The YAMA Player of the Year
It will likely come as little surprise whom I’ve picked as this year’s POY. He was player who place an awful lot on his shoulder’s this season when he switched from his number 11 to the 10 the a former dutchman made famous. He is also a player who we give a lot of guff to because of his unlucky knack of finding ways to get injured. That’s right this year’s POY is Arsenal forward Robin Van Perise.
It’s quite simple really – in 19 games as a starter he had 18 goals in the EPL. He finished two behind Berbatov and Tevez playing in only 25 games total. He scored a goal in 9 stratight away games and frankly if not for the prolific foot of the dutch striker Arsenal could have found themselves in a worse situation then they did at the end of the season. In the final slush through the season, it was only the consistency of Van Persie that enabled Arsenal to either scratch out a draw or look respectable whenever anything else looked horrible.
Much wasn’t known about Robin when he joined the club in 2004. He had only managed to play two years for Feynoord’s first team before he was clipped away by Arsene Wenger. It was at Wenger’s finishing school at Arsenal that Van Persie started to come into his own. Shortly afer his Arsenal debut he made his international debut for the Oranje of the Netherlands.
When he was signed by Wenger he was originally signed as a left winger but was seen as the replacement for Dennis Bergkamp. Wenger in much the same way he did with Thierry Henry converted Van Persie to a central forward and for the start of his career played mostly as the second striker in FA Cup and Carling Cup matches. But with the departure of Bergkamp and Ljunberg, Van Persie was given the chance to star alongside Henry.
Robin has had a history of disciplinary problems – though that is largely beside him – even though flashes of his fiery side are still seen. And after that he is very well known for a rash of untimely injuries. LIke the one he suffered last season in a mindless friendly against Italy where he ruptured his achilles. But when he is healthy he is explosive. His shot is rifle hot and his free kick can be deadly – though it wasn’t much of a factor this season.
This season he topped his best goal performance in all competitions with 21. His previous best being 20 in 2008/2009. Now that Adebayor is gone he leads Arsenal’s line in the 4-3-3 but he has a penchant for dropping back deep. Which makes his goal scoring rate even more prolific. He would likely benefit from a strong number 9 so he could truly unleash his stature as the heir to Bergkamp in the 10 role.
He is quick and skilled and is an instant game changer. He has vision and is techinically skilled. However, he does have that injury problem which has prevented him over the recent past from completing a full season. He isn’t particulary wonderful in the air, like many Arsenal players he sometimes opts for the more difficult path forward rather than the simply path – and if I am truthful I would think he is still something of a hot head which could get him into trouble.
“He is very intelligent and talented but most of all he is passionate about the game. At the start we gave him Dennis Bergkamp as a role model. And he has grown into the Bergkamp role. He is becoming like Dennis in his passing – and he scores more goals than Dennis. He respected Dennis and listened to his advice.” Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger in February 2009
I am looking for a fruitful 2011/2012 and hoping Van Persie can stay healthy and win a Golden Boot.
Robin’s best goal of the season? – Vs Barcelona at the Emirates
Robin’s 2010/2011 Goals
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To a great extent, POTY feels like an empty exercise to me this season. As a team, they earned no awards and little acclaim. No real surprise given how uninspired they often seemed as individuals.
For me, the one consistent exception was Jack Wilshere. Beyond his rapidly maturing skills, I credit Jack mostly for always giving maximum effort. Always appearing to care. Seeing him absolutely gutted after the CC loss is probably the most potent image for me this year. On a number of levels.
The best player? The most important player? No. But he was my favorite Gunner this year, and second place was a long way off.
@Fred,
Sorry Fred, Fabregas was a shadow of himself this season and even when on the field did very little to lift the team. Worst season he has had in the past 5 years.
How the hell could he be POTY?
POTY and the CL final…..
Can’t really pick a player of the season as NOBODY (except maybe Wilshere and Sagna) actually played a whole season. First half was Nasri and Chamakh with some decent work from Djourou. 2nd half was RVP. Cesc showed flashes (here and there) of what he might do if he could stay fit and was committed to the cause. All told it means very little if we can’t have a certain consistency AND a general improvement in quality. AW was trying to protect tired and injured players and there were hints (early on) that we had the depth to do just that. There IS a certain depth to the squad, but it simply isn’t of high enough quality.
And a match like yesterday’s shows it up in spades. For me it was the best (team) performance I’ve ever seen. Luckily ManU came out to play and the referee (and not the Swiss guy who sent RVP off….) was spared from having to buy the crap that had marred Barca’s run to that point. The speed of the running and passing (and defending) and the ability to create and exploit space on the pitch were at a level that I sort of knew was possible from Barca, but hadn’t actually seen. And ManU played pretty well to keep it as close as they did. Rooney, however, was the only ManU player comparable to ANY of the Barca attackers, with it being a particularly tough outing for Chicharito, who all my Mexican friends were hoping might appear at that same level.
Personally, I think Arsenal COULD be a (pale) imitation of what Barca do, but we need substantially more pace (and skill) in attack. RVP is already playing in reasonable facsimile to Villa. Players like Nasri and Arshavin (or Bendtner/Chamakh) however, would need to move more decisively (or at all, in the case of Andrey) and (somehow) get faster, while our fullbacks would need to be more Alves than Abidal….Cesc (and Jack and even Ramsey and/or Song to a certain extent) can do what Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets do but it all hinges on having an outlet/threat along the lines of Messi. Sorry, but at this moment, I don’t see Theo as “further along” than Leo….
All told, it was a sight to behold and a measure of how very far we have to go if competing at that level is the goal (a defense that doesn’t leak goals would also be nice, but that’s a somewhat separate project….) Who knows, a few young (on loan, maybe?) boys stepping up, keeping our better players (and having them commit to the cause) and maybe some freshening deeper in the squad. Who knows…..Where I live we just got 4 inches of (powdery looking) snow (and still dropping) and it’s almost June. Weird things can happen…..
Barcelona toyed with ManU, the EPL Champion… at times United had difficulty getting out of their own half…
I guess that’s what Wenger things we are? or trying to be?
But Barcelona are littered with Winners… Experience… Talent.
We are trying to do the same without much of the above, comparitively speaking.
I will give United credit… I thought they’d play defensive, and play for a 1-0 win or penalties… but they played, and were not the better team.
Barcelona are the best team in the world.
2 TROPHIES…. the 2 BIGGEST for them.
Player of the Year @ Arsenal?
Not sure how you can say Cesc …(Fred)… he was a shell of himself and injured too much.
Nasri or RVP.
@stag133,
RvP scored a lot of goals, but how many of those games did we win. I discount goals he scores when we drop points. I just can’t take those goals seriously. Although I admit it is not his fault that our defense and midfield are utterly useless.
But I still think his playing the lone striker is a negative for the team play, because there is absolutely NO anchor for the rest of team. Nobody to stay central and cause havoc with either pace or power. Two things he just does not have. He does not keep the CBs or DMs honest enough to provide space for our pussyfooting AMs.
As for Nasri, he did NOTHING in the crunch. He was present and fit in the CC final, and was a spectator. Playing well for three months between October and December does not impress me much.
Fabregas, even when people claim he doesnt play well, SPLITS the defense on average over 10 times a game. His through balls are so extraordinary and so common place that a lot of people dont notice how fantastic they are. POTY for me. The rest of the players bar RvP are just … bleh.
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A lot of people are claiming that Barca dont want Cesc … or that he would be on the bench. I call BS on that. All the Barca players and staff LOVE Cesc and want him in the team. And thats what counts. Xavi and Iniesta have already said they would absolutely not mind having fewer minutes and games, just to incorporate him. That is how much they want him.
Barca have already finalized their plans for the summer. One of their CBs would return from loan, and they are targeting Cesc and Guisseppe Rossi (who has been a goalmachine this season).
Its just incredible that they have the perfect team YET are adding 3 really SOLID players to improve on it.
Personally, I hope he goes to Barca, so he can really show his full value and shut up the AKBs who are already trying to blame him for Wenger’s disastrous “strategies” of the last 6 years.
He deserves much better than this team.
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PS: Congrats Stag on winning our bet. The core Barca players havent had a break since the summer of 2007, so imagined they would have broken down by now. They apparently have more staying power and quality than I imagined. PM me.
POTY,
Has to be RVP. Wishire would be the “Young Player Of The Year”.
RVP was more instrumental in us winning games.
Great display today. Barca are the class of the footballing world & it’s easy to see why Cesc wants to go back. I know there are some that like to argue that Cesc shouldn’t want to go there because they believe he would sit on the bench behind Iniesta & Xavi, but I don’t think that’s the case. I think it would reenergize Cesc & can just imagine his visionary passing perfectly complimenting Messi’s sublime movement. Quite frankley, it seemed like Fab4’s play this season was tempered because no one at Arsenal could (or seemed to want to) play at that level.
Regrding the YAMA Player of the Year, my vote goes to young Wilshire. He was the one player that I though consistently played with the level of desire & commitment that Arsenal fans expect/deserve.
Let’s go Barca! Just put a fiver on them…
agreed!
My POTY is Cesc Fabregas. When he is fit and playing we are flying … when he is not we are plunging towards relegation.
He is the SOLE difference maker in this mediocre team. No one else comes close.
PS: As a side note, I see Pique and Puyol holding up a picture of Fabregas while training on Arsenal’s facility! Such chutzpah!
Why are we allowing them train in our camp anyway? Oh yeah, thats right, we need the cash! :-)
@Fred,
We don’t ‘need’ the cash. The Board already has more of that than they know what to do with… but why not make a few extra bucks anyways? Who cares if it means selling out your soul by allowing the team that has eliminated you from the CL 3 of the past 6 years and has tried to tap up your best player the past 2 years to train at your own facility.