It had ended up as a far from perfect season after that inspiring Christmas period promised so much. Marco van Basten still thought van Persie had done enough to warrant a place in his provisional Netherlands squad for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. After the disappointment of missing the Champions League final, Netherlands coach Marco van Basten allowed van Persie an extra week off before joining up with the squad. He wanted the player to link up fresh as a daisy, not with stress and angst on his mind. That certainly paid off for the Dutch coach as van Persie joined the fold with an ambitious glint in his eye and trained like a man possessed. Phillip Cocu said that he had been excellent and likened his arrival to ‘Seeing thunder and lightning in a blue sky.’
That terrific relationship with the national coach was probably one of the reasons he was chosen to represent the Netherlands. Van Persie was thoroughly grateful for the backing van Basten gave him throughout the ordeals of the previous summer and said: ‘One of the people who gave me tremendous support was Dutch national boss Marco van Basten. I knew myself that one day the truth would come out, but it took a long time before police and a court in Holland admitted that they were wrong.’
Van Persie looked something like back to his best in the Netherlands’ warm-up game against Cameroon where he creatively carved open several chances from the right-hand side. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored the game’s only goal after van Persie caught the eye with a string of intelligent passes and weaving runs on the ball. He did however make a couple of rash challenges for a friendly match which did not bode well for the finals.
He would have to learn to accept that at international level you had to play in whatever position you are put, no matter where you are used to being stationed for your club. Van Persie found himself out on the right wing for this game as Marco van Basten tested the water to see how he would be able to switch the team around during the World Cup. The coach said he adapted to the position ‘very well’ playing wide on the right flank. Whilst Germany and Portugal were scoring for fun, for van Basten it was important for players to learn different formations in friendly games. A team able to adapt is more likely to be able to survive.
In a warm-up friendly against Mexico, van Basten switched the side around again and van Persie was placed up front in a 2-1 win. The coach was again insistent it had been a worthwhile exercise as he tried out different formations the side might need to adopt later on. It might have looked to the pundits that the Netherlands were not totally prepared for their opening World Cup game just 10 days away but van Basten was insistent he needed to be able to shuffle the side. Van Persie would have been confident of getting a game because van Basten clearly believed he could do well in a range of positions.
Lucas Neill knew all about van Persie ahead of his Australia side’s friendly match against the Dutch. Blackburn defender Neill had witnessed some of van Persie’s finest performances in an Arsenal shirt – the Dutchman had passed him on the way to scoring that double at the Millennium Stadium the previous year. After also watching van Persie’s wonderful solo goal at Highbury that season he said: ‘Van Persie is up and coming, very strong and very sharp. He has got a great left foot and is a fantastic player.’
That willingness to adapt to several different positions pleased the coach and van Persie was suddenly almost guaranteed a spot in the side by van Basten. He confirmed that with future Spurs star Rafael van der Vaart ruled out with injury, van Persie would be the team’s first-choice free-kick taker. He said: ‘You come to the conclusion that van Persie is so good that it would be a shame not to use him.’
It was no accident that Robin van Persie was able to play on the right – he had worked on using his right foot since joining Arsenal in order to be able to play on that side. His left foot was the star of the show but after working on the right one for months he was now able to play well with both feet. With his national team, van Persie had more freedom to express himself than in the precise passing-machine of Arsenal. He said: ‘Van Basten gives me a lot of freedom to do things on the pitch. At Arsenal I am more a passer of the ball. There are two van Persies now, the one at Arsenal and the one with Holland; two different players.’
The frame of the goal had become van Persie’s greatest nemesis during the season just gone and he was reunited with that old friend in the 1-1 draw with Australia. The Netherlands’ World Cup free-kick taker looked like finding his range and after beating Mark Schwarzer all ends up he heard that familiar ‘ping’ sound and the ball bounced away to safety. It was a terrible way for the Netherlands to prepare as Wesley Sneijder, Phillip Cocu and Giovanni van Bronckhorst were all injured by uncompromising Aussie tackles. Australia were a disgrace for conducting themselves in such a manner on the eve of the world’s most important tournament. Luke Wilkshire was shown the red card for a rash challenge as the referee did his best to prevent a full-scale riot.
With gaps to fill, van Persie ran the risk of paying for his versatility by being dragged back to plug an underweight midfield. The Australians had savaged the team and van Persie must have been relieved to come through the match unscathed himself. After his injury problems of the previous season, that body might have been becoming a bit more fragile and susceptible to problems.
Marco van Basten was having the same injury problems as a manager that had plagued his playing career. But he was fit for Euro 1988, where he scored a scorching volley as the Netherlands won what is so far their only major trophy. He had the relevant experience to pass on to van Persie for a major tournament. First choice players were dropping like flies but van Persie might have had a little more in the tank after missing a chunk of the season with niggling injuries and that broken toe. This was a big opportunity if he was able to grab it – he was surely now their most important link between midfield and attack.
Van Persie was relatively young at 22 but players with less experience had done brilliantly on the big stage – Michael Owen made a name for himself at the 1998 World Cup when he capped a fine tournament with a memorable solo effort against Argentina. The Dutch press were incredibly excited by van Persie’s promising contribution in those warm-up games and he was being compared to English wonder-kid Wayne Rooney, who had burst onto the scene at just 17 and starred for his country.
The national coach was certainly full of praise for his whiz kid, saying he was in superb form. Van Basten said that although it was early days, he was excited to see van Persie showing so much promise in the warm-up games and that he was showing real class. He was also delighted to see that calm head prevent van Persie from listening to the hype: ‘Van Persie refuses to get carried away by the hero-grams heading his way.’
There was little danger of van Persie getting carried away by what was said about him in the press because he ignored it all. His name had been dragged through the mud in the past and he was not interested in what the media had to say at all. A lot of players pretend they do not know about what has been said but van Persie really didn’t – when newspapers revealed Dennis Bergkamp had signed a contract extension at Arsenal, van Persie shocked reporters when he did not know about the deal because nobody had told him.
It had been pointed out that the Netherlands had a very young squad but there were a few old heads thrown in to steady the ship. The more experienced Edwin van der Sar, Phillip Cocu and Edgar Davids had seen it all before and were likely to prove invaluable to the younger lads like van Persie, who would have needed a quiet word in their ear at one point or another.
Van Persie said the young squad was a non-issue and the kids had already proved their ability with that fine qualification campaign where they won the majority of matches and were unbeaten. He reasoned that the Arsenal squad had featured a lot of youngsters that season but after Wenger had instilled belief in them, the side made it to the final of the Champions League.
It was just a case of waiting to see where van Basten would fit him into the side. So, just a year after that prison officer had kindly told Robin van Persie he would never play for his country again, he was set to be one of their most important players at the World Cup finals. All the hype was over and finally it was time to get down to business.
The Dutch had a relatively easy opening game against Serbia and Montenegro, who lacked creativity but had a steely resolve that would take some beating. They were set for another afternoon of crunching tackles – maybe that pre-tournament clash with Australia had been a good idea after all.
In the end van Basten’s favoured formation saw Ruud van Nistelrooy up front with Arjen Robben on the left and van Persie on the right. The wingers would cut in and act as strikers when the side were on the attack. It was a good thing Robin had been working on that right foot, as he was going to need it.
Van Persie had a dream start to the World Cup when he set up the winning goal with just 17 minutes on the clock. When a seemingly innocuous ball bounced in the centre circle, van Persie spotted an opening and whipped an accurately weighted lob beyond the backline for the onrushing Arjen Robben to collect. The Chelsea forward was on to it like a flash and before you could say Slobodan Miloševi, Serbia and Montenegro were behind. It was a neat finish as Robben stroked the ball home but the goal was all about the vision of van Persie to pick out the initial pass. Robben may have taken the plaudits but van Basten would surely have been impressed with the way things had started for van Persie.
Club rivalries were forgotten as the Chelsea man was mobbed by van Persie and United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy after it appeared his joy was so great that he could not stay on his feet. There was no sign of the Netherlands’ usual dressing-room tensions as the players rushed to congratulate Robben.
That united picture painted on the pitch disappeared once the game was over, however, as van Persie somewhat crazily accused Robben of being a selfish player. It seemed an odd move to make at the start of a tournament, more the kind of observation a player should make once it has finished. Maybe van Persie became jealous after Robben received rave reviews after scoring the winner that he had set up.
Van Persie fumed after the game that there was no ‘I’ in Netherlands: ‘Together we hope to play six matches and he can’t do it all by himself. He must take into account his teammates. Sometimes, he makes decisions for himself and not the team.’
After displaying versatility in the warm-up games, van Persie had found a way into the starting line-up out on the right. He now faced playing second fiddle to Robben as a result; he later moved into the middle of the park but would still have preferred to be on the left. On reflection he was better off playing on the right than not at all, but he was still frustrated by watching the Chelsea man star in what he felt was his position. Robben boasted that fans had seen nothing of him yet, whilst van Basten was worrying that there was a lot more squabbling to come.
The coach was keen to not take sides and did his best to present a united picture in the camp. He said both men had been right in what they had said and highlighted the importance of teamwork in their effort.
He added: ‘We discussed a little bit with the two players and also we said something about a situation like that in general to the whole team. Arjen did very good work with the ball and maybe the players felt that during the game. The next game it is going to be the case for van Persie.’
The pair put on a united front at training a couple of days later when Robben told reporters he knew there was no malice in van Persie’s words and the comments were not an issue at all. Unsurprisingly, van Persie claimed his words had been taken out of context and the media had once again turned a molehill into a mountain. He was still insistent the Dutch would have to play as a team to succeed in the tournament. They looked happy enough together during the training session but it was quite possible yet another rift had been started that could see the Netherlands side fall out, as squads had done in previous years.
Arsène Wenger commented amongst claim and counterclaim by supporters of Robben that young players were right to go for goal. He told the Evening Standard: ‘Sometimes young players shoot when they should pass the ball – but if you do not try it then you do not score.’
Lyon manager Gerard Houllier knew all about the Premier League from his spell in charge of Liverpool that had ended in 2004, and he was impressed with the way van Persie had fitted into this somewhat unfamiliar role on the right. He said the Dutch player had done well to fit into a pattern that he was not used to and could be a driving force in the tournament.
It was hard to predict what the Netherlands would come up against when they faced the Ivory Coast. The African side was not afraid to chop and change tactics and formations so van Basten would need to be prepared for a range of scenarios. Van Persie and Robben must have been wondering if their positions were under threat but van Basten said he would not sacrifice the duo no matter how the Elephants lined up.
Van Basten was right when he said this game would be van Persie’s time to shine as he starred in a 2-1 win in Stuttgart that saw the Dutch qualify for the second round. Van Persie opened the scoring with his first World Cup goal – and what a goal it was. Both wingers posed an early threat by cutting in from the flanks and when van Persie cut in from the right, his pace was too much for Arsenal teammate Kolo Touré to handle and the bulky defender poleaxed him. They may have known each other well but all bets were off when the two crossed the white line. After the tournament Touré said van Persie had been terrific and in a way it was a big compliment to hack him down in the game because it highlighted how much of a problem van Persie’s pace was for the Africans.
Touré brought van Persie’s run to a premature end with a crunching tackle that saw the latter take a knock to his right thigh. It was another bruising affair against the Ivory Coast and injury was surely only just around the corner for one of the Dutch players. Shaken but not stirred, van Persie picked himself up and as he prepared to take the resulting free-kick, casually adjusted his collar with all the swagger of James Bond himself. The free-kick was positioned pretty centrally and was not too far outside the penalty area, so van Persie lined up that left foot and shaped to shoot, with Arjen Robben looking on jealously. Finally van Persie had wrestled centre stage away from the left winger and it was his time to shine. He swept in a glorious shot that was so perfectly measured it went inches over the heads of the Ivory Coast wall and crashed its way into the top left-hand corner of the goal before the Elephants’ keeper, Jean-Jacques Tizie, could do anything about it.
Teammates mobbed him after a perfect goal that said ‘I can do it too’. The Africans staged a strong second-half comeback and van Persie was the hero at the other end of the pitch to deny them a certain goal. With van der Sar beaten by a strong header from a corner, van Persie was there on the line to chest Chelsea man Didier Drogba’s bullet header away from danger. He showed good technique by making sure both hands were behind him to prevent an accidental handball.
After the game van Persie revealed that was something the Dutch had worked on in practice sessions: ‘We work on situations like that a lot in training, so it was my job to be on the line to clear it. But it was a difficult situation because the ball was bouncing up towards my shoulder. I just had to stay calm and react properly.’
The term ‘legend’ is bandied about all too often but Johan Cruyff is a man worthy of such praise. The Dutch hero was at the game and went to find van Persie to congratulate him after the match. The latter was predictably delighted with reaching the next round and scoring that absolute scorcher of a free-kick. He said: ‘We worked hard. We played well at times, we should be proud that we reached the next round. I am not sure what meant more, my goal or my clearance. My goal was fantastic for us all.’
Tottenham manager Martin Jol had been impressed with van Persie’s performances against Spurs earlier in the season and he had similar thoughts after watching the Dutch victory. He said: ‘I thought van Persie was marvellous. Johan Cruyff said he was the strongest physically, and that’s an unbelievable compliment, because before he went to England, van Persie was regarded as a little weak.’
That bulking up in his first couple of seasons at Arsenal had clearly paid off because, as Jol noted, van Persie had moved on considerably from the delicate flower that had joined from Feyenoord. With a strong performance in this second match he showed defenders he was not afraid to make his mark and, a bit like a cactus plant, it was not advisable to run into him.
Inevitably there had been plenty of banter on the Arsenal training ground between van Persie and Ivory Coast men Kolo Touré and Emmanuel Eboué but van Persie said he was sad to see the African side eliminated from the tournament and his friends go home.
Argentina had also already qualified for the second round so it was in some senses a meaningless final group match in Frankfurt. There was however a slightly easier game in store for the winners of the group as they would play a distinctly average Mexican side in the second round. Van Persie suggested both teams would be more relaxed but that it was still an important one to win in terms of taking confidence into the second round. If one of the teams could win this game they would have reason to be extremely confident of getting very far in the tournament. Argentina were a frightening proposition as they had won their last game 5-0 with the Dutch team watching in a mixture of amazement and fear. ‘I just thought “Oh Jesus!”’ van Persie joked.
The game turned out to be the damp squib those in possession of tickets had feared that it would be. It was completely understandable that neither team wanted to wear themselves out or reveal too much about the possible dangers they posed. The game ended in a goalless draw with neither goalkeeper being bothered too much. Hopefully van Persie was saving his best for later in the tournament as he put in a display that was average at best. He offered little creativity going forward, showed rare poor control when it was needed the most and fired a free-kick well wide.
After all that talk of what a great manager Marco van Basten was after he had bent over backwards to help van Persie, he completely lost the plot after the Argentina game. It was typical of the Netherlands for the squad to spontaneously combust and it looked like they were going to do so again at the German World Cup.
Ruud van Nistelrooy had hardly been having the tournament of a lifetime, and van Basten suddenly told a press conference that he was not good enough and would not be playing their next game – the second-round match against Portugal. This was terrible news for van Persie because his chances of winning the World Cup had effectively gone up in smoke. The wing men had worked well behind van Nistelrooy so far and surely the threesome were going to become a more effective force as the tournament progressed.
There must have been a private falling-out, as van Basten announced that Ruud van Nistelrooy was not good enough technically to represent the Netherlands. He qualified the argument by saying he had pulled the striker off during all three games they had played so far so he could not have been content with the way he was playing.
Van Basten told the shocked reporters: ‘We have two great players on the wing, don’t tell me the service from them is not good enough. Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben are in great form. It’s true that Ruud is marked by good defenders in this World Cup, but he should be used to that.’
This would have unsettled the squad and in particular van Persie, who did not cope well with managers who were not nice to their players. Those behavioural problems that developed under Bert van Marwijk could well have returned if the problem child decided to stage a rebellion. The calm head of Arsène Wenger must have seemed a long way away.
French attacking midfielder Robert Pires had left Arsenal just before the tournament started but still spoke extremely highly of van Persie. Pires said his former teammate had the important quality of perseverance and had improved greatly as a player in the two seasons they played together. He said it was strange that van Persie had not been a regular starter for Arsenal but was starting every game for his country. This was a good point but maybe it had something to do with the different styles that the teams played. With Wenger’s team featuring both Bergkamp and Henry upfront, there was less space for an attacking winger to cut in, like Robben and van Persie had been doing for the Dutch.
Wenger liked to see his players as projects and played the long game, whereas it is a different ball game for national coaches who have to do the best with what they have at their disposal in the present and do not really have to worry about the long-term. In less important games van Persie had been played up front and Wenger planned to convert him into a striker, but in the short-term the young Dutchman had little chance of being a first-choice striker at Arsenal.
Pires recognised the hard work van Persie had put in to develop his right foot – something that had resulted in him playing at this World Cup. He told The Sunday Times: ‘It is important for a winger to be two-footed, although it’s still very rare to see a player who is perfectly two-footed and probably rarer to find a left-footed player who looks as strong with his right. It tends to happen the other way around. That’s part of the charm of the left-hander, or left-footer, in sport. I imagine that coach Marco van Basten wants him to take advantage of his shooting ability when he moves inside.’
Not a lot had been said about the fact that van Persie was a top player with an amazing left foot when a lot of players were stronger with their right. Pires said it was a great aspect of van Persie’s game because he would hit the ball at angles other players would find impossible to make. He likened van Persie’s delivery to the shots of the tennis ace Rafael Nadal, who was left-handed and also able to find ‘impossible’ angles.
It all fell apart for the Dutch in the meeting with Portugal as Maniche’s wonder goal won the game for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side. They struggled to find any rhythm to their game in van Nistelrooy’s absence and the Portuguese were just a bit more at the races.
To say this was a bad-tempered affair would be the understatement of the century as these two teams kicked lumps out of each other. It was such an intensely-fought match that it would later be dubbed ‘The Battle of Nuremburg’. Both sides had two men sent off in a game that equalled a World Cup record, with four red, and an amazing sixteen yellow cards. Surprisingly van Persie was not one of the players to receive a card – if riled he could sometimes be something of a loose cannon.
Van Persie struggled to get a foothold in the game and did not have too much involvement. He did well early on to dance in-between two defenders but he shot well wide after getting a glimpse of goal. There was more of the same later after a moment of brilliance left Ricardo Carvalho and Nuno Valente biting the dirt when they both slid in for the ball, only for van Persie to drag it back out of their paths, but once again his shot was wayward. A later long-distance kick never looked like troubling the net as the Dutch appeared to be all out of ideas. The one time he looked like scoring, Portugal’s Costinha decided ridiculously to stick out an arm and block the pass, earning himself an early bath in the process.
It was a real shame to see a campaign that had started off quite well end on such a sour note, and with van Persie not being at the races. He had scored the best free-kick at the tournament but performed somewhat inconsistently under the challenging circumstances of an unpredictable coach.
He had made the relatively short journey home and soon it was time for van Persie to start concentrating on Arsenal again. With Dennis Bergkamp swapping his boots for pipe and slippers, it was a period of change in the Gunners attack and van Persie needed to be on his game to cement a place in the side.
He faced stiff competition with José Antonio Reyes, Emmanuel Adebayor, Tomas Rosicky and wonder kid Theo Walcott all after that spot next to Thierry Henry. Van Persie said all that advice and encouragement Bergkamp had given him left him well-equipped for the battle that lay ahead. He said: ‘He helped me a lot, sometimes I think I was asking him too much and asking all types of things. When I see how he lives, it’s a great example – he’s a different human being. The way he does it is fantastic on and off the pitch.’
Mahatma Gandhi said people should be the change they want to see in the world and that was very much the case with van Persie. He had come to Arsenal as a talented but troubled young man and observed one of his childhood heroes up close and personal. After two years of studying, it was van Persie’s time to step up to the mark and become Arsenal’s new star centre-forward.
He looked sharp in pre-season action for the Gunners and grabbed a brace as Austrians Schwadorf were trounced 8-1. After a neat one-two with Reyes, van Persie made the goalkeeper look a clown with an audacious dummy to open the scoring. In the second half he turned predator to bury Alexander Hleb’s cross into the net before a defender could react. The club’s World Cup stars made their comebacks in this low-profile game as once again Wenger’s perfect scheduling kept the pressure off returning players to avoid any mishaps or flash points. A late penalty in a friendly at AZ Alkmaar would have shown Wenger that van Persie meant business this year and was ready to weigh in with his fair share of goals.
Van Persie had very clear goals set out for the upcoming season. He told the Daily Express that consistency was the key if he was to become a more useful player. He had always been good in fits and starts but was not exactly the kind of player that Wenger would have been able to count on for a big performance on a regular basis. He said: ‘Every game I play I have to stand out. I don’t want to be satisfied with a supporting role and a goal now and again. I have to give my colleagues the feeling I can be decisive for them. We are aiming for the highest and the team is strong enough to do it.’
Arsenal had a few injury problems for the first match of their two-legged Champions League group stage qualifying tie with Dynamo Zagreb and there were suggestions they might come unstuck against the Croatians. Van Persie fired a warning shot that the Gunners were not to be messed with and had not been sidetracked by off-field events. He said: ‘We all know how important the game is and we will not let anything distract us.’
Robin van Persie was born on the same day of the year as actress Barbara Windsor, star of the ‘Carry On’ comedy films, and two days after celebrating his 23rd birthday he netted in a 3-0 first leg win to make sure it was a case of ‘Carry on in Europe’. Van Persie’s strike, sandwiched between a Cesc Fabregas double, saw him smartly drill the ball home after running onto a well-timed Hleb through-ball. In a brilliant display van Persie also set up the opener for Fabregas when he slipped in the Spaniard from his position on the right.
Wenger was delighted with the way his young side had dealt with the pressure of the situation – those goals were like gold dust, as qualifying for the group stages was worth millions of pounds. The Frenchman was left fuming as a round of international friendlies interfered with the start of the season. The Netherlands steamrollered the Republic of Ireland 4-0 with van Persie netting the final goal after a masterclass from new boy Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The new kid on the block slipped in van Persie, whose powerful shot clipped the underside of the bar and went in. Last season, that would have bounced out of play. Something had definitely changed.
Former Arsenal man Robert Pires had played with van Persie for two seasons and said he was sure his teammate would get the chance to play more games in the upcoming season. He warned that the Dutchman would have to be at his best to get a decent run in the side because Wenger had assembled an impressive bunch of attacking players.
Pires told The Sunday Times: ‘I imagine we will see him more and more with Arsenal, although Wenger may have some problems next season with so many strong players wanting to fill the attacking positions: Van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor, Tomas Rosicky, Freddie Ljungberg, José Antonio Reyes and Alexander Hleb. All of them can work with Thierry Henry. Doubtless the manager has some thoughts on how to work it out.’
Arsenal came from behind to draw their first game at the new £390 million Emirates Stadium after Gilberto Silva buried a cross from 17-year-old signing Theo Walcott. Van Persie was restricted to a watching brief before coming on in the 65th minute and nearly connecting with Walcott’s cross, which his Brazilian teammate eventually buried.
It was frustrating for van Persie to be on the bench for his club after starting every game for his country at the World Cup. Wenger understood he might have been upset but explained he needed the 23-year-old fit for upcoming games and reasoned that he would be tired after that victory in Ireland. He said: ‘It was a choice between Robin and Thierry on Saturday. I did not play him against Villa because we need him for other games. He had played the whole game for Holland in midweek and it is four games in 10 days at the start of the season.’
Arsenal were disappointing in the second leg of their qualifier with Zagreb, trailing for a long period before a van Persie free-kick fed Freddie Ljungberg to level the scores as they ran out 2-1 winners to taste victory at the Emirates for the first time. It was his best Arsenal performance for a long time as van Persie stung the hands of goalkeeper Ivan Turina and had a goal-bound shot deflected onto the bar by a last-ditch block.
The early signs were not promising for Arsenal’s title challenge as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City thanks to a Joey Barton penalty. It was a case of what might have been as van Persie had clipped the inside of the post minutes before the goal and also thought he should have won a penalty kick after being shoved by Richard Dunne as the evening drew to a conclusion. Thierry Henry said after the game he was certain it was a penalty and van Persie was so incensed that he earned himself a booking in his protests.
Arsène Wenger was livid that his side had been denied a point by the decision. He said: ‘For me it was a penalty because he lost his man. He stopped him from playing the ball. Richard Dunne was pushing van Persie in the back, it’s a penalty. You can say things even themselves out by the end of the season, but we need refs to get things right on the day.’
With the exits of experienced players Sol Campbell, Robert Pires and a certain Mr Bergkamp that summer, van Persie now found himself one of the elder statesmen of the team and in the position to hand out advice to younger players like Walcott. He told The Independent on Sunday that it was great to be in this position and he loved playing with talented youngsters like Walcott and Fabregas: ‘I started playing for Feyenoord when I was 18. When I was his age, I wasn’t as good as Walcott is now. They’re young but it doesn’t matter, they’re young and good. To me it’s a joy to play with players like that. I think guys like Cesc and Theo, you follow them. You see these guys maybe once in 10 years at other clubs. It’s really special. They are so young and so excited. We should be happy that they are at this level.’
He had matured and grown as a player in those two years at Arsenal and van Persie recognised the massive part older heads Bergkamp and Campbell had played in that process. It was an upward spiral of learning and van Persie had shown he was keen to help other players in the same way that he had been given advice in the past.
They might not have got off to the best of starts but van Persie said he still believed in Arsenal’s ability to challenge for the title. After reigning champions Chelsea also lost he said: ‘Hopefully we can play every game at our maximum level and then we will see where it ends. Everything is open and it is good for everybody that Chelsea lost a game.’
Just over two months after they had limped out of the World Cup with that defeat to Portugal, the Netherlands and van Persie were back in competitive action with a Euro 2008 qualifying match. As usual Marco van Basten moved van Persie around the field, starting him on the right wing but later moving him into the centre of the park. It was van Persie’s 17th minute corner that set up Joris Mathijsen for the only goal of the game.
Playing in a free role against Belarus certainly got van Persie’s tail up as he netted twice in a dominant performance. The Dutch ran out 3-0 winners as they secured maximum points from the opening round of qualifying matches. He opened the scoring with an unstoppable drive just after the half-hour mark and added a second late on when he scored via the inside of the post, before Dirk Kuyt added a third. It could have been a hat-trick had referee Howard Webb decided to award a penalty when van Persie took a tumble in the box.
It had nearly caused a dressing room bust-up in the World Cup but van Persie was banging on about playing like a team again after that win. Perhaps it was an attempt to deflect some of the limelight he was given for those two goals onto other members of the team. He said: ‘I think what is important is that we played as a team. It was very difficult to play our football, but on a crucial night like this I think we did well.’
It was a brilliant performance for van Persie and things were looking increasingly rosy in his blossoming career. As he had grown up van Persie had learned to focus on the things that really mattered, telling the Daily Express: ‘I have progressed a lot in all kinds of areas – personally, football-wise and mentally. I have become stronger, more in balance. And I know how to separate main issues from side issues. When I look at the 17-year-old Robin van Persie and the 23-year-old Robin van Persie I see a world of difference.’
He had spoken about looking out for the younger members of the squad and van Persie said he sometimes saw bad attitudes that he had possessed in years gone by: ‘Sometimes they are a little too busy and spend too much unnecessary energy on side issues. That is what I used to do as well. From experience I know it is totally useless to talk to them. The process of growing up is unexplainable.
‘That was the case with me and that would not be different with them. You have to go through it, you have to find out what is good and what is wrong and you figure it out only when you’ve been through certain situations. That is what happened with me.’
He may have been a more mature figure but van Persie lacked a certain cutting edge as the Gunners again flattered to deceive at their new home. Middlesbrough took a point after the home side had been unable to find their killer touch. The only consistency evident in van Persie’s game today was in his inability to beat big Aussie goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer. With a free-kick heading towards the top corner, the Australia Number One dramatically dived across his goal and punched away to safety. As Gareth Southgate’s men halted the Reds in their tracks van Persie became increasingly agitated and was lucky to stay on the pitch after a horrifically late lunge on dominant centre-back Jonathan Woodgate.
Just like the previous season Arsenal were not fulfilling their potential in the Premier League but bobbing quite nicely along the Champions League river. They started off their Champions League group stage with a comfortable 2-1 win over Hamburg. After being slipped through by Adebayor, van Persie won his side a penalty thanks to a cheeky piece of skill. After bearing down on goal, he faked to shoot and the goalkeeper came clattering in for a stonewall penalty and red card. The captain Gilberto Silva made no mistake from the spot and Tomas Rosicky added another before the Germans pulled one back late on. For the second match in a row a sublime van Persie free-kick was parried away from danger.
After they felt he drew the challenge of goalkeeper Sascha Kirschstein, the Hamburg fans booed van Persie as he made his way off the field when subbed in the 70th minute. He would not have been too fussed as Arsenal went on to win but Hamburg supporters and players were left fuming after they felt van Persie only took a slight knock from Kirschstein’s glove and had exaggerated the incident to get the goalkeeper red-carded.
Hamburg coach Thomas Doll suggested van Persie either had bad balance or had cheated his way to the penalty. He moaned: ‘I don’t think we would have lost with 11 players on the field. Van Persie played the ball too far outside and stepped on Kirschstein’s hand and fell.’
It was like water off a duck’s back for van Persie who was probably quite bored, having not been involved in a good old controversy for a little while. The ground containing more than 50,000 supporters had turned into a cauldron of hate but his ability to cope with situations like this was one of the reasons Wenger had brought him to the club.
Van Persie was angry at claims he had cheated and he stated it was something he was in fact very much against: ‘I wouldn’t dive. It’s something I don’t agree with. It’s not good for the game. It may not have been obvious to everyone at the time but I’m sure there was slight contact as I tried to get past the goalkeeper.’
Left-back Ashley Cole had departed the club under acrimonious circumstances in the summer and wrote a book giving his opinion on goings-on at his former club. Arsenal had done well to maintain a stiff upper lip as details of his sometimes harsh words emerged in the newspapers and he had claimed the club did not have the same spirit it used to possess. Van Persie could not bear to hear his club being unfairly criticised and broke from the ranks to respond that Cole had written a lot of nonsense.
He said: ‘That’s nonsense about our spirit. The boss said this is almost the best team he’s had and I agree with that. We have a young, talented squad, a good mix. You definitely don’t get to the Champions League Final without spirit and commitment. That was only a few months ago. Arsenal is a big team. It’s one big happy family and of course everyone wants to play.’
This might not have impressed bosses at the club who had probably instructed players not to comment on the book but it certainly won him brownie points with the supporters as Cole had become Public Enemy Number One after moving to rivals Chelsea.
After missing the monumental win at Old Trafford with a hip injury, van Persie said that he was having to put in extra work to get to where he wanted to be, saying: ‘I know this is an important season for me. It is my aim to make myself an important part of this team this year. I always feel I have to work twice as hard as other people to get what I want, and that, in my opinion, sometimes I deserve.
‘It has been like that all my career. That’s not a negative thing about the boss or a complaint. That’s just how it is. It’s something that keeps me focused. I have been here two years. I can understand when you come from a different culture, a different club with different ideas, you have to be patient. But two years is a long time. The boss feels similar, that I’m ready to play now.’
It was clear van Persie felt he was once again battling the odds. He felt that after spending two years honing his craft in North London, he deserved his chance to get a run in the first team. He said that successful and somewhat unexpected run in the Netherlands team at the World Cup was a massive boost. To represent your country so well on the world’s biggest stage must be a huge confidence-booster. Van Persie badly wanted that regular spot in Wenger’s side to help them achieve their big dreams and finally lift another piece of silverware.
He started the 2-0 win over Porto but failed to get on the score sheet after spurning a couple of chances before Thierry Henry showed him how it was done. There just wasn’t enough power on his flicked header that was easily plucked out of the air by Helton. His link play was not up to its usual standard as van Persie uncharacteristically dithered over his passes and Porto were able to stop him from playing effectively.
He had been a little off-colour after that hip injury but that was all forgotten as van Persie scored one of the goals of the season as he grabbed a brace in the 2-1 win at Charlton Athletic. His first-time volley from 20 yards out rocketed past Scott Carson and into the net to send the Arsenal supporters behind the goal into raptures. It was a sensational goal which was not only very easy on the eye but also the perfect example of how to execute a volley.
Arsenal had been behind to Darren Bent’s opener but van Persie equalised with a well-taken goal after Alexander Hleb had done well to find him with a through ball. Van Persie would make that first strike appear distinctly average with his second and the winning goal. Emmanuel Eboué had charged down the right-hand flank and as he started to run out of space, centred the ball more in hope than anything. As the cross dipped down towards the ground outside the penalty area, van Persie leapt and sent the dipping volley from the left-hand side of the box back across Carson and into the top right-hand corner.
Amid mad celebrations he climbed a few steps to go wild with the supporters before Henry joined in with the fun as Arsène Wenger celebrated 10 years in charge of Arsenal in style. It was exactly the kind of expansive, creative and beautiful football that Wenger had cultivated at the club. Van Persie later told the BBC it was the best goal he had scored so far in his career and it meant even more to him because Arsenal had won the game.
But in typical Robin van Persie style, things were not exactly straightforward in a full-blooded affair at The Valley and he was lucky to even be on the pitch after an ugly tackle. Countryman Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink felt the full force of a van Persie tackle and the 23-year-old was fortunate to only see a yellow card after all hell broke loose following the clash.
After the game all the talk was about that special second goal, one that Wenger hailed as being a ‘once in a lifetime’ effort that nobody could have seen coming. He enthused: ‘When the ball came over I thought we didn’t have anyone in the box and then suddenly van Persie came in at full pace and power. I thought it was going to go over the bar but the technique was perfect. It was definitely one of the best I have seen since I took charge at Arsenal. It was unbelievable.’ However Wenger was worried that van Persie had lost his temper after being wound up by Hasselbaink. He knew it could so easily have been another red card which would have prevented the wonder-goal from happening at all. As with that red card at Southampton back at the start of his time at Arsenal, Wenger was pleading with van Persie to calm down and not do anything stupid.
Wenger compared the Man of the Match to a young version of former captain Vieira, who also had something of a temper in his early years. If he could follow the example of the French colossus and stop himself getting so easily infuriated, van Persie could follow Vieira’s example. He had been a player with flaws when Wenger bought him and that is why Feyenoord charged a relatively small transfer fee.
The modest van Persie was quick to praise Eboué for setting up the shot because with a different type of delivery he would not have had the chance to score such a goal. He told the Daily Star: ‘It was a fantastic cross from Eboué. There was a little bit of a curve on the cross but, when I saw it coming, I was just focused on hitting it straight and at the heart of the ball. When I hit it I thought it was going over but it went down and it was a fantastic moment.’
Referee Mark Clattenburg could have made the afternoon a completely different one had he chosen to send van Persie off for that spat with Hasselbaink, and Wenger also revealed he had thought about taking him off.
Charlton manager Iain Dowie said the strike showed absolutely supreme technique and wished he had been at home applauding the volley rather than sitting in the dugout watching his team conceding it. He had quite rightly stolen the headlines with a fantastic performance that proved that if he could find a bit more consistency, he could easily be Arsenal’s best player.
Wenger was extremely irritated to see his players leaving for more international duty. The Dutch were distinctly off-colour in their qualifier in Bulgaria but van Persie nicked them a valuable point after being played at centre-forward. Ruud van Nistelrooy should really have been playing there but after his fall-out with Marco van Basten, the versatility of van Persie was once again desperately needed by his country. It was a brilliant response for van Persie to score with his head, and his coach later raved that he was a complete player.
The Dutch looked the worst they had done in recent years and would have struggled to get anything from their game with lowly Albania had it not been for another immense van Persie performance. He really looked on top of his game as he once again led from the front by scoring one and forcing Nevil Dede to put through his own net for the second.
Albania had only reached the European Championships finals once before and put up one hell of a fight with Debatik Curri hitting the back of the net. Van Persie appeared to now be the Netherlands’ main goal threat so they would have been relieved to see him slot the ball under the advancing goalkeeper for the opener. It was another technically perfect volley – from a bit closer than the much lauded effort against Charlton – that skidded under the goalkeeper after being set up by a series of cushioned headers reminiscent of the kids’ street football game ‘headers and volleys’.
The Albanians clearly classed van Persie as a massive threat but despite being double-marked when he received the ball, he still managed to weave a route to the penalty area and his attempted cut-back ballooned off Dede and into the goal. Those two proved good enough to get the Dutch back to winning ways but van Persie looked less than impressed as he trudged off at full-time. It had always been his message that they needed to play as a team and he would have been angered by the below-par performance put in by some of his colleagues. Unlike Arjen Robben sometimes seemed to be, van Persie was definitely not happy to do it all by himself.
After once again starring for his country van Persie was relegated to the bench for Arsenal’s game at home to Watford, as Theo Walcott was given his first start for the club. Perhaps Wenger did not want to wear him out but a decision like this sent out all the wrong signals and van Persie would have been slightly worried about the competition of the young Englishman, who put in an eye-catching performance in one of van Persie’s favoured positions out on the left.
He had cut a frustrated figure when he eventually did come off the bench but van Persie told the Daily Express it only reflected his committed attitude. If he was not getting involved or he felt something was not right, van Persie was bound to make his feelings known: ‘I’m not a guy who takes things easily in games. I always ask everything of myself and, if things aren’t going as they’re supposed to, I get very disappointed. That’s when I have to hold my temper. That’s when I have to freeze it for a few moments. This is the best way for me to get the best out of myself.’
That uncompromising attitude had earned him a reputation as a hothead but as the years progressed he was learning to take a step back and control that anger. It would always be difficult for a player who was well known for having such a temper because he would forever be tested by opponents like Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink.
They were used to the velvety surface of the Emirates and it was a nasty shock for Arsenal when they travelled to CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. The Gunners went down 1-0 in the freezing conditions as the pitch completely messed up a van Persie chance. It compared to that difficult League Cup night he had pulled through at Doncaster’s old Belle Vue stadium. Van Persie sprinted clear and a goal looked certain before the ball bobbled horribly off the turf and his momentum was taken away. Thierry Henry was livid when van Persie was through again but got caught in possession when he should really have squared to the Frenchman.
Henry lost his temper and ranted at van Persie as he felt the Dutchman wasted a perfect goalscoring opportunity. Arsène Wenger did his best to play down talk of a rift between the two strikers and said it was only natural for players to get annoyed every now and again. He said: ‘Strikers always get frustrated but I don’t see any problem with them. Robin has improved tremendously. When he came here he was not in the team at Feyenoord, and is now a regular in the Dutch national team. That tells you the strides he has made and I think he is a great player. He got frustrated on one occasion on Tuesday. He showed hesitation, touched the ball again and then it was too late as the keeper had come out. But that can happen.’
It seemed peculiar that van Persie could play so well for his country but had only scored three times for his club after nearly three months of the season. Henry was one of the greatest players in the world and would become angry when other players were not quite up to his unparalleled abilities. He would have to learn to be patient with van Persie though because the Dutchman was still trying to find that consistency so desperately needed to help him make the step up.
A great big bowl of sour grapes was the order of the day from Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho who was incensed to see his side’s players booked for leaving the pitch to celebrate goals with supporters. He pointed out that van Persie had not been shown a card after the goal at Charlton, despite leaving the pitch, hurdling advertising hoardings and climbing a set of stairs to embrace fans. It did seem bizarre that the same referee would go on to book the Chelsea players and it highlighted one of the inconsistencies in the modern game.
Van Persie was back to scoring ways when Arsenal travelled to Reading when a well-crafted team move involving Alexander Hleb and Thierry Henry saw the Dutchman casually sweep the ball home in a 4-0 win. The Number 11 was back to something like his best and had supporters foaming at the mouth when he set off on an incredible 60-yard run before flashing past a post. It would have been even better than that wonder goal at The Valley. Those old disciplinary problems returned when van Persie smashed into goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann when trying to follow up a Fabregas shot. He was extremely lucky to escape with just a word in the ear from referee Alan Wiley.
Henry said it had been a good team victory and he was right because not only were the players on song, they were combining brilliantly and Reading were not able to cope. When Everton visited the Emirates, van Persie produced another of those magical free-kicks. There were a completely unnecessary four players over the ball and they stood still as van Persie ran up, checked his run, and ran again before curling the ball over the Toffees’ wall and towards the top right-hand corner of the goal. Tim Howard was across his goal well to get a hand on the shot but there was too much power behind it and he could only deflect it into the back of the net.
It was another beautiful strike from van Persie and the Arsenal commercial team must have been rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a top-selling end-of-season DVD. As he celebrated another classic goal, Bouchra would have been glad to read reports her husband was seen ignoring the advances of several girls on a night at London’s famous Chinawhite nightclub that weekend.
CSKA Moscow again frustrated Arsenal in the return fixture at the Emirates as van Persie was one of the Gunners’ players guilty of missing golden opportunities from close range during a Cold War-style affair. It could have been a very different evening had van Persie not screwed a close-range effort over the bar with five minutes gone. He also flashed a header just wide of the far post and Henry could not understand how his side had failed to score. Van Persie had not been the only one to spurn a great opportunity, as the side just could not put the chances away. He said: ‘We had the right aggressiveness, the right attitude and played good football. We created chances once again and did not put the ball in the back of the net… Cesc had one, Robin van Persie had three. We had so many opportunities.’
After the game a very frank van Persie admitted his distribution and passing had to improve if he was to become a better player. He told the Evening Standard: ‘I want to help my teammates, I want them to trust me in every situation and know that I am there to help on the pitch. It is important for a striker to work hard for the team. That can be through goals, assists or just being there for your colleagues.’
That old message of playing as a team was back with a vengeance and van Persie was sure a more united Arsenal would be able to pick up the slack. Maybe a more unselfish attitude would have already seen the side progress from their group in the Champions League; van Persie and Cesc Fabregas were both heavily criticised for trying to go it alone too often.
The poor patch continued when van Persie fluffed his lines once more in a pathetic 1-0 defeat at West Ham. The Dutchman could have opened the scoring early on when set up by a Henry header but home keeper Robert Green was smartly down to tip the ball around the post. Once again van Persie’s temper frayed and he was booked for a rash sliding tackle after having been roughed up by Jonathan Spector.
The Upton Park fans were less than impressed with his bullish attitude and he was struck by a coin thrown from the stands. It was Hamburg away all over again as ‘flash’ van Persie was barracked by fans all afternoon, long before being substituted to a chorus of boos in the second half. It was a strange decision to pull the star off because he had been the Arsenal player who had posed the most consistent threat on the home goal. Van Persie thrived in situations like this after being brought up in the hostile environments of heated derbies back in the Netherlands.
He fell to the floor after being struck by the two-pence coin and the hostile atmosphere only got worse from then onwards. Play was halted for several minutes whilst van Persie received treatment and police officers searched for the coin on the floor.
It was often the skilful players who were targeted by home fans and with him also having been accused of rape, some opposition supporters would see van Persie as an obvious choice when looking for somebody to vent their frustrations at.
After the game the West Ham manager rightly commented that there was no place for this kind of incident in football and that he hoped the offender could be traced by looking back at CCTV camera footage. Fortunately for Arsenal, rather than being knocked back by such an incident, it would only serve to spur van Persie on and make him more determined.
The Football Association vowed to launch a thorough investigation after the game in order to make sure the offender was suitably punished. Somewhat predictably, however, footage was not able to help identify the culprit and no charges were ever made.
Former England manager Graham Taylor told The Daily Telegraph that van Persie was one of the best young talents around in the Premier League and that he was sure those recent poor performances would soon be left in the past.
Ahead of Arsenal’s clash with Liverpool, the Merseysiders’ Dirk Kuyt said he was desperate to get one over on his international teammate van Persie. Kuyt said the move to England had seen van Persie grow up quickly as he became increasingly involved in the side. He said: ‘He is growing a lot as a player and as a man. It is great to see him doing so well there.’
After that Hamburg flashpoint van Persie had insisted he was not a cheat but actions prove louder than words and he badly let himself down with a deliberate handball during the massive 3-0 win over Kuyt’s team. When he was bearing down on Pepe Reina’s goal, van Persie saw fit to punch the ball past the Spanish goalkeeper before rolling it into the unguarded net. He then had the nerve to run off in celebration before being brought back down to earth with a much-deserved yellow card from his old friend, referee Mark Clattenburg. It was completely farcical for van Persie to think he could get away with such blatant foul play – who did he think he was, Diego Maradona? After the game he insisted he was not a cheater but that he always had winning on his mind.
On 16 November 2006, Bouchra gave birth to the couple’s first child, a boy named Shaqueel. Robin was very proud they had brought a new life into the world. He would later tell the Netherlands World Cup Blog that having a child completely changed the couple’s life: ‘He’s my everything. Every day is an adventure, for him and for us, and it changed our lives. My wife and I lived a bohemian life before. Now, we are very responsible. Maybe even too much. I never used my seatbelt, for instance. Now, it’s the first thing I strap on in the car. I don’t speed anymore. My wife even loves me more now she sees me as a dad. Gilberto once said to me: motherhood is the toughest job in the world. And it is. Twenty-four hours on call. I admire her.’
The arrival of Shaqueel meant van Persie was to miss the friendly meeting between the Netherlands and England. This might have been a blessing in disguise as he had an opportunity to rest after a hectic few weeks.
With the news of his fatherhood reigniting talk about van Persie back home in the Netherlands, newspapers began saying he was the new Johan Cruyff. He would have to put up with comparisons to Cruyff and Bergkamp for the whole of his career but van Persie was now a down-to-earth player who was able to take newspaper speculation with a pinch of salt. After all, he had been stung by the press in the past so was not terribly interested in what they were saying. He said: ‘Yes, it’s flattering but I try not to think about it. I try to give it my best shot every time I’m on the field. It’s kind of people to say nice things but I don’t think “Oh my God they think I’m the next Cruyff.” I know that a month later the same people might be hammering me. That’s how life is at the top in football.’
The way things had gone so far in van Persie’s career, he was cruising for a bruising. Newcastle United’s no-nonsense midfielder Nicky Butt gave him just that with a crunching tackle that left van Persie badly limping. He had to be replaced at half-time with Arsène Wenger looking deeply concerned afterwards and saying he did not think van Persie’s foot was looking good. Fortunately he was able to train just days later and a club statement said the injury was not as serious as had first been feared.
He played an important part as Arsenal beat Hamburg 3-1 to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Germans had been on top and took an early lead before van Persie sparked a change in fortune with an important goal. Cesc Fabregas put him through with a defence-splitting ball and van Persie steadied himself before firing in at the near post. As Fabregas’ pass came to van Persie from his left-hand side, it fell more comfortably to his right foot and he confidently prodded home without making it obvious that it was his weaker foot.
He went close with a spectacular free-kick and also had an effort hacked off the line as Arsenal motored back to top the group. Van Persie had been pushed further forward in the second half as the side’s more direct approach was rewarded when the goals eventually came. Wenger labelled it a convincing comeback and praised the tenacity of a side that refused to feel sorry for itself.
As they got stuck back into some Premier League action at Craven Cottage, Antti Niemi became the latest goalkeeper to be beaten by a van Persie free-kick. He was a good 30 yards from goal and not exactly central, but once that left foot had been wrapped around the ball the Finland goalkeeper had no chance as it curled into the top left-hand corner of the goal. It was not enough for Arsenal as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat against dark horses Fulham and started to lose touch with the top of the table – now a massive 16 points behind Manchester United. Arsène Wenger had all but thrown in the towel with Arsenal way off the pace.
Former Arsenal manager George Graham chipped in with an observation that van Persie had not filled the hole left by Bergkamp because he was more of an out-and-out striker than his countryman, who was more involved in their link play. The freedom allowed to van Persie had worked wonders for the Netherlands team but Graham was not sure that approach was right for Arsenal. He said: ‘Wenger has spent money on players like Tomas Rosicky, Alexander Hleb and Robin van Persie, and I don’t really know where any of them play. They are all very comfortable on the ball and are good passers, but they drift all over the place.’
The Gunners relieved some of that pain with a 3-0 win over Tottenham – just what the doctor had ordered. Gilberto Silva twice dispatched penalties after van Persie had been fouled. However there was a fresh blot on van Persie’s name when he deliberately handled on the way to winning the second penalty. If cheating was not in his nature, why had he suddenly got the idea that it would be alright to use his hands?
Van Persie looked out of sorts as Arsenal grabbed a credible draw at second-placed Chelsea. It was another of those off-days that he said was going to become a thing of the past back in the summer. He hit a free-kick into the wall and later shot well wide of the target before putting a free header over the bar. Wenger benched him for the next league game as Emmanuel Adebayor had hit a purple patch.
The Togo striker was starting to limit van Persie’s chances of making the first team and, unlike van Persie, he was able to beat David James when Portsmouth came to town. James performed heroics with an instinctively stuck-out leg blocking van Persie’s downward header before later smothering at the striker’s feet when he looked a certainty to score. And with the Gunners stumbling their way to a 2-2 draw, van Persie’s last-minute decision to shoot from the left-hand touchline rather than pass to colleagues would have done himself no favours whatsoever.
He was back on song next week against Blackburn and it was no coincidence that Arsenal ran out 6-2 winners. Van Persie set up Gilberto Silva to head home with an inch-perfect corner-kick delivery that came straight from the training ground. Next van Persie got in on the action himself by cutting in from the right-hand flank to curl a left-footed shot into the far corner. Just minutes later he was perfectly slipped in for a beautiful second. After holding his run to perfection to beat the offside trap, he drove the ball home first time with his left foot, no questions asked. Wenger was thrilled with his second because it was the result of a magnificent collaboration between the forwards. He said it was a real Arsenal goal and was the result of great collective play.
For Arsenal’s third goal van Persie was accused of going down too easily under Lucas Neill’s challenge in the box. The Australian’s challenge was penalised and Adebayor punted in the resulting spot kick. Technically, Neill had clipped him but van Persie was widely accused of exaggerating the contact made. This was not the kind of beautiful football Arsène Wenger would have wanted his team to play.
After the game van Persie insisted that there was no better footballing side in the Premier League than Arsenal. He boasted: ‘It is frustrating, but I see it in a positive way. We are proving every week that we are the best. I watch a lot of football and sometimes I see games on TV and I think “I could never play in that team.” When I see those games, I am just happy I am in a team which plays fantastic football.’
Unfortunately for Arsenal wins are awarded to the team which puts the ball in the opposition’s net the most times and there was no reward for playing attractive football. With Arsenal still 14 points behind Manchester United, surely something didn’t quite add up.
The future certainly looked bright for van Persie and he would have been licking his lips as Arsenal were drawn against PSV Eindhoven in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
It was the Dutch way to speak your mind and worry about making enemies later and van Persie went about making no friends whatsoever ahead of the Champions League meeting with PSV Eindhoven. Van Persie set up another of his infamous controversial spats when he claimed the Premier League was better than the Eredivisie and he knew the weaknesses of every member of the squad. He could not help himself when given the chance to talk down the club that had been a fierce rival in his Feyenoord days, even if he risked making the opponents more up for the game in the process.
He made it 10 goals for the season with a timely winner in the 2-1 triumph at London neighbours Watford. Theo Walcott threaded through to the Dutchman and he cut inside at pace before curling the ball into the bottom corner to seal the three points. Wenger said van Persie had been a lot more grown-up this season and highlighted his importance to the team. He said: ‘There is some Bergkamp in him, in the way he finishes, his quick decisions and the way he strikes the ball cleanly. His goal was a great finish and now he is maturing and developing into a team player.’
It had not gone unnoticed that van Persie had weighed in with his fair share of assists this season and Wenger praised the way he had been setting up teammates instead of just shooting at the first sight of goal.
He had certainly bulked up and toughened up since joining the Gunners but van Persie was given a rough ride as his side crashed to a disastrous defeat to Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. The side had just come up from the Championship and gave Arsenal’s pampered stars a glimpse of what things were like further down the English football pyramid.
Arsène Wenger complained afterwards that the Yorkshire side had targeted van Persie unfairly and that some of the challenges made had been ‘hard to take’. There was even an allegation he had been punched by the Blades’ skipper Chris Morgan. He wailed: ‘What is physical? Is a punch in the stomach physical? I feel for a long time there is a misunderstanding between me and the press about what is physical.’ Morgan was charged with misconduct by the FA in the new year.
To rub salt into van Persie’s wounds, he was denied a last-minute equaliser when defender Phil Jagielka, who had taken over in goal from the injured Paddy Kenny, pulled off an incredible full-length diving save.
Jagielka later branded Arsenal ‘big babies’ after they had moaned their way through the 90 minutes and van Persie had even refused to shake Keith Gillespie’s hand at the final whistle, pushing the Northern Ireland man out of his way.
It was an unfortunate way to end the year but his national coach Marco van Basten said van Persie had been the best young European player in the international game in the past year and backed him for more of the same in 2007. He said van Persie was developing wonderfully under his ally Arsène Wenger and that despite his side’s gutless exit to Portugal, van Persie had been very impressive at the World Cup and was sure to go on to bigger and better things in the new year.
Van Basten told the Sunday Mirror: ‘He has so much natural talent. Before the World Cup I had a different idea about the strongest and most experienced team for Holland. Robin was not an established player yet, but when he arrived in the training camp he was unbelievably fit and so full of energy.’
The former World and European Player of the Year admitted he had completely changed his tactics in order to include van Persie in the side after he had shone so brightly in training. Van Persie was extremely fortunate that his national coach had such an open mind because a lot of managers adopt a very set idea about how their team should line up and are rarely swayed from that.
Van Persie responded by saying that without Wenger and van Basten in his life, he would have remained very much an individual and would not have learned to operate as part of a team. He admitted: ‘Before I had met Arsène Wenger and Marco van Basten I was an individual. I was aware I had been blessed with some talent, I used to do some tricks on a football pitch, but that was it. In really big matches I did not know what to do when there was no time or space for tricks and skills.
‘At Arsenal and with Van Basten I learnt to play fast and simple, I got good lessons in fast combination football. I started to make big runs for other strikers and create space for our midfielders. Coming to Arsenal and working with Van Basten are the two most important things in my career.’
That had been evident in the first half of the 2006/07 season as van Persie became a lot more involved in build-up play for Arsenal. For the Netherlands he had learned to focus his attentions to setting up chances for centre-forward van Nistelrooy from the right flank and as a result became a better team player for his club.
That team spirit shone through when van Persie scored two goals in a centre-forward role as Arsenal got their year off to a bang with a 4-0 humbling of Charlton. That made it five goals in four matches for van Persie and the Addicks must have been glad to see the back of their Dutch nemesis.
Thierry Henry marked his return to the side by opening the scoring with a penalty that was won by van Persie. Charlton defender Osei Sankofa could not deal with van Persie’s pace, panicked and dragged him down for a red card. Charlton boss Alan Pardew later claimed van Persie had gone down ‘quite dramatically’.
Van Persie scored a later penalty himself before rounding things off with another strike in the last minute to take his tally to 12 for the season.
Henry said everybody knew van Persie could score goals from the centre-forward position and that he was irresistible in his current form. He did his best to keep that great scoring run going for his teammate when he unselfishly allowed him to take that second penalty. Henry had been the player fouled in the lead-up to the spot kick but he said he was willing to pass up a chance to a teammate and was ‘not obsessed with goals’.
He added that van Persie had the potential to become one of the greatest players in the history of the Premier League: ‘If he wants it and if his head is right, like it is at the moment, he can be, in years to come, one of the best ever in the Premiership. It would be great if he finished as Arsenal’s top scorer. That would be something special for him. Robin is doing it for the national team and is doing it for Arsenal. It is up to him how far he is going to go.’
Henry challenged van Persie to see how far he could go in the game and insisted he had to be his own man. That was a view shared by van Persie as he looked to make the Number 11 shirt his own and leave Bergkamp’s hallowed Number 10 alone for now. Eleven was probably a more appropriate number for van Persie’s variety of attacking positions than 10, which had been historically associated with out-and-out strikers.
Normality was restored in the 3-1 FA Cup win at Liverpool when Henry resumed goalscoring responsibilities and van Persie dropped back to play in the supporting role he had taken to so well before Henry’s injury. Van Persie nearly netted a goal of his own but was denied by Jerzy Dudek after doing well to find the target with his right foot. The pair combined brilliantly throughout and van Persie also went close after a clever Henry clipped pass but Jamie Carragher made an impressive last-ditch tackle. It was the perfect setup for Henry as he finally had a strike partner to play alongside that he was able to form an understanding with.
With the return of Henry to the side, van Persie’s goals had magically started to dry up. He had only just got used to being the team’s focal point and leading goal threat so it must have been a shock to the system to be bumped back down once King Thierry came back from injury. Their 2-0 win at Blackburn a few days later saw things continue in a similar vein with Henry scoring and taking the plaudits whilst van Persie did his best to create chances and bring the ball forward.
Not scoring did not make him a bad player but it must have been frustrating as Henry marched straight back into the side and picked up where he left off. Lucas Neill renewed acquaintances with his old adversary by sticking to tradition and hacking van Persie down en route to goal. Van Persie did well not to lose his temper after receiving his regular slice of roughhousing.
His clash with Neill had softened up those notoriously delicate ankles and when he picked up another niggle in training, van Persie was a doubt for the clash with Manchester United. The one thing blocking his rise to stardom was his susceptibility to injury and although he was fit in time for the Emirates clash, he was soon wishing he had not been.
Coming off the bench, van Persie quickly made a big difference when he turned home a Fabregas cross to draw Arsenal level in a game they would go on to win 2-1. Disastrously, in connecting with the ball van Persie broke the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. An X-ray right after the game confirmed the injury and had Wenger deeply concerned. He said: ‘There is a big worry on Robin van Persie. He had scored a great goal coming from a very deep position and scored an unbelievable effort, but he can deliver that.’
Wenger was scared that after doing so well without Henry and then linking up with the star excellently after his return, van Persie would be missing for a lengthy period of time. He was right because despite an initial diagnosis of two months’ recovery time, this injury effectively wrote off the Dutchman’s season. He was reduced to a watching brief as Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League against PSV and made little headway in the domestic cups and were beaten to third place in the Premier League on goal difference by Liverpool. It was a poor end to the season and despite being out for a large chunk of it, Robin van Persie was Arsenal’s leading goalscorer with 13 in all competitions.