Time to give the Dutchman the rest he needs?
24 goals, eights assists, United sitting 12 points clear of the Noisy Neighbours, to say the signing of Robin Van Persie has been a success is akin to stating Ryan Giggs has a bit of experience. The Dutch striker has grabbed the title race by the throat and all but strangled the life out of it.
Yet the past few weeks it’s been obvious that all is not quite as rosy as it once was for the player who’s become as essential to United’s team as a certain Scouse striker used to be.
In the past nine games Van Persie has one goal, a record nowhere near what a player of his quality should be enjoying. Now before you all start defending him let me add this isn’t a criticism of our star striker, merely a ‘fact’ that simply highlights the point I’m slowly bumbling towards, a point many Reds have noticed. Van Persie needs a rest, both physically and dare I say mentally of having to be relied upon even when he’s on the bench to ALWAYS come on if things aren’t going United’s way- Braga anyone?
Take the games previous to the last nine, where Van Persie’s record was nine goals in as many games- there’s the rub as the Bard would say, we know what he’s capable of and we do need him but he needs a rest. Looking at some of his recent performances you can see how vital RVP is to the side, his control, his link up play with those around him, his skill, but not recently his goals and dare I say “swagger” which seems to have deserted him a little of late.
The game at the Bernabeu was a case in point, I have no doubt that without Van Persie United would not have left their on equal terms as his contribution was fundamental to the Red cause. Yet let’s not sugar coat it, a fully firing RVP would have buried at least two of the three chances he had and all but ended the entire tie.
The Chelsea game on Sunday highlighted the problem United face with RVP- he needs a rest but we need him. One of the most disappointing aspects of United’s capitulation was the fact that yet again, we couldn’t allow the former Arsenal striker to have a rest, we HAD to bring him on.
Robin Van Persie is enjoying one of the longest runs he’s ever had in his professional career, yet it may just be time to let him have the rest he so obviously needs.
My worry over Van Persie is that his form will continue to suffer at the time when United need him the most, mainly as it seems too much of a risk to drop him from the squad altogether- even for the upcoming game against struggling Reading. Wayne Rooney’s erratic season and Danny Welbeck’s lack of goals mean that other than Chicharito the Reds don’t have a striker we can really rely on for goals if Van Persie is not available. Dare we take the chance and drop him from the squad this weekend? Give him a break from the pressure he’s under at the moment?
Do you agree or is this all completely bonkers? Feel free to comment suggest and abuse below:
he defo looks tired, his grey hairs have spread rapidly over the last few months also!
Totally agree. I believe the Chelsea fa cup tie showed we have a similar issue with Carrick. 1st half our midfield dominated the play easily, but both Carrick & Cleverly looked jaded 2nd half. With Fletcher doubtful ever to reach the required performance level again, and Scholes’ slide all too evident we need cover in cm. 2 central midfielders needed. Another issue is the form of our wingers. Valencia has easily been our worst player this season, with the pace and crossing abilities deserting him, and Young’s OT career is reminding me of Hargreaves’ with his injuries. Zaha will be a big bonus, but its a huge step up from Championship to Champions League / Premiership. A top winger or 2 required as well.
Now the bombshell. Sell Rooney. His form over the last 9 months has been patchy at best. Couple that with 250k per week, the value isn’t there. I believe he reached & past his peak 2 seasons ago, and its time to move him on. We already have his replacement in Kagawa who we’ll see the best of next season.
Hold on the mighty danny wellbeck will save the day..for goodness sake ive been slated all year for saying this overated clod is ruining united…he lost us the league last year with his lack of goals…yet everyone eulogises about him as if he is van basten……..then this season…fergie clearly doesnt rate chica despite his prolific scoring…rooney looks less fit than someone off an ocean finance advert…..and the mighty wellbeck has chipped in with a massive 2 goals…yes 2 goals…oh i forgot he has played wide of a front 3 at times…a position virtually impossible to score from apparantly…unlike left back where evras scored 4 which is double wellbecks efforts….hence the entire goal burdens on RVP…and yes ur right he looks knackered…it looks like weve gone back to the ronaldo era where our entire team is based behind one goal winner…which has been better than the previous 3 seasons of just effort and work rate……but the fact remains this united side and in fact the last few seasons isnta very good side…we never play well for 90 minutes…we often get outplayed by decent midfields….and yet with a team ethic and desire we have fended off the self implosions of far better teams in chelsea and city who have been hampered by poor ownership and management..lets cast ahead to next year where wellbeck will start every game…..RVP will be 30…..and surely cant do again what he has done this season……what if he gets an injury for a month??? wellbeck leading the line…all the team praising his effort and workrate and winning throw ins……and come janruary he is on 3 goals…..and again…and i do mean again the same old crap thats held us back for 3 seasons…”dannys a terrific player he just needs a few more goals however his contribution to the team tho is fantastic” god help us if jose gets either city or chelsea.
Spot on.. i think Welbeck is doing some type of witchcraft.
Absolute truth no dought about it he really need a rest.
Talking Of Midfielders , whatever happened to Ando yet again. Can’t understand Fergie, if Ando is not going to play 10 matches a season I think we should get rid + our midfield is the worst area of our squad even average sides dominate us. Carrick is a water carrier he struggles when the going gets tough and it happened again against Chelsea at the weekend . Honestly United need knew ideas, Welbeck will not get into Chelsea, City, Spurs, Arsenal, Westbrom, Everton and even Villa squad ahead of Benteke, playing wide can’t hamper a striker from scoring it will only reduce goal output ask any decent striker. Two goals in a whole season when Evra and Evans have four each is a shame and to think he still get selected over Javier Hernandez is a bigger shame. We need to clear our house.
The guy has 50 shades of gray in his hair what do you expect
just because ryan giggs does it doesnt mean everyone can
Every striker has a bare patch during a long season. Give a RVP a rest but also realize that United need to provide better play to the strikers. Certainly, the Norwich game is a good example of being consistent and breaking down the bus that parked in fron of the goal. However, United generally are a countering monster, with Nani possibly injured and Valencia so poorly out of form, it’s time to utilize Young a bit more, maybe even move him to the right and move Rooney to the left with Kagawa behind the 2 strikers RVP and Wellbeck/Chicharito. And yes, we need to sign quality midfielders.
Ferguson his consistently boasted of the depth of his squad this season. Now is the time for ferguson to start trusting his squad members. We need to rest van persie for our remaining big games and trust rooney, chicharito, kagawa, nani young and welbeck to perform. Still on the issue of resting players, i was surprised to see cleverly play 90mins against chelsea few days after a very exhausting champions league outing.when we have anderson and powell. Why refuse to send powell on loan if you wont play him? Cleverly was so weary in the second half that he became a liability, giving the ball away cheaply, not tracking back, and leaving carrick to do the bulk of the work. We should know when to rest and protect our key players. Remember we are talking about a player whose career has been blighted by injuries.
With due respect (to SAF and all coaching and non coaching staff members) our midfield tactical approach (or the CM players are) is poor in many games and not really creative enough for United standard, that is why it is so difficult to get enough goals from our strikers who are always over-worked. If you watch us well, you will see that our CM players don’t cover two thirds of the field well so the strikers have to come back to collect the ball, please confirm this with (1)distance covered and assist no (2)ruggedness and physicality. This is explained by the fact that our strikers are too far ahead for no. of assists where they are supposed to be following the CM, also our strikers cover almost same distance (if not more than) with our CM and the 2 major strikers (RVP & Wayne) are the ones that can battle well with their ruggedness and physicality to bring ball out of the mid-field the third in that rank Welbeck lacks finishing or accurate final pass thus his ruggedness & physicality seems useless (sorry to say this). Therefore WE need 2 world class rugged and highly energetic best ball passers (Yahaya Tuore type) to remove stress from our strikers, then you will see that SAF is the best attacking tactician. Thanks