Brits compare Van Persie with Rembrandt

September 4th, 2008 | by: Jan |

By JONATHAN NORTHCROFT

As humble inhabitant of a nation of football players wearing slippers instead of football shoes, I was eagerly awaiting the birth of a new superstar: Robin van Persie.
I know his parents are both artists so I’d like to compare him with Rembrandt: a man with genius in his brush.

In the EPL, we saw the emergence of stars like Torres, Fabregas and in particular C Ronaldo. These three foreigners took the mantle from Thierry Henry, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Roy Keane.

It was a pleasure to watch Ronaldo and friends come to the fore, but most of us fans would have liked to see Van Persie emerge as the king.

I’d put all my cash on the young Gunner, after Henry’s leave to Barca last summer. And I swore Robin would become the new top scorer in England. I told Robin and he laughed. And he told me he wouldn’t let me down. I do think that without the injuries, he would have made it.

At that time, he just played seven games in 21 days and he played brilliant. And, more importantly, he enjoyed every minute. “The more I play, the better it all gets.”

That enthusiasme seeped through in his game. He scored a breathtaking goal against Inter in the warm up and any of his seven goals in the next eleven matches were top notch. And he enjoyed himself. Big time.

His injury in January the season before was encountered against Man United. He scored then again. This injury ended a glittering period. He was player of the month and had eight goals to his name in eight games, and he had scored the goal of the year against Charlton.

That goal made it all over the world. A volley, with his left. Not just demonstrating a perfect technique but it showed his timing, his athletic skills on a high and hard pass of Eboue. No player would have had the guts to take that ball in one go. Van Persie did.

Last season, he seemed to start where he left off. He scored a soaring free-kick agains the most expensive goalie. He looked a bit foolish, until Robert Pires told me: “No one, not even Henry or Zidane can kick a ball like Robin can.”

In those days, C Ronaldo hadn’t scored half the number of goals Robin had scored and Torres was still waiting for his starting position at Liverpool. Van Persie deserved that crown.

When Robin got injured, Arsenal lost grip. The creative and dynamic got lost. The team that earned praise for their beautiful play and the ease with which players found each other, got sand in the machine. Arsenal’s subtlety was gone. One reporter stated: “Van Persie will score 15 goals at least per season and he has the capability to turn typical draws around into victories. With Van Persie, Arsenal would have won the title. The difference between Man United and Arsenal is and was Robin van Persie. When he wasn’t there, Arsenal had to work and plod.”

No one would have guessed that this was such a tremendous player when he arrived in 2004. Just before him, Wenger had signed Antoniio Reyes. He was supposed to be Arsenal’s new golden boy. And Wenger decided to sell off some old hands: Edu, Wiltord, Keown and Van Bronckhorst.

No one could have guessed. And when he started on the bench, everyone even forgot about him. Jeffers was signed for 10 mio pounds. Jermaine Pennant – only 15 then – was signed for 2 mio pounds. And Van Persie had only scored once in 2005.

Van Persie couldn’t be bothered. He had his mental strength. There were doubts. Sure. His reputation was bad. A boy with a manual. Is that why Feyenoord sold him for a meagre 3.5 mio euros?

None of these rumours proved to be right. He was an exemplary benchwarmer, eager to learn from his mentor Dennis Bergkamp. He trained as a possessed player and totally trusted his coach Wenger.

:In Holland, I always felt I was better than the players who played on my spot. With Dennis I didn’t feel that. Sometimes, at Feyenoord, some players took it easy and as an youngster, you’d think…ah well, maybe I should take a step back as well.”

Then, the absolute top in his career was a dinner date with his wife Bouchra and the Bergkamps. He wouldn’t have traded it in for a dinner with Pele, the Pope or Muhammed Ali.

The called him the new Bergkamp, and he hated it. “Dennis is much better than me. Look at his career. It’s totally unfair to him to compare me with him.”

He had scored a number of goals back then and played some exciting games, but the question remained: will Robin make it big? Will he make the finals step up?

The turning point was Robin’s red card against Southampton in 2005. He had a yellow already and Wenger told him to chill out at half time. Immediately after the start of the second half, he made a foul, got another yellow and could pack it in. Wenger was furious, but he kept on defending his young talented player.

“If you want to reach the top, you have to change some things,” Wenger said. Van Persie: “Ok, I want that. What do I change?”. Wenger: “I won’t tell you. You have to sort it out.”

“That was so smart of him,” Van Persie told me later. “If he would have told me, I would have forgotten in a week. Now, I had to work. What you want to do with your feet, starts in your head. That is Wenger. I promised myself to go the distance. I wanted to do everything I needed to do. I kept on learning from the veterans and the arrivees. And I became a grown up in the process.”

He may have a been a professional by then, but he didn’t do what all the others did: he never just “gave” the ball to Henry. Van Persie would first look for his own solutions. When Henry left, the stories came out how the dominant Frenchman stiffled the young Gunners.

Van Persie wasn’t one of them. “You know, Thierry could react very emotional. Van Basten had that too. They are so spoiled by their own talent. They couldn’t understand a failed pass. Everything worked out for them. I can easily understand their feelings.”

What did he learn from Henry? “His hunger. He wanted to be the top dog in 70 games per season. He wanted to make the difference. I now know how that feels. It’s a mental thing. You may be tired, but still your mind wants you to give it your all.”
There’s a debate in England about the number of foreigners in the EPL. But the best players of the world demonstrate that we import players we simply don’t have. Klinsmann was the best finisher, Henry and Ginola were opera-stars, entertainers. Ronaldo has flair. Anderson looks chilled out. Van Nistelrooy was cool as a cucumber and Bergkamp…he went to Hogwarts.

Robin van Persie has that Dutch touch, as we call it. Velvet technique, timing, perfect patterns in his runs and passing. Like Bergkamp, he shows us that football is played with the brain and the feet.

He is like Rembrandt, whose work is frozen just before he finishes it with his last genius paintbrush.

Tags: Basten, Cesc, Ginola, Group C, Oranje, Persie, Robben, Ronaldo, Torres, Van Marwijk, Wenger

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 37 comments.

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By Frank | September 4th, 2008 at 12:12 pm

As an Arsenal fan I believe that RvP is following in DB’s shoes and I am just as proud to have him in our side.

By goose | September 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

@Frank; the incident only shows that vPersie still has a hierarchie problem (as with vHooydonck) thats all, he has matured but theres still room for improvement..

@Bob; to be honest; i think culture and upbringing are big parts of the problem too, along with personality

and yes; vPersie is one hell of an entertainer

Posted from Netherlands

By Frank | September 4th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Don’t you have a hierarchy problem, Goose? I certainly do.

By EJB | September 4th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

I thought he hurt the team more than he helped during the EC. I still haven’t forgiven him.

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | September 4th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

@Goose; All right buddy, here is my lineup. Now please kill it

—————–stekelenburg—————–
—heitinga——mathijsen———Zuiverloon—
———-van bommel—-de jong————-
Babel———-van der vaart———–robben
——-van persie———-huntelaar———-

Need speed on the wings & transition, Oranje is playing teams that lack it. Want an offensive side as we are playing teams that are less skillful and normally should beat. Still not happy about defense for set pieces though. There is going to be some aerial bombardment coming from Iceland and Norway trying to hit several 2m tall individuals inside the box. Not sure Oranje has the people to deal with that. Hopefully goals from open play will neuter that threat and win out in the end.

By dirk v.d.berg | September 4th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Nice formation finnster, the same as my second one. If I can recall correctly, I think that Macedonia used 5-3-2 in the Euro qualifying, at least in the game where they beat Croatia. We’ll need 5 offensive players to match up with their five defensive ones, and just look for our defensive midfielders to find some room. All we really have to look out for is Goran Pandev, and our defense should be able to handle him.

Posted from Canada

By goose | September 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

@Frank; no. not really;
my point is that it was obvious that Sneijder was the nr1 man at the EC, vPersie had been out till the very beginning of the EC; balance in the team is still more important as vPersies ego and as he pro he himselfs should know

@finnster; looks pretty alright to me..(but 1 central defender??)

i can see where you and dirk are coming from, but dont expect vMarwijk to do the same!
its always difficult with line-ups; make the team you want to play, make the team you think will play, im always mixing both and NEVER get it right!haha

btw; just saw a program with Drenthe; what a very irritating, stupid, arrogant basterd…really; not a guy easy to like

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | September 4th, 2008 at 3:21 pm

btw; wheres ferenc?? FERENC!!!

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | September 4th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

4-1-3-2(442):
————stekelenburg———
boulahrouz-heitinga-marcellis-pieters
————–v.bommel————–
v.d.vaart—–Sneijder——-robben
——-v.persie——huntelaar—–

subs:
velthuizen
zuiverloon
mathijsen
boulahrouz
schaars
afellay
de jong
babel
koevermans
amrabat

that’s a team

Posted from United States

By Frank | September 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pm

Hi Goose,

Seems to me that RvP played an instrumental part in getting you to the EC, and he paid a high price in doing so. He played well at the EC too.

By dirk v.d.berg | September 4th, 2008 at 5:24 pm

I’m hoping that Amrabat picks up a bit, and makes the squad, it will push van Persie and Huntelaar harder to fight for a spot. I’m actually a huge fan of Amrabat, and expect him to have a good year: 15-20 goals.

As for hte team I think will play, probably the same as last game.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | September 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Great thread guys… From my angle (I know some people who knew Robin when he as a youngster in Rotterdam):

Robin is a real pro. He lives for his sports. He is ambitious and driven. And he can be very loyal (as pointed out with examples of his Boulah connection and all). But, he is definitely spoiled! It’s something that comes with the territory, I guess. The likes of Dennis, Zidane, Nedved… Or Federer, Schumacher… Or George Clooney and Paul Newman…there’s heaps of examples at the top of any profession. Some people take themselves serious, others see “it” for what it is…

But sometimes he tries too hard, as in that Sneijder incident. He sort of implodes and over-does it.

JC was not liked as a person when he played. People called him a bossy tirant, he was money-driven, egotistical and hard. Now, we all think he is God.

Van Persie has leadership aspirations and he isn’t afraid to show them. I like that. Jess’ question is on the mark: if he’d scored it, he would be the king.

They once asked Cruyff what was wrong with De Boer’s penalty he missed vs Italy in 2000. JC’s answer: he missed!

Thanks Finn for the updates on our qualification group. I really can’t get to that type of info, so keep it coming….

By Carlos | September 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

Guys ??
Is zuiverloon in the squad ? Or are they “wish” teams….Who needs Newspapers with this excellent Blog

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | September 4th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

As an investor, I bumped into the following dialogue between a succesful investor and his apprentice:

Student: How is it that you are so successful?
Master: Because I tend to make the right decisions.
Student: How did you learn to make the right decisions?
Master: By making a lot of wrong decisions…

And that’s how learning works, I guess. Van Persie makes mistakes, because he pushes himself and expects a lot of himself. He doesn’t want to let the nation down, so he took that free-kick.

He’s made some extraordinary goals, f.i. the flying volley against Charlton, but would have been ridiculed if that ball went out of the stadium, right?

So, he has balls, he dares to put his reputation on the line and is not out there “to be liked”.

In short: with all his shortcomings, I like the bloke!

By Caleb | September 4th, 2008 at 7:53 pm

I agree with Jan, I like the bloke too.

By finnster01 | September 4th, 2008 at 8:24 pm

Without prolonging the VanP debate, as a man making a living on Wall Street, I once asked one of the premier investors on the Street for advice on my portfolio. I happened to run across him in the business but also on a long flight to the UK. His name is Warren Buffet.

I asked him what he thought about my portfolio and give me some tips. He just looked at me and said “Finn, I am not going to give you any advice on any specific stock, but I will tell you one thing and that is: There is never a shame in taking a profit. You stick to that, you will be all right”

He is/was very right. I have been fairly successful by sticking to that advice but I have also lost my shirt by riding the market beeing greedy and thinking I know better. So the lesson here and the moral of this story is that you can only push the envelope so far before it may implode against you. I think Mr VanP is at that edge.

By Jan | September 5th, 2008 at 12:04 am

You have got to be kidding, Mr Finn!!

Have you met Warren Buffet? Cool…. I’m a big fan!!

Jeez…

By goose | September 5th, 2008 at 3:25 am

@dirk; Amrabat is a great talent but he lacks mental maturity… he wont play for Oranje this year, mark my words
Amrabat still thinks hes playing with his mates at his parents garden

@Jan; if you are as good as Cruijff you can be an asshole BUT Johan never forgot the big picture…. vPersie is just one of our good players and still doenst seem to realize that the balance in the team is also his responsibility… Sneijder was the nr1 man, not vPersie

@Frank; i seem to remember him beeing out for months pre EC .. so he missed al the preps

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | September 5th, 2008 at 5:36 am

Good point Goose, I hand this one to you

By Miguel Rosado | September 5th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

———–Stekelenburg————

Heitinga—–Marcellis——Mathijsen-

——–Bommel——–Nigel———-

—Afellay——-Vaart—–Robben—-

——–Persie—Huntelaar——–

By ferenc | September 6th, 2008 at 3:58 am

@goose: i’m back but i had a lot of work in the last couple of months (12-14 hours each day,editing a 750-pages-book about artificial intelligence,so i didn’t have too much time for football) i will be fully back at the end of this month after my holiday in quebec.

about van persie: i have always thought that he would become the new denis bergkamp. he’s got the talent for it. but he’s injured all the time. and this is a big problem. i guess he has matured a lot mentally but physically there might be some serious problemwith him. my opinion is that he should be a kind of super sub but if i were van marwijk i wouldn’t base any plan on robin and he certainly wouldn’t be tke key player. he’s a kind of bonus like robben. for me oranje is more about sneijder,van der vaart,huntelaar etc. abd good news that our defence might be pretty well with boulah,heitinga and all these youngsters: marcelis,emanuelson,donk. and we definitely should forget drenthe. he’s a waste of time.

Posted from Hungary

By goose | September 6th, 2008 at 4:36 am

@ferenc; good to hear from you, thought you may have been arrested by the Hungarian Football Association for beeing such an Oranje fan..haha

i already have given up on Drenthe, i even dislike him so much that i would be happy if he doenst make it and will never see him in Oranje at all…what a wanker…

btw; little riot going on in Holland cause of all the immigrant/ex-colonial boys in the U21 team who NEVER sing the national anthem; people see it as a sign of disrespect

btw2; we played 1-1 v Norway (ip ban finnster)

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | September 6th, 2008 at 7:59 am

@ goose
do native dutch, surinamese, dutch antillean, and indo get along?

Posted from United States

By goose | September 6th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

@M-O; yes, though the moroccans are the exception, they dont get along with anybody
the funny thing is that these 2nd generation, all of whom are born in Holland are more surinam, turkish etc. than their parents
for example; if you hear a guy like Drenthe speak dutch you wont believe that its his first language, he speaks like he has lived the first 20 years of his life in Surinam…but i saw an interview with his mother on tv a few days ago and she speaks the same dutch as i do..

thats what surprised a lot of people during the flag-waving-incident at the U21 EC; we in Holland all thought theyd feel dutch and only saw them as dutch

but all in all; its getting just a little more tense between the dutch and our immigrants, lots of shit has happened…..esp. with the muslims

Posted from Netherlands

By Michel-Olivier | September 6th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

@ goose
i understand, thanks.

Posted from United States

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