van Persie: Actions Louder Than Words

By Brian Lofrumento | 2nd April 2009

van Persie: Actions Louder Than Words | read this item

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rvp-v-newcastle I’m not fond of Robin van Persie. The Dutch striker’s skill dazzles me when he’s on form, but most of the time I find myself annoyed by his arrogance and provocative nature. By all means, though, I don’t want to take anything away from the Arsenal striker. He’s one of those players that fans around the world would love to see on their team, and opposing fans all love to hate him. This week, though, I sided with RvP.

Whenever I talk to Arsenal fans, the biggest argument we always fall into is the current state of the Arsenal squad. I’ve grown sick of hearing Gunners fans brag about how youthful and talented their squad is, and instead point out that they can have all of the kids in the world and still never win a trophy. After all, football is about trophy hauls (just ask any player).

Arsenal fans, however, have gone too long without a trophy and have forgotten the meaning of success, instead relying on the “future” – which never seems to come. With each wave of developing stars, Arsenal seems to replace them with another wave of youngsters, ensuring that the future success of such players happens elsewhere. Just look at Jose Antonio Reyes – he’s still waiting for that bright future full of trophies with Arsenal.

So what does this all have to do with Robin van Persie? Finally, this week, he broke the unified front put on by Arsenal players and has stated that the only way he will be staying in London is if the club can convince him that they will match his ambitions. These “ambitions” mean just one thing: trophies. van Persie has grown disgruntled with the futuristic view about the club’s fortunes, and wants to finally stop talking about how good Arsenal will be, and prove how good they are. It may sound like an English lesson on tenses, but I completely understand where van Persie is coming from.

If Arsenal want to get back to winning trophies, Arsene Wenger needs to listen to his players. All clubs need veteran heads, and I don’t mean players like William Gallas and Manuel Almunia. The core of a squad needs to have experienced players who have been there and are capable of lifting a young team to greatness. Bryan Robson did it for United as a captain, Alan Shearer led a new wave of Newcastle stars, and Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes are doing it today. Without their leadership – nevermind quality – clubs struggle to win trophies. Young players can be quick and talented, but often they falter over the final hurdles. Just look back at Arsenal last season – they were leading throughout the entire first half of the season before they capitulated.

So Mister van Persie, I commend you for challenging Arsenal to live up to your high expectations. The players on show at the Emirates deserve a squad capable of winning trophies. The boys currently wearing the red and white of Arsenal have the talent, but do they have the composure of men?

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