How good was Robin van Persie?

[RedMessiah]

He was trully a world-class striker. An absolute beast at his best, and not at all limited to a poacher, but an elegant all-round striker. It's a shame to think that he could have been an even better player if it hadn't been for his injuries. I agree that he shouldn't have stayed at Arsenal as long as he did, he really should have had more trophies to his name.

Not at all bad-looking either, although that probably shouldn't be taken into consideration..

 

[Sandikan]

This good.

Was privileged to be at that game. Monday night job v Villa wasn't it, 3-0 hattrick?

 

[Paxi]

Was privileged to be at that game. Monday night job v Villa wasn't it, 3-0 hattrick?

Yeah, hat-trick.

 

[Kemizee]

One of the best strikers to ever play in the EPL and a catalyst for our last league title.With him in the side, I always had a feeling we would win any game.The goal he scored against Wigan in the league at the DW stadium to make it 2 nil was just fabolous and is my favorite in his time with us.Clinical on the pitch and classy off the pitch too.

 

[padr81]

Amazing for 2 seasons, a good striker held back by injuries besides.

383 appearances and 190 goals which is roughly 1 goal in 2 games during his time in the Premier League.

Holds up fairly ok but in comparison to the best strikers his strike rate strangely isn't great per game.

 

[Sandikan]

Very similar to Sanchez, in that it looked certain he'd go to City, then suddenly broke he was coming to us. Amazement lasted months, and I think it will with Sanchez too.

Sanchez needs to learn from VP'sglorious sound bites about the little boy inside him always wanted United.

Such a shame he only got one season under Fergie and the Moyes disaster kicked in, as he was the single deciding factor in us winning that title.

 

[Cheesy]

Didn't mean to come off arrogant or anything. I don't know... I haven't seen as many strikers on the ball as RvP. True brilliance.

Nah it's cool, was definitely an understatement on my part!

 

[Art Vandelay]

That first season with us he was right up there with Ruud and Cantona. He was that good. Magnificent player and worth every penny we paid for him. Injuries and a bizarre fondness for hitting the woodwork held him back for a few years.

 

[littleman]

Peaked at Arsenal but we got one incredible year out of him. Downhill pretty quickly after

 

[Skills]

Pretty fecking great. Loved him when he was here, special player.

 

[RedFish]

This comment is making me ache cause I loved Ruud so much but no way he was better than RvP as an all round player. Goal scorer - yes - his longevity, in dutch, English and Spanish leagues but in terms of talent - RvP - hands down.

I can see why you might say that, depends on how you may judge a player.

For.me, Ruud and RVP are in the team primarily to score goals. Ruud just obliterates RVP in terms of banging the goals in. As a pure goal scorer, he's up there with the best there has ever been. Too many to mention,bl but I'm thinking Batistuta, Shearer, Schevchenko, Ronaldo (fat), Raul in relatively recent times.

If you're talking about skill, the grace with which they play the game etc , then personally I prefer Bergkamp, Suarez, Henry, Del Piero.

RvP was a amazing player but I never thought (other than that one season for us) that he was possibly the best in the world in his position. Still, a brilliant player.

 

[MiceOnMeth]

I'm certain he would have won us the Champions League that season if it wasn't for that Nani red card.

eh, seem to recall him missing a sitter in one of the legs against Madrid.

 

[RooneyLegend]

One of the most technically gifted no9's in football history, fabulous player. Pity about the injuries.

 

[VivaObertan]

My favourite United player ever, which is crazy considering I'm a life long supporter and that he only spent three seasons here.

That goal vs West Ham in the FA Cup is also my favourite United goal ever. The pass, vision and technique from Giggs combined with the touch, control and finish from RVP, breath taking.

Also his two other seasons at United weren't an RVP in huge decline like some have decided, he still dug us out of holes for Moyes and LVG used to play him, Rooney and a broken Falcao ALL AT THE SAME Time. Mental.

 

[Paxi]

I can see why you might say that, depends on how you may judge a player.

For.me, Ruud and RVP are in the team primarily to score goals. Ruud just obliterates RVP in terms of banging the goals in. As a pure goal scorer, he's up there with the best there has ever been. Too many to mention,bl but I'm thinking Batistuta, Shearer, Schevchenko, Ronaldo (fat), Raul in relatively recent times.

If you're talking about skill, the grace with which they play the game etc , then personally I prefer Bergkamp, Suarez, Henry, Del Piero.

RvP was a amazing player but I never thought (other than that one season for us) that he was possibly the best in the world in his position. Still, a brilliant player.

That's what I mean though, It's not outlandish to think if RvP didn't have such huge injury problems he'd be in echelon with Shearer, Sheva, Ronaldo etc.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

Same game/goal ratio for the Dutch NT as Ruud, despite being used out wide nearly 40% of the time. That's one of the most flattering statistics I can find.

Such a sublime footballer when he was 18 years old. Showing some amazing things for Feyenoord against teams like Inter, Rangers and Dortmund in their legendary UEFA Cup win.

Loved how bitter Arsenal fans were when he left, fecking hypocrite cnuts. At Feyenoord he played in a bigger stadium than Highbury and won bigger trophies than he ever did at Arsenal. Arsenal robbed Feyenoord of their best talent in 50 years, paying absolutely peanuts for him and they didn't do shit when Feyenoord nearly went bankrupt. Yet their fans still have the cheek to criticise him when he made the move to United, while in reality the difference between United and Arsenal at the time was as big as the difference between Barcelona and Valencia.

Just like Arjen Robben, he was almost literally injured 50% of the time during the first 10 years of his career. According to RVP himself 75% of those injuries were impact injuries (whereas Robben mostly had muscle problems). Seen him being kicked to shreds so many times when he was just getting into great form, from Chiellini killing his ankle in a friendly against Italy up until that Olympiakos match under Moyes, where he scored a hattrick and then got his meniscus wrecked by a player who was a little too late.

All in all still had a couple of tremendous goalscoring seasons, finished all time top scorer of the Netherlands and played a (incredibly frustrating) World Cup final. Won a European trophy in the city he was born playing for the club where he went through the youth ranks. Even won a trophy with Arsenal. And of course will be forever be remembered for his sublime form in Ferguson's last season.

 

[Kostur]

At his best for those two seasons at Arse and us? One of the very best strikers I have ever seen.

 

[Martial]

eh, seem to recall him missing a sitter in one of the legs against Madrid.

Ofcourse, but seems kinda harsh seeing he single-handedly won a stupendous amount of games for us that season.

And think we would have won that Real Madrid game anyway if wasn't for Cakir.

 

[Macern]

In his first season for us, which I think was his peak as a footballer, he was about as good as Harry Kane is nowadays.

 

[Burkie7]

My favourite United player ever, which is crazy considering I'm a life long supporter and that he only spent three seasons here.

That goal vs West Ham in the FA Cup is also my favourite United goal ever. The pass, vision and technique from Giggs combined with the touch, control and finish from RVP, breath taking.

Also his two other seasons at United weren't an RVP in huge decline like some have decided, he still dug us out of holes for Moyes and LVG used to play him, Rooney and a broken Falcao ALL AT THE SAME Time. Mental.

I'm exactly the same.

I never post so this should show how much zi love Van Persie.

His first goal that beautiful volley I think vs Fulham? Scoring against Liverpool home and away, at Stamford Bridge, the hat trick vs Southampton on his second game. And who can forget the last minute free kick vs City.

I've followed United for 23 years but nobody has ever gave me the feeling of love for a player like Van Persie. Was a sad day when Van Gaal let him go for peanuts.

 

[Cheesy]

In his first season for us, which I think was his peak as a footballer, he was about as good as Harry Kane is nowadays.

He was superb in 12/13 but you could probably argue 11/12 was his very best year as a player. Ridiculous the extent to which he was carrying Arsenal at times. Overall though his 11-13 run was close to as good as you'll get from a modern era PL striker, excluding maybe Henry and one or two others.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

This good.

This good:

 

[BarcaSpurs]

Yeah he did. If I recall he scored a pretty similar goal for Arsenal against Everton (?), though it was closer to goal. I think it ended up being voted goal of the season too.

Aesthetically beautiful technique

 

[Paxi]

Same game/goal ratio for the Dutch NT as Ruud, despite being used out wide nearly 40% of the time. That's one of the most flattering statistics I can find.

Such a sublime footballer when he was 18 years old. Showing some amazing things for Feyenoord against teams like Inter, Rangers and Dortmund in their legendary UEFA Cup win.

Loved how bitter Arsenal fans were when he left, fecking hypocrite cnuts. At Feyenoord he played in a bigger stadium than Highbury and won bigger trophies than he ever did at Arsenal. Arsenal robbed Feyenoord of their best talent in 50 years, paying absolutely peanuts for him and they didn't do shit when Feyenoord nearly went bankrupt. Yet their fans still have the cheek to criticise him when he made the move to United, while in reality the difference between United and Arsenal at the time was as big as the difference between Barcelona and Valencia.

Just like Arjen Robben, he was almost literally injured 50% of the time during the first 10 years of his career. According to RVP himself 75% of those injuries were impact injuries (whereas Robben mostly had muscle problems). Seen him being kicked to shreds so many times when he was just getting into great form, from Chiellini killing his ankle in a friendly against Italy up until that Olympiakos match under Moyes, where he scored a hattrick and then got his meniscus wrecked by a player who was a little too late.

All in all still had a couple of tremendous goalscoring seasons, finished all time top scorer of the Netherlands and played a (incredibly frustrating) World Cup final. Won a European trophy in the city he was born playing for the club where he went through the youth ranks. Even won a trophy with Arsenal. And of course will be forever be remembered for his sublime form in Ferguson's last season.

Can I steal this and put into the OP? Brilliant post.

 

[ghagua]

This good.

That is one of the greatest goals I have ever seen. Ball coming in from behind him and he hits that on the volley. People always talk about Van Basten's goal in the European championship final in 1988, but not enough credit given to RvP for this goal.

 

[Paxi]

Might be a bit of bias here, but, maybe Sanchez is just joining for guts and glory (and money) -- you'll get it at United!

 

[ghagua]

RvP is one of my favorite players. Class player who should have had a few more good years at United, but thanks to Moyes and especially LvG for ruining his career at the top level. Wish we can bring him back to the club for a subs role and then give him a coaching role at the club.

 

[groovyalbert]

Him and Pogba in the same team would have been scary. Remember how good Carrick was with RVP? Exactly.

 

[strandty]

This good.

One of my most memorable moments being in the crowd at OT

 

[RedTillI'mDead]

Quality striker, up there with the very best. Injuries plagued his career, but when he did play he was incredible. It wasn’t even like he was slow to come back from injuries. He was always good, just too injured too often.

One of best ways to describe him is that he was one of my favourite players even at Arsenal. He just had a smoothness and quality with the way he played. One of the cleanest finishers in the game. As seen from the couple of clips on here he could make the awkward look buttery smooth.

 

[Epicurean]

This good.

That’s a sick goal!

 

[Ban]

He was a phenomenal striker, complete striker, clinical as hell. Unfortunately his career was marred with injuries. In that title winning season with us he was absolutely brilliant, you always had a feeling he'll score somehow. I remember that Southampton game for instance, he single handedly had beaten them although our defense was shipping goals. Sad that after that he slowly faded away. I think Fergie retiring had a lot with that too.

 

[Baby Groot]

RvP is one of my favorite players. Class player who should have had a few more good years at United, but thanks to Moyes and especially LvG for ruining his career at the top level. Wish we can bring him back to the club for a subs role and then give him a coaching role at the club.

This, both made the mistake of going with Rooney as the main man, while SAF was basicly forcing Rooney out of the club. Now If he was bought back I think he did offer more than Zlatan.

 

[Paxi]

I always loved his inside heel flicks and two/three touch football that he played. Moved the ball so well. Really masked his shortcomings in terms of explosiveness and pace. Heck, when you're that ahead of players why need pace?

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

Must be in the top 10 of all time PL forwards.

In terms of pure technical ability I think RvP, Bergkamp and Berbatov make up the top three.

 

[Paxi]

In terms of pure technical ability I think RvP, Bergkamp and Berbatov make up the top three.

Think technically Berabtov was unparalleled. There was just so much skill. Like glue stuck to his feet. Not sure, was it against Fulham where he killed the ball dead which was flying at thigh height.,,? Ridiculous skill... Application wise, Bergkamp and RvP hands down.

Edit: Also, remember Berabtov saying that Newcastle and Shearer were his favourite club and player when he was growing up and he modelled himself in a mould of Sheared. Funny that - turned out probably the opposite of Shearer.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

Fulham where he killed the ball dead which was flying at thigh height.,,?

Yeah it was Fulham (against Villa). Insane first touch control.

 

[Paxi]

Yeah it was Fulham (against Villa). Insane first touch control.

No, no.. not that.. It was pinged into him when he was at the semi circle and he killed it dead.

He literally stuck his foot out wide and controlled it. It's near impossible. Zidane-esque.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

No, no.. not that.. It was pinged into him when he was at the semi circle and he killed it dead.

There's also this:

 

[Paxi]

There's also this:

Yes, mate! but not that. He killed the ball dead at the edge of the area. Ive never seen anyone with a touch like that.