Three things at Arsenal which let Robin Van Persie down

I must admit I’m not happy to finally see Van Persie leave the club he captained just last season to a destination I really don’t seem to know at the moment.

Just as Robin Van Persie himself, I might never write my football articles for life, but one thing that should be noted is that forever I shall be an Arsenal fan. You can't blame him for thinking the grass looks greener elsewhere, at times we all do.

Life is so funny in so many aspects and not just in this footballing world we live in. Happiness for sure overrides everything but ambition drives you to even more happiness. So am I right to say Van Persie is happy?

On the face of it he should be, really happy. Arsenal is a great club, he’s banging in the goals for them and just before I forget, he just won the PFA player award.

But then, Van Persie is an ambitious guy. He wants to win, he wants to lift trophies over his head, he wants to go down in history as one Dutch guy who lifted so much at such a time in history.

Arsenal fans, let’s face it, the club is not giving him any reason to believe in any of these.

Ambition

‘’I personally have had a great season but my goal has been to win trophies with the team and to bring the club back to its glory days.’’

Glory days, yes, they are way past us. History is no longer going to scare other teams. Wigan, Stoke, Southampton (with all due respect) etc are never gonna be afraid of us just because we have been 49 league games unbeaten almost 10 years ago. What have we been able to do in recent times?

Policy

For the time I have been an Arsenal fan, there’s one thing I cannot deny, the policy under which the club operates is admirable and at the same time shocking. In an age where clubs are buying and buying top class players and selling average players, the opposite happens at this club.

I’m going to give you two views on this. One by Robin and the other by shareholder Ali Usmanov.

‘’This was a meeting about the club`s future strategy and their policy. Financial terms or a contract have not been discussed, since that is not my priority at all.’’ - RVP

"These are the financial model, the lack of investment and club's future strategic direction. At the heart of this is the policy of so-called self-financing. The previous decision by the board to fund the building of the Emirates Stadium with long-term debt was, we believe, certainly not about self-financing." - Usmanov

In analysis, the consequence of policy dressed up as a prudent financial planning, means the manager has had to deal with the clubs' tight finances, carrying the burden of repaying the stadium debt by selling his best players and having to find cheaper replacements who for sure in any Arsenal side, don’t deserve a place even in the reserves.

Mentality

Van Persie for sure carried the whole Arsenal team last year and were it not for his goals, maybe just maybe Arsenal would have been in the bottom half. Don’t make me invoke my Arsenal rule – Arsenal shall play UCL football next season no matter what.

Why can’t we improve on this mantra and replace the ‘play UCL football next season’’ with ‘’win a trophy’? So often Arsenal have been found lacking at crucial times when it matters the most.

Manchester United for instance went on to win their 19th title at a time when they had one of the weakest squads in the league but one thing that stands out, is the ability to get it done on the pitch and just because they are Manchester United, believe and push it into the opponents brain that they must win.

Summary

I hate writing long pieces, and just to summarise. Arsenal has let Van Persie down. Van Persie hasn’t let us down in any way. He has been loyal. It’s not his fault he was getting injured, it was actually our duty to see him through his injury as his employers.

Van Persie wherever you go, you’ll forever be a Gooner. You played so faithfully for the name at the front of the jersey and that’s why the fans remember the name at the back.

It’s my prayer though the Flamini and Hleb curse doesn’t befall you. Any day would be a good day seeing you, and your family Bouchra and Shaqeel at the Emirates celebrating an Oxlade goal and if not an Arteta strike.

As always, Thanks for reading. I now leave you with one of my best RvP goals; this strike against Everton forever remains my best.

 

image: © Ronnie Macdonald