Comments on: Van Persie’s mental pain

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:53:20 +0000

Great blog regarding van Pesie. I am impressed with his ability to grow and change. As others have said, he is very different from his play of a few years ago, although I do not see him as a natural leader. He works hard to make his own performances improve, but unlike other Dutch greats such as Bergkamp, Cruijff and de Boer, I do not think he assists others to reach higher and achieve more than they might have without him. Regretfully, I do not see Robin as someone who can carry the Dutch team through an entire tournament. His skills to not yet rise to that level.

As to a connection with Dutch heritage, I have written before that my ancestors–many differenct families–came to North America in the 1600s from the areas in Europe now known as the Netherlands and Belgium. They were Dutch, spoke Dutch and helped create this American culture. I have been to the Netherlands several times, and belong to several organizations that have a connection to Dutch-American history or genealogy. I have followed Dutch football since I discovered it during the 1974 World Cup, and I have deep respect and affection for the country and its football coaches and players. This blog is a great gift for all of us, and I am grateful for it. Thanks again, Jan.

By: Igor

Igor — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:19:57 +0000

i saw the arsenal-derby game yesterday, and robin was only subbed out as a precaution, i don’t think he picked up a new injury. after half an hour he went to the bench apparently to tell them he would like to be substituted but he kept playing until half time, scored a great goal just before half and from his ensuing energetic celebration, i would say that he wasn’t hurting very much at all. he certainly showed flahes of briliance yesterday but he is still not consistent, he missed a chance that he would normally score and lost the ball a few times in situations that should not trouble a player of his skills. he’s slowly getting back to his old self but lets hope he doesnt run out of time before the EC.

By: Lerkot

Lerkot — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:54:11 +0000

Goose:
Yes, I know what does meant.. great lines to get girls with.

By: alaa

alaa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:03:55 +0000

i just read the match report(derby-arsenal) on msn.co.uk, it says robin was taken out because he picked a new injury. i am starting to get worried about these consecutive injuries he’s getting.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:23:32 +0000

Thanks for the link, Dirk. I can definitely see the resemblance. Interesting, we’ll keep an eye for the boy.

By: alaa

alaa — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:54:51 +0000

guys believe it or not, this guy van persie makes my heartbeats get to more than 100 when i watch him playing those woderful left foot kicks and that nice dribbling against inter last year when he scored that wonderful goal, his free kick against coite d’iviore in the world cup, and all the wonderful dribblings and more and more. he is my big hope for euro 2008!!!!
in the late eighties and early ninties we had van basten and gullit win the best european player, and since that time no dutch player won it, bergkamp was close a couple of times but didn’t win. i hope van persie can get the prize back as an individual and do something for the orange, such as winning the euro 2008!!!

By: dirk v.d.berg

dirk v.d.berg — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:51:49 +0000

I was looking around the soccer world and found an article on Luka Modric (I may have mentioned him before). He’s called the next Johan Cruijff by many people, because of his talent and position (or lack of position). I realized while I was searching that he also bares a resemblance to a young Cruijff.

http://www.euro2008.uefa.com/news/kind=1/newsid=689622.html

I don’t know if its just me that thinks so, so I just wanted to ask some others.

By: Jan

Jan — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:40:23 +0000

He did, but he also played a good first half with an assist and a goal!

Maybe Wenger spares him a bit for Van Basten .

By: Ramy

Ramy — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:00:52 +0000

he got subbed again against derby.. Seems like this injury is not over yet..

By: Jan

Jan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:40:32 +0000

Great stuff Rob, and please keep on taggin’! It’s cool .

That drama connection you mentioned is one of the reason I’m a Feyenoord fan. They are the quintessential bunch of losers . And somehow that pain is worth more than the short orgasm of winning, hahaha…

Robin’s relationship with Oranje has always been stressed. As a youngster, the youth teams of Oranje were dominated by Ajax. Whenever Robin played for a young Oranje team, he was always second in command of Rafael, who played left on midfield or shadowstriker. Which was also Robin’s position. So, in those days he was a sub and Robin is not a good sub. Rafael and Robin couldn’t get a long at all! Raf being Ajax’ golden wonder boy and Robin Feyenoord’s. When Robin broke through at Feyenoord, Vaart and Sneijder and all played for Ajax 1 already so when Robin got in trouble with Van Marwijk he blew his chances on Oranje again. Then when he got selected for the big Oranje, he had some clashed with Van Basten who even sent him away when he had his first call up, because of his attitude!

Only later, Van Persie got back in and only weeks before the WC he managed to get in the team.