Resplendent RVP

Goals like this...



...inspire a reaction like this.

RVP 2 MUFC

With enough acronyms to make even the most well-read footie fan's head spin, RVP will be under the employ of SAF and M.U.F.C. after Wenger and the Gunners agreed (we're told reluctantly) to a 20 million pound plus deal for the 29-year striker. 

Good thing red suits him.

So what does this mean for each club?

Obviously, for Arsenal, this begs the question of who will fill the 6'1"void at the top of their formation, for, as much as he is wont to admit it, not all talent can be homegrown under the constrains and demands of today's market such that there is a need to go out and make purchases to fill out a line-up.  Indeed, Arsene Wenger's men were found wanting in the midfield as adequate replacements for Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri (the latter despite his insipid attitude) had not been found. 

The good news is that this time 'round they can call upon newly-signed Lukas Podolski and the-only-marginal-bright-spot-from-France's-Euro-2012-foray Olivier Giroud.  Both seem suited to the free-flowing style Wenger prefers, though Podolski in particular seems to have more to prove after two sub-par seasons with Koln, following his relegation to bit player at Bayern and an inability to recapture his national team form circa 2006 (not to judge or anything...).  Nevertheless, there has been some serious contemplation of life post-RVP for A.F.C., which is an improvement over a year ago.

In terms of Man Utd, the fact that they missed out on the Premier League title by one goal could not be far from their minds as they fought off advances from City, Juve and others to secure the signature of the League's top scorer.  And, despite my well-known distaste for one Wayne Rooney, even I must admit that the Red Devils striker pairing is the stuff of a Fantasy Football fan's wet dreams.  Whether they can play together, of course, remains to be seen, but I am inclined to believe that van Persie's finesse will be a nice complement to Rooney's bullish charms *cough, cough* (excuse me, as I have just managed to choke on my own words...).  Moreover, pace say a Berbatov, RVP is not disinclined to create on his own and provide for others, ranking as the top assist man in the Premiership last year, while still scoring 40% of his team's goals. 

More than this though, there has to be a definite psychological boost to Man Utd's legions, as they have finally made a big signing on par with what their cross-town rivals have been doing in spades.  It must be all the more sweet the City was in the running for this one as well.  With the ever-increasing importance of deep pockets in the sport, it is imperative that the Red Devils do not fall behind the pace, which, contrary to Real Madrid and Man City form, does not mean splashing out huge sums for every big name on the market, but rather making strategic acquisitions upon a sober assessment of needs and talent vis-a-vis the competition and not being thrown off by the going rates for said players.  This is exactly what Ferguson and Co. have done here, and, in terms of personnel moves, the fans cannot ask for much more coming in to the new season.  

Lessons Learned

Today's Netherlands - Germany clash was a microcosm of the overarching trend of these Euros.

Here are a few things that I've learned from the game which can be applied to matches past and ones yet to be played:

1) Confidence is the single biggest determining factor of a striker's success.  

Quality of service and defensive shape be damned.  If you hit the ball with the breezy confidence of one "Super Mario" Gomez it cannot help but go in.  However, if your shot exhibits all the conviction of Mitt Romney's position on healthcare a la Robin van Persie's sorry excuse for a strike in the sixth minute, a positive outcome is unlikely to ensue.   It's quite like the difference between Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time" days and Spears' form post head shaving meltdown.  The latter is just not pretty.

Cheer up there chap - it will only get better once you do.

Whether it's the contrast that Torres and di Natale so sharply brought into focus or the marked difference in the strike rate of van Persie and Gomez, a lack of self confidence is a self-inflicted, self-reinforcing wound for a striker.

Forwards are often faulted for their egos off the pitch, but their inflated sense of self seems to be a key differentiator between the class of Euro 2012 and its rejects on it

2) You must play to win the game, not just play to not lose it.  

The Dutch have put on a master class on the latter throughout the tournament.  Not only was Bertie's decision to start with two holding midfielders against Denmark, leaving the attacking prowess of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Raphael van der Vaart on the bench, indefensible in a game which you would likely need to win to progress, but it also had the perverse effect of providing the basis for the Dane's positive play.  Michael Khron-Dehli et al were able to capitalize at the back because the Dutch were not able to kill off the game before they got their goal against the run of play, at which point Holland promptly proceeded to fall to pieces (confidence also being an important factor in overall team performance).

Still not good enough, Bomsie.

Put another way, starting Huntelaar and van der Vaart would've increased the odds of the Dutch playing up to their potential (the Hunter's 12 goals in 8 qualification games supporting this theory).   But that wasn't what van Marwijk's chose.  Why?  Because his personnel choices were based on a desire not to lose the game, which is not to be confused with actually winning it.  No matter that he chose a defensive midfield duo that couldn't defend, the reason they got the start was part and parcel of a plan for cautious play.  The famed Dutch attacking prowess be damned, better to be pragmatic about the whole bit, eh?  Well, we all know how that turned out.

More generally, you may find further proof of this phenomenon in the first forty-five minutes of both of Greece's outings and Sweden's "cowardly" opener against co-hosts Ukraine.

3) Don't underestimate the difficulty of making the simplest thing look easy.

The set-up for Gomez's brace was the result of simple, straightforward passing; his finishes, as clinical as the preceding delivery, appearing to be effortless in its execution. Or so we are meant to believe.

That's not so hard, now is it?

It is that very effortlessness that is the hallmark of a great team. Germany's passing was not the intricate stuff of Brazilian wet dreams, but it was purposeful, crisp and clean, and no easy feat (though, I wouldn't say it hurts the cause of cohesion when eight of your side play on the same club side).


Growing up, I was told that, if you are going to do something, do it well or not at all, but to do it well is in and of itself no easy task, especially at this level.  What will separate the great from the good in Euro 2012 and beyond is the ability to make more moments like Mario - true quality lies in making the Herculean appear attainable.

In the Immortal Words of Homer Simpson: D'OH!

Spot the similarities?

37 goals in 10 qualifying games? The ability to call upon the top scorer in the Premier League AND the Bundesliga?  No matter, it only takes one well heeled Danish counter attack to undo the attacking confidence of the Dutch side.

De Oranje have faced similar criticism before.  The fluid passing of their Total Football approach has all too often been marred by an impotency in front of goal.  Their breezy movement around the pitch no match for the no nonsense, hard tackling approach favored by other sides.  (Well, that was until South Africa 2010, which saw the Dutch place second on the back of a cynical, albeit generally effective, effort.)

It was supposed to be different this time.  On the back of an impressive qualifying campaign and, most recently, a 6-0 drubbing of Northern Ireland, the Netherlands came into this match professing the attacking promise and deep experience (the most experienced in the tourney, in fact, averaging 42 caps per player) that other sides would kill for.  Point in fact, Huntelaar and Van der Vaart spent the first 70 minutes on the bench (more on that later).

And it all went according to plan...well, for the first 23 minutes, after which Michael Krohn-Dehli's opportunistic strike - and Maarten Stekelenburg's incompetent goalkeeping - sucked the life out of the Dutch in a manner not dissimilar to recent trends in Facebook's stock price.

Keeping with previous international form, RVP proved a disappointment throughout, wrong footed on a number of occasions and completely lacking in the sharpness expected from someone who just netted 30 league goals for Arsenal (see CR7 for a paradigmatic example of this phenomenon). Even the late intros of Huntelaar, who has finally found his footing at Schalke, and the dynamic Van der Vaart were not enough to lift the by then harried Holland side, though they did contribute some new ideas and went about their work with a sense of conviction otherwise lacking from the Dutch (save Sneijder, a singular consistent bright spot in the side) in the second half.


Exhibit A: Sneijder's magnificent through ball to Huntelaar and the ancillary chances that were created.  The last twenty minutes made the case for The Hunter up front with Sneijder as Trequartista for the Oranje's next outing against Germany.

Credit the Danes, though, who, while defensive throughout, benefitted from stand out performances from Krohn-Dehli, Simon Paulsen and Daniel Agger, and pushed the counter-attack when the opportunity arose.  In the end, it wasn't a shocker, just a case of one side taking advantage of 8 goal attempts, while the other wasted 28.

Apparently the Placenta Fluid Didn't Work

Robin van Persie will be out until at least April (and very possibly through the end of the season) as the ligament damage he suffered on his ankle during international duty has proven worse than originally anticipated.

Despite his admirable, if unorthodox, efforts to regain fitness, Arsenal will be without their most effective attacking player. This is doubly concerning for the young Gunners, who have traditionally had trouble finishing, and who are without the significant striking presence of the departed Emmanuel Adebayor and the injured Nicklas Bendtner.

As such, Wenger has decided to foray into the transfer market during the January window. Apparently the Frenchman has eyes for Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, but it's still to be seen whether Bordeaux will be willing to let go of their prized player.