If you've actually ever seen RVP play without the seething hate turned up to twelve, you'd know he spends a lot of time dropping deep and linking play. It wouldn't exactly be an alien position for him. He also holds the ball up and relieves pressure when needed. He can also be useful defensively, much like Drogba often was.
Of course, one game in a ramshackle Netherlands team in which the terrible Huntelaar was accommodated and failed miserably in replicating RVP's role is more conclusive proof than many seasons of evidence to the contrary, however.