Robin van Persie, World Class

By: Darren_v | December 12th, 2011

RVPEverton

Just a short year ago the majority of Arsenal fans opinion on Robin van Persie could likely be summed up as, “Great technique, but a crock” or simply “A luxury player”. Even the Dutchman’s most ardent supporters (me) would have had difficulty arguing the point convincingly because well… he was a crock and rarely was fit enough to prove to all his worth.

The year 2011 has been remarkable for van Persie however. The 2010/11 season actually began in typical fashion with an injury and forcing the now much-maligned Marouane Chamakh into the starting line up, and impressing. He did not return to action until November and failed to score in the English Premier League until January 1, 2011. It was a free-kick goal which had taken a massive deflection off the Birmingham defense, hardly the type of goal that one would predict the run of form for van Persie since that moment in which he has been scoring at a break-neck and record breaking pace.

While the entire footballing world has stood up and taken notice of the only World Class striker in North London, the talent and technique has always been there and shown in glimpses of van Persie’s Arsenal career.

In his first season at Arsenal van Persie would display his ability to turn and become common place in his game to equalize against Southampton:

Against Blackburn in 2005 he produced a blinder against Blackburn from a ridiculous angle and it was a sign of things to come as van Persie has terrorized Blackburn ever since:

When he first came to England van Persie scored some beauty free kicks. In the 2005/06 season against Wigan he came up with this:

Witness this at Craven Cottage from 2006:

The power he possesses in his kick was well evident whenever he stepped up for a free kick. This is from Sunderland, 2007/08.

However, keepers learned of van Persie’s desire to smash it as hard as he good, and he went a long time without a free kick goal, to the point where all Gooners expected nothing on free kicks when he stepped up. This year he finally produced another gem however, again against Sunderland.

Robin van Persie has never been just a lethal striker. In fact, he was always better known for his ability on the ball, and his first touch. That first touch as given him some wonder goals in the past. In the 2008/09 season Arsenal were struggling to score at Everton when Abou Diaby displayed a flash of brilliance with his long, over the top ball for van Persie, and his chest control was just… well just watch:

He did one better though against Liverpool that year which was simply majestic. The chest control, the ‘turn on a sixpence’ and the goal:

Ever since Arsene Wenger changed van Persie’s role in the squad, he has shown his ability to score at any chance in the true ‘poacher’ role. Many of his goals this season have come off of great play by others in the squad and Robin’s ability to find the little space to shoot on goal with either foot. Wolves in 2011 early this calendar year:

He would score a similar goal in the Carling Cup Final and injury himself in the process:

Perhaps his most famous goal for Arsenal came against Barcelona in the Champions League when he beat Valdes on the short side with a thunderous shot:

But for me, his best goal ever was in 2006 against Charlton of the Emmanuel Eboue cross. The audacity to leap and strike this ball from the edge of the box like he did was just unbelievable and equally gorgeous:

That is until this past weekend on Arsenal’s 125th anniversary against Everton which will forever rival his Charlton goal. Struggling to create anything deep into the 2nd half, Alex Song found van Persie and he produced this:

Now anyone knows hitting a ball on the volley and keeping it down is hard enough on it’s own. But having it come over your shoulder and to put the ball as precisely as van Persie did is just unreal. Watch the replay and you can see the body control of pulling his arms into his body and head down. The discipline needed of producing the technique for this is goal is something I wish I had the words for.

But the question is, which goal is better? Charlton 2006 or Everton 2011? I want you to tell me because I have trouble deciding and twitter was rife with debate after the game on this debate.

online polls

Which Robin van Persie goal is your favorite All-Time from my pick of goals?

panel management

Terrynothworthy

RVPSzcz

Some Related Stories:

Category: Arsenal News

« Arsenal 1 – Everton 0: Van Persie Stunner Nets Arsenal a Deserved Win | Home | Arsenal: 125 Years »

soji

Frankly speaking guys RVP is Arsene Wenger's BEST ever signing. We got him for almost nothing given his production for this year and years prior under a limited time frame (due to injuries). And remember we got him the summer after we got reyes during the January transfer window of the same year for a high transfer fee. Which was questionable given that we had Pires, reyes etc. It is amazing to see his development if not as a player but as a professional. (he was once almost charged with assault) and now his captain for a great ( and in recent years for me a beloved long suffering club). I believe if Arsenal were to lose him, the loss would very much equal the impact he's had on the club if not exceed it negatively. Yes, Henry leaving was painful, so was viera and cesc, but this guy; RVP is the club right now without the competitive arrogance henry had, or the love cesc has for Barca.

Disclaimer, My Son, unborn his named Robin, after you know who.
Gunner for life.
Orion

Oh Robin. Robin, Robin, Robin. It seems like he has paid us for all the patience we had with him, what with all the injuries that would always disrupt his goal-scoring form. Seeing as how the club never gave up on him, I do hope he returns the favour by signing a new contract, something which I think is very plausible upon our winning the league in May. Yes, I said it. Bite me.
FredJacob

preach brother preach, i also wanna meet Barca in the CL Final and cut there asses and making Cesc feel like the ass he really is
Will

I'd rather not meet Barca in the final.. I'd like to have a team with the ridiculous amount of luck required to beat Barca hand their asses to them, and then have us beat whichever team that is in the final.. (Milan, anyone?)
FredJacob

C:\Users\merrill\Documents\Camtasia Studio\highlights\highlights.html
sofreshnsoclean

I miss Highbury...those first two clips sent chills down my spine.
Gigi_man

City v Che. So Clichy got sent off. He wont be playing against us, seeing his "accurate" sense and intelligence (and I dont say this because he left us, but because I always felt he was a liability for us), would it is good or bad for us? since if he was playing he could commit the same mistakes he did today. (I didnt see the entire game I base my comment on football365 comments)
Gigi_man

just too hard to choose one goal, but I am between Charlton, Everton and Barcelona
nice article, well deserved by RvP,
please AW do whatever to keep him, please,
Jack

Second best player in the world at the moment for me, behind only Iniesta.
Darren_V

No mention of Ronaldo and Messi. Very interesting pick.
Jack

When I say at the moment, I mean on current form - if that clarifies it for you.
Homey_Mills

So you're saying you weren't too impressed with Ronaldo's "performance" against Barca?
Jack

Amazed - at how he could miss a free header from all of five yards.
Darren_V

It made me have a quick wonder if he missed on purpose....
Darwinho.gooner4ever

youre funny, why would he miss on purpose lol
Brenton Walters

A luxury player? I'm not sure what Arsenal fans you interact with, but I have never heard or read anyone say that.
soji

Frankly speaking guys RVP is Arsene Wenger's BEST ever signing. We got him for almost nothing given his production for this year and years prior under a limited time frame (due to injuries). And remember we got him the summer after we got reyes during the January transfer window of the same year for a high transfer fee. Which was questionable given that we had Pires, reyes etc. It is amazing to see his development if not as a player but as a professional. (he was once almost charged with assault) and now his captain for a great ( and in recent years for me a beloved long suffering club). I believe if Arsenal were to lose him, the loss would very much equal the impact he's had on the club if not exceed it negatively. Yes, Henry leaving was painful, so was viera and cesc, but this guy; RVP is the club right now without the competitive arrogance henry had, or the love cesc has for Barca.

Disclaimer, My Son, unborn his named Robin, after you know who.
Gunner for life.
Darren_V

All kinds. The AKGBs, the Anti-Wengers and everything in between.
When he got injured last year and we had Chamakh and nothing else as a striker, there were people talking that way.
None will admit it now obviously, but I can state as fact there were those.
Brenton Walters

What does the G stand for in AKGB?
Darren_V

AKGBs, AKBs... whatever it is.
Ian

uh... what does the A, the K, and the B stand for in AKB
Carson Jenga

Arsene Knows Best
Homey_Mills

I think what Darren means here, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that we could view RvP as a luxury because we couldn't count on him for long periods of time. So it was a nice bonus when he was around, but we needed more reliable options go get through whole seasons. Is that the point here? And of course, we're still waiting to see how this season goes too - an injury could pop up any time.
Rico

Chelsea 2 - 1 Man City!

There is only one team that can go through a season unbeaten!
Gigi_man

And thats the cue: we can beat them . If we went down with our B side, only by one goal, we can beat them.
LachlanS

It wasn't their strongest side either. I wouldn't base any prediction of our league match coming up on that CC match. However, I do think we have the quality to beat them. Although we are much more heavily burdened with injuries than they.
Gigi_man

Yeah I know, not too accurate from me, what I meant was that they were more 1st team than us (Aguero scored and he is definitely 1st team). WE are more injured and we'll be visitors. But I always like to play with odds, if we beat Chelsea dn Chelsea beat them and we only lost by 1 goal with them having some 1st teamers more than us...
Will

Not even 2012 yet and they've already lost a game. Tsk. And they were calling Aguero better than Bergkamp. . .
Casimir

It must be said, for this calendar year, RVP is easily the best striker in the world.
Bjohnson

CORRECTION - I HAVE CONSISTENTLY SAID OVER THE LAST 3 YEARS THAT THERE IS NO OTHER FORWARD LIKE RVP IN WORLD FOOTBALL. UNLIKE YOU I HAVE NOT DISMISSED HIM WHEN HE HAS BEEN OUT THROUGH INJURIES, JUST MERELY MISSED HIM. LAST YEAR I STATED THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT SIGNATURE WENGER NEEDED WAS THAT OF RVP. I ALSO STATED EVEN FABREGAS LEFT HE WOULD BE MISSED BUT I COULD EXCEPT THAT, HOWEVER IF RVP WAS ALLOWED TO GO I WOULD STOP SUPPORTING ARSENAL - THAT IS HOW MUCH HE HAS ALWAYS MEANT TO ME AS MY FAVOURITE ARSENAL PLAYER OF ALL TIMES.
Darren_V

I admire how adament you are about this that you need to use All Caps. Passion like that is awesome.
I would however like to point out that I never dismissed him. I merely said that the arguments were difficult to argue as he was injured.... a lot.
What people beleive and what that facts are, are not always the same.
Patoux21

Great article for a special player. Definitely the best goal is the volley against Charlton. I was always impressed by his goal scoring ratio even though he was often injured so I knew he had the potential to be a prolific scorer. Genuine successor of Bergkamp/Henry combined for finesse, technique and power
Jerome

Santos out for 3 months... oof.
Diane Lancaster

Love this blog great read !!!!!