I saw on my score app that it looked as though it was a hatty. (Missed pen was struckthrough its hard to see on iphone)
that smash onto the bar. Classic.Of course, but there were a few times where we had to play Van Persie behind Hernandez because Rooney was injured and Kagawa wasn't trusted enough, unfortunately. Van Persie played his first game as an attacking midfielder in the Norwich loss, where he did well IMO, but he didn't receive enough of the ball, and even when he did, he didn't do enough with it. There were more promising displays against Newcastle (win at home) and Wigan (win away), where his technical skills were immense. The thing is, we can't play Hernandez anywhere but upfront. He doesn't possess the passing traits to hurt a defence. His movement and finishing is why is preferred as a striker, but playing him behind Van Persie would be a bad move.
Kagawa was out injured for 2 of the 3 games you have stated, and had only a hour of football before the Wigan away, 3 days later, where he was a sub.The games you mentioned, I'd say United played a basic 442. The only game that Van Persie has played in a true no 10 role behind Hernandez is the last game 2 games of the season. Swansea at home and West Brom away.
Against Newcastle RvP definitely played as a number 10, and he excelled at it. He drove us forward time and time again from deep positions. I remember noticing how good he was at the role.
Yeah, I thought he was injured, but I couldn't remember it clearly. Also, United didn't play a basic 4-4-2. To start off with, in the Norwich loss, most of Van Persie's touches were deep, and not in a striker-like role. He only had two touches in the box. Usually, Van Persie does drop deep, but in the Norwich game, many of his touches were deeper than usual. Against Newcastle, it's self-explanatory. As marjen said, he was definitely playing behind Hernandez. And against Wigan, most of his touches were deep, he certainly wasn't playing next to Hernandez. The point is, he's done a good job of playing behind the striker. Forget how we define the role, he offered us a viable alternative, and if we need him to play there next season, then we know he is a reliable asset within this position.
If it was up to me, and I felt that I couldn't play two forwards up top together, I would leave Cheech on the bench. I do think that Persie could adapt to play in the hole, but at his age and with his quality up front I can't see that as being the best option. When we play 4231, whoever ends up in the hole is our third central midfielder on defense, and with games being largely decided in the middle of the pitch, I would like to see someone with stronger defensive skills than Persie in that position, I'd rather use a midfielder there.
