IntoTheTopCorner One Love, One Game The Robin Van Persie Effect? Posted by Jeremy Hunter In the summer of 2012, Robin van Persie dropped a bombshell. He decided he did not like the direction his team, Arsenal, was headed in. So, he requested a transfer. Top teams around the world were alerted and quickly got involved in the sweepstakes. England’s best knew that if they could land him, they would be in the pole position for the Premier League title in the upcoming season. Pundits everywhere predicted that whichever top team Van Persie chose, a league championship was sure to follow. And they were right. Arsenal sold him to Manchester United on August 17th and his new club claimed the league title in impressive fashion. Van Persie has scored 26 goals in the 38 league games in which he’s played, an impressive stat. Twice he’s been named Premier League Player of the Month (December 2012 and April 2013) and came in second in the Football Writers Association Player of the Year voting. That is quite a debut season by anyone’s standard. But, how much did Van Persie’s transfer really impact his new team, the title race, and the squad that he unceremoniously left behind? Let’s first examine his former employers. Arsenal finished last season with a total of 70 points in their 38 games played, good for 3rd in the Premier League. This year Arsenal finished on 73 points after 38 games – good enough for 4th place in the league and just two points out of the top three. The Gunners passed last season’s point total without RVP in their lineup. And, the drop to 4th place is minimized due to the fact that fourth still sees Arsenal qualify for the Champions League next season. Van Persie led the league in scoring at Arsenal last year with 30 goals. So, surely, Arsenal haven’t scored at the same rate without him, right? Arsenal ended the season with 72 goals, just two less than they scored last year. That’s a pretty insignificant difference. How could Arsenal be this good without such a talent at their avail? Arsene Wenger used the money that he received from the sale of RVP wisely. He brought in attacking midfield maestro Santi Cazorla, talented center-forward Olivier Giroud, and scoring winger Lukas Podolski to strengthen his squad. Wenger knew he was never going to get one single player to replace Van Persie’s talent, so he brought in a few. With or without RVP, Arsenal was not going to win a league title or make any Champions League noise this year – they are still a couple of impact players away. But the numbers say they are not considerably worse than they were last year. Given the added depth they have at key positions, I would argue that they are even better. On to the new champions. Manchester United were a perennial powerhouse even before RVP joined the squad. Sir Alex Ferguson expects a league title each and every year, and his teams typically do not disappoint. Last season, United suffered the heartbreak of coming up just short (on goal differential) of the championship on the last day of the season. Rivals Manchester City scored in stoppage-time against Queens Park Rangers to win the title in dramatic fashion. Ferguson vowed his team would bounce back stronger the next year. Sure enough, Manchester United claimed the league title with a whole month of the season yet to be played! So the goal scoring of Van Persie made United a significantly better team this year, right? Last season, Manchester United finished with 89 points in their 38 games. This season also they finished on 89 points. Nothing at all seperating the two season as far as overall points are concerned. What about goal scoring? Last season, Manchester United scored 89 goals in 38 games. This season – 86 goals. Well, the number of goals scored has dropped. Interesting. I’m not trying to illustrate that Van Persie has not improved Manchester United. But, perhaps the biggest factor in the title race this year hasn’t been the acquisition of RVP, but, rather, the poor form of last season’s champions. Manchester City has had a very poor campaign in comparison to their last one. They finished with 11 points less than last season and 11 points behind United. They have scored 27 goals fewer and have allowed five more goals than they did in the whole of 2011-2012. After the jubilation of winning the league last season, City has endured a tumultuous campaign. Their dramatic drop off in production opened the door for a hungry United team, who pounced on the opportunity to run away with the league title. How has RVP impacted the other competitions? Manchester United was eliminated in both the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup competitions. Some do not covet these tournaments like they do the league title, but it’s still worth noting. In the Champions League, the tournament that pits the best teams from Europe’s elite leagues against each other, United did fare a bit better than last year. They did win Group H after not making it out of the group stage last season. But they were eliminated in the Round of 16, a disappointing finish for a team with lofty expectations. How else has the acquisition of RVP affected Manchester United? Having him in the lineup has arguably stunted the growth of a couple of emerging attacking talents. Danny Welbeck and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez have started fewer games this season with the Dutchman in the fold. Both guys play for their national teams and have previously been viewed as the future of the club. Wayne Rooney, prolific goal-scorer and England star, has also found himself on the bench more often. He has scored only 12 goals after potting 27 last season. The former Everton teenager has spent some time out with injury, but most fans and pundits would agree that he doesn’t look like the Wayne Rooney of old. Manchester United have been far and away the best, most consistent team in the Premier League this season. This cannot be disputed. But, could they have won the title without Robin van Persie? I believe so. Sir Alex Ferguson could have used the £24million spent on Van Persie and strengthened his squad in other areas. Or, he could have simply stood pat and let his team perform as they did last season. That would have been enough, given the collapse of Manchester City. Arsenal, meanwhile, have survived just fine without him, and finishing with four more points than last season. My point is, Manchester United and Arsenal are good teams. It is often said that one person does not make or break a team, but, there are exceptions. It’s fair to say that Tottenham Hotspur would be a mid-table squad (or worse) without heroic performances from Gareth Bale. Aston Villa (my beloved Claret and Blues) would have joined the likes of Wigan Athletic, Queens Park Rangers and Reading on the relegation bus without the goal-scoring of The Belgian Beast, Christian Benteke. The easy headline is that the acquisition of Robin van Persie shaped the 2012/13 Premier League season. But, take a closer look. His new team isn’t significantly better with him, and his old team isn’t significantly worse in his absence. This article was written by Jeremy Hunter. You can follow him on twitter @AstonVillansUSA. You can also view his writing regularly on his blog, youdidntwritethis.tumblr.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:22:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015