I think we all need to relax a little and have a nice cup of tea.
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I think we all need to relax a little and have a nice cup of tea.
Read somewhere that before last season, his average goals per season for us was 9
One season wonders :bow:
Don't think that's true tbh, he's scored 96 league goals for us, at an average of 12 per season. Overall in his Arsenal career he's scored 132 goals, at an average of 16.5 per season.
But all that ignores the fact that I think with RVP in the team, he benefited while the team suffered. He's not really an ideal centre forward, and when he was playing up front in a 4-5-1, our game was based purely around his strengths, which diminished the quality of the team play and made other players more ineffective.
I think Chamakh is pretty crap, but when he was playing upfront at the start of 10-11, our play was much more fluent than in the second half of that season, when RVP came back. Sure, RVP scored a lot of goals when he returned, but the quality of our overall game dropped, and I think it's no coincidence.
We saw how poor RVP looked when a team (the Netherlands) refused to bow down to him and play simply to service him. Moreover we saw he was a disruptive influence in the camp probably because he wasn't being treated as a king.
It was PHW, but year you're spot on the club were trying to make out that he's. Don't have a problem with his comments, good for a player to come out and make the idiots at the top look like fools IMO. Too much secrecy allows them to BS their way through things.
One of the reasons I was never in favour of selling RVP when he was plagued with injuries is because despite his standard 3-5 months out, he was actually still very prolific for the amount of games he managed to play still ended up as one of our leading scorers.
But of course it was often those 3-5 months where our seasons fell to pieces, if he had been available we may well have chalked up a trophy or 2. So it does leave a bitter taste in the mouth that he's opted to do one at the first opportunity.
It was always going to be a difficult situation. It could be argued that it was poor planning to end up with our star striker with one year remaining in his contract at 29. but I think this was by design. His contract runs out at 30 and we all know what the policy is in relation to over 30s.
It is easy to say with hindsight that this was a ridiculous situation to get in to, but two years ago, who would support a contract extension then?
This is a terrible situation in almost every way because I just don't see the practicality for the club in agreeing a long term contract on what is likely to be serious money for a striker that will almost certainly be in decline for the latter half of it. Nor do I see the benefit of Van Persie signing a one or two year extension at his age - and with our policy for over 30s.
It is the perfect storm of shit and we're all caught up in it.
This is my point and it doesn't take away from other arguments regarding 'lack of ambition' by the Board, by Wenger or by the groundskeeper and all that. We have lost a number of players in the last 3-5 years who claim they need to go elsewhere to win trophies when the lack of trophies is in large part down to them. Yes the manager and the Board should shoulder a significant part of the blame - but so should the players. For instance, if Koscielny and Sczeczny claimed they had to go due to their desire to win something after being significant players involved in us losing a trophy, would we accept their 'ambition' without bitterness because Wenger and the Board didn't buy player X?
Van Persie has been part of a team that could have won trophies in the last 7 years but didn't. He should shoulder a significant proportion of the blame for that failure. And him fucking off as if the lack of trophies have nothing to do with him and at a time when we have at least begun to transition from a youth policy to one where we are buying experienced players in their prime, I find deplorable. Yes, maybe we are strapped with a self-sustaining business model. Maybe we won't spend £100 this summer. Obviously that's a challenge to competing with other teams on an equal footing. Clearly he doesn't want a challenge but would prefer to leave the hard work behind and plop his arse onto a team that's in pole position to win somewhere else. Do I not understand his reasons? No, I understand them. That doesn't mean I have to respect them.
And that's the other side of the coin. If VP wanted £150k per week for 4-5 years, would we be right in accepting that? Highly unlikely. Maybe that shows lack of ambition - it certainly shows a lack of faith (that he will a) stay healthy and b) not decline significantly in the next 2-3 years). I doubt VP would be seeking a 2 year extension, regardless of the money. That probably goes to the root of the impasse. Totally different issue with Fabregas who had his reasons for wanting to go and Nasri, who's a ****.
Even though he has disappointed lot of fans , RVP remain a force to be reckoned . He 's been injured through all his Arsenal career bar last season and yet managed to reach 100 goals . That is a fantastic achievement for an injury-prone player . On top of that he finished best player and scorer in the hardest league in the world , I bet you can't name anyone who can match .