In what seems like a very strange thing to admit and voice, Robin van Persie claims if Emmanuel Adebayor had stayed at Arsenal then he wouldn’t have been the main man at the club:
‘I was hoping to play as a second striker. I never thought I would end up as a main striker. We only tried it when Adebayor went.’
In all fairness, when Adebayor left, RVP wasn’t in the same form he is in now, and it could be that he’s just giving an honest recount of what it was like back then. I think the 28-year-old Dutchman is just being honest and humble, especially given the fact he has scored 54 goals since January 2011.
Most Arsenal fans, myself included, will probably be thinking the same thing as I am and that is ‘I would prefer to have RVP in my team than Adebayor any day of the week’, and really you can’t blame them for thinking that.
My reasons behind it are simple – I think Van Persie has a much better attitude and is happy to lead the team, you cannot say the same about Adebayor.
Van Persie went on to say:
‘The boss didn’t buy anyone else. He was convinced I could do it but I wasn’t. In my first five or six games I was making assists but I didn’t score and I thought, ‘I am a main striker now, I need to score’. When I scored my first goal I then scored seven in seven, with seven assists.’
So you could argue that once again Arsene Wenger believed in a player more than the player himself did and big things have happened from it.
The media are too used to overlooking the fact that it was Wenger who saw the potential in players like Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and now Robin van Persie. It would just be nice once in a while if our club and management had some praise from the media, but oh well.
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Wenger always tried to play him highest up the pitch. I think he even played him ahead of Henry at times when both were available. He certainly started playing RVP ahead of adebayor at first, but after his injury and the way adebayor developed into a goalscorer, he moved him back into the second striker in 2008/09, but then he seemingly had little hesitation in getting rid of ade, for whatever reason, and playing RVP as the main striker. I could understand playing RVP ahead of a 2nd striker, but I couldn’t have predicted that he could play centrally in a 4-3-3. It’s this vision that has made wenger great over the years.
I don’t get the question… Robin is saying he saw himself playing more as a number 10 than a number 9, as Adebayor does, and as Robin does now. Why is that a strange thing to admit? Everyone seemed to think the Bergkamp role suited him more at the time and many still do now. It hardly means he didn’t think he’d be the “main man” just not the striker furthest up the pitch.
When Adebayor left, Van Persie was still an eternal sick note. We also played 4-4-2 then. After Adebayor left we adopted the 4-5-1 we use now.
Spurs fan here. Don’t know why this came up in my search. I think it’s incredible the faith puts in players all the media was rediculing him earlier in the season but look how it pays off. People may take the mick out of him but he is able to buy players at a good price and turn them into world class players, amazing! Peace
I’m pretty sure that you’ve got no idea what you’re talking about in the way that you analyse this quote.
There is all the truth in that.
There is a very old interview which I remember. Itd be good if someone can fish it out..
It was when RvP first joined Arsenal.
He clearly states, he loves playing the deep striker. And he hoped to perfect that position.
I’m a City fan. Not here to receive cr@p about the whole feeder club rubbish because that’s all a load of tosh. Somehow this link came up in the City section so I chose to have a read. Personally, I think it’s incredible what Mr. Wenger has done for football and in my opinion is as much of a Premier League legend as Fergie. He has an unbelieveable talent to spot young players with bright futures and turn them into world beaters. Credit to him, he doesn’t deserve the stick he’s received. However, I bet those journalists are eating their words now!
Robin is a wonderful player and famous too. I’m from Cape Town South Africa and I went last year to teach at a place in South Africa called Upington which is close to the border of Namibia and Botswana. Robin’s name is written on the walls of Paballelo High School. Holland play him behind the striker. He really is a talented player. Those two volleys were extra-ordiary. May he stay at the Gunners and improve from what we saw this year.