY top 5 favorite strikers... I meant without being biased.
I don't really like c. ronaldo and zlatan. I don't hate them but they're not my favorites.

[Christof]

Nice topic haha!! I cannot believe a whole topic is needed to discuss such an average player.

@Christof: Van persie's effectiveness is only in his statistics over the last 2 years. When i watch him play he does not excite me or give his team anything extraordinary.

haha "only" 2 years. That's quite consistent. Also you neglect he's playing for a team which is not best in the league, unlike for example Gomez, he receives much less balls during the game, and he gets them further back.

And as i said the thing that's extraordinary about him is his ability to convert his chances, which is the most important quality a striker has to have (like Torres doesn't have it). If you saw the Tottenham match,  in the first half they left him once a little space outside the box and baaam the ball went in.

[2zef^^]

I will not comment about Van Persies skills and position but ...is that true he will join City??????? 

[jabarinho]

Van persie's contract expires next year and he is stalling on the new contract because he knows he may have better offers from mancity or some other team.

Also, arsenal are again being linked with average players this summer like granero and podolski. Why would van persie want to stay?

Also, arsenal do not want to pay big transfer fees and big salaries to any player. Milner, kaboul, gary cahill, suarez, robinho, david silva, villa all were linked with arsenal in the past but went to teams who paid bigger money.