More Rooney than Messi

“I had a better preparation for IC than for S&M. I lost 20% of my power before that match, purely due to nerves. When the starting whistle blew, I couldn’t hear anything. In the run up to IC I tried to keep calm. It helped to chat a bit with my Ivorian teammates of Arsenal, that calmed me down too. “
Van Persie had a great match. Scored a goal, was continiously threathening and defended the Dutch goal with courage. The results of a season of working hard at Arsenal.
In terms of capacity and physical condition I am so much stronger and better. I gained a couple of kilos, pure muscles. I can work a much bigger area then before. Wenger has his methodes, and they work. When I started a bit lame in a training, he would immediately tell Toure of Campbell to mark me. After they’d work you under the grass, you’d be wide awake. It happened a couple of times to me.”
At Arsenal, he learns every training again how to outsmart defenders. “I remember at Feyenoord my duels with Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax and Tunisia). I wanted to be better than him, and I never was. That frustrated me. At Arsenal I learn how to cope with those situations. I mean, every training I have to take on Campbell, Cygan, Senderos or Toure. You just have to be creative every day, focussed and fit otherwise they just butcher you.”

He sees this as a big difference between him and Kuyt, who will have to improve his game by taking on the likes of Ron Vlaar (Young Oranje defender) or Pascal Bosschaart. “I know for sure that it does make a difference. Although I am not advising him to leave Feyenoord, I mean, that’s up to him…”

His team mates already saw that van Persie’s body language has changed. He is not longer that happy go lucky chap, but oozes power. And with that free kick against Ivory Coast, he knew he would score. “And so did Arjen. He told me. Later I spoke to Salomon Kalou (guest of Abramovitsjch in the arena) who also told me he could see I would score… I hit the ball with the right inner part of my foot. It gives me better control. Wenger told me to do that. He always says that whatever you do, the ball needs to be on target. Whatever you do, always on target.”

Another typical moment for van Persie took place after Robben scored against S&M. Phillip Cocu “neglected” the party around Robben, but went to congratulate van Persie. “As if he knew Robben could score goals like that, but he wasn’t sure yet I could deliver assists like that… That felt good.”
“I really study Rooney. I love watching him. The bigger the pressure, the more conviction he has. Messi has that too, but Messi is such a natural. Rooney and myself, we need to work harder to achieve the same. I played Rooney once with arsenal. He scored a great goal early on, but his real value came in the last 20 minutes. We pressured Man United and he kept on making runs and offering himself to other players to keep ball possession. Impressive.

“I need to grow in that aspect. Most top matches are decided in the last phase. That’s when I still need to be strong.”
Van Persie also made some mistakes, in the match against Ivory Coast. 7 of the 25 passes were untidy and ended up with IC players. “That’s correct. That was not good. My first pass after my goal was intercepted and they immediately counter attacked. I needed to run back 30 meters and I remember thinking: Robin mate, don’t do that… I wanted to do well, but I failed. That needs to go…”