Tag Archive for Van Persie

Forgo Sanogo, Summer’s A No Go

May 18, 2013 Arsenal 28 comments

Say that title five times really fast. Social media exploded yesterday with the news that Arsenal are close to signing Yaya Sanogo from Auxerre on a free transfer. In true Arsenal style we are set to sign a relatively unknown player from France and in true Arsenal style a section of supporters have blown a gasket over what they perceive to be a poor signing.

This summer promised to be a close season of quality, big name signings so I could understand the reaction to this news if it was August, as the last time we commented on a player joining before the season had ended it was Podolski and his reputation was/is huge, but it’s not, it’s May. An argument can be put together that Arsenal’s squad, based on February onwards’ form, doesn’t need enhancing too much but I’m not going to make that argument.

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Quitting Arsenal Was A Mistake

January 3, 2013 Arsenal 93 comments

First things first, Happy New Year my dear readers, thank you for stopping by.

I had a little trouble writing today’s title. I had so many things to call it but I thought if the title mentioned the name of the person this blog is mostly about that it wouldn’t get read at all.

The various titles I had were “Why United are a one-man team”, “Robin should never have left, here’s why”, “RvP made a big mistake moving to United” etc.

Still with me? Phew… the name didn’t have you reaching for the hammer to smash whatever device you are reading this on then. Good, I’m glad we can be adults about this ‘person’ ;-) .

I believe that Robin made a mistake leaving Arsenal despite what the table says.

Robin said recently that he is playing in a team of champions, a nasty dig at Arsenal many Gooners felt.

I’d argue that Robin is the champion and he left a team of could be’s to join a team of could be’s. I know many will argue that United finished 2nd without him and Arsenal finished 3rd with him but that doesn’t take into account the signings Arsenal and United have made, the improvement in Arsenal’s defending, their weak area from last season nor does it consider the weakness of United’s defence at the back end of last season and carried on into this.

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Why We’ll Score More Without Robin – Looking Forward & Looking Back

August 17, 2012 Arsenal, Premier League 15 comments

The new season is upon us and to celebrate I want to have a look forward and a look back at the same time. Many of you regulars follow me on twitter and those that do know that I am getting married in a few weeks (mid-September) so blogging time is scarce at the moment and I’ll probably be hosting a number of guest posts over the new few weeks so keep an eye out for them and get in touch if you want to write something yourself.

First things first I believe that we are ideally situated to win something this season. I know we say that every year but this year is different as I said in this post last week.

I don’t want to get caught up on Van Persie as I’ve already expressed my feelings on this but I want to say this and I want to make it clear that I have tried my best to allow bias to dictate my views. I believe that despite United going close last year that there squad is completely underwhelming and that even the addition of RvP does not improve them that much (as their midfield is poor IMO) so I think we should be focusing on challenging Man City who haven’t improved much at all.

He was supposed to destroy the dark side not join them

We’ve obviously had a fantastic summer player acquisitions wise but I think that we have improved across a number of areas. I wrote a piece on player wages and “dead wood” about how we have a large wage bill but maybe it was disproportionately dispersed. I believe we have changed this with our new signings and have made efforts to move on high earners who for one reason or another were not contributing much to the first team. Read more

The Coward Does It With A Kiss: Goodbye Robin, Now We Look To The Future

August 15, 2012 Arsenal 32 comments

There are most likely hundreds of RVP articles on blogs at this very moment in time and there will be many more over the next few days so I apologise for giving you yet another however I doubt this will be read by many. Some of my fellow bloggers will blame the club and profess their continued love for Robin whilst others will blame him and declare it as greed.

We’ve all known deep down inside that this was going to happen but I must admit I didn’t expect it to cut so deeply.

After Cesc I believed that I was prepared. After our strong summer signings I believed that I would brush off Van Persie leaving when it eventually came around.

I was wrong.

I foolishly allowed myself to believe that Robin loved the club and have tried to rationalise potential moves but I cannot rationalise our captain and talisman leaving for Manchester United.

I do feel betrayed and I do feel let down.

A true friend stabs you in the front.
― Oscar Wilde

I lost all respect for Robin when he released that statement in July but I held on to the words he spoke many times about always being a Gooner. Saying you will always be a Gooner and then joining United is like saying you’ll never be a racist and then donating money to the BNP. Okay maybe that’s a little melodramatic but it’s bloody close!

Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard
Some do it with a bitter look
Some with a flattering word
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword.

― Oscar Wilde

The coward does it with a kiss

However…. underneath that disappointment and feeling of betrayal there is a simmering hope and innate sense of relief.

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Why We Should Keep RVP, Theo To Play Striker, Vela Moves On & Campbell To Spain

July 19, 2012 Arsenal, Transfers 11 comments

Has it really been over two weeks since my last post? I have been very busy what with me getting married in 8 weeks (sorry ladies) among many other things and I have neglected my blog a bit.

I have a number of blog topics swirling around my head and partly finished but I decided that I wanted to write another RVP related blog (Oh no! I hear you cry) but I also want to explore some related topics.

I was involved in a discussion recently about how easy it would be for Robin to force Arsenal to sell him this summer but before I get into that I want to talk about why we should keep him.

There will be a lot of people who completely disagree with my thoughts on this and that’s okay but I hope that once I have explained why I think we should keep Robin this summer no matter what I hope a few of them will be convinced or at least respect that there is a legitimate other side to the argument.

Keeping RVP this summer is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, he is the only “world-class” player we have at the club at the moment (even with the new signings). Secondly, we should not look to strengthen any of our league or European competitors in return for money we are not in dire need of. Thirdly, we need to send a message to our players and to other clubs that we are not pushovers. Lastly, we need his experience to afford new signings time to settle and to help us promote youth players into the first team set-up.

This is not to say I forgive him or forget his actions, far from it but I believe that keeping him is the best thing for Arsenal.

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