By Myles Palmer

_____________________

SOME FOOTBALLERS are chatty and laidback, like Charlie Nicholas and Thierry Henry.

Others have a short fuse, like Denis Law, Cantona, Rooney, Ibrahimovic and Robin van Persie.

Van Persie was unlucky to be sent off in the 2-1 win aganst FC Thun.

It wasn't anger, it wasn't retaliation, and it wasn't a second yellow.

Since he's had a car crash, been sent off twice for Arsenal, been jailed while rape allegations were investigated, some people think RVP is an accident waiting to happen.

I don't.

He has size, skill and bottle and I still think that, long-term, he may help Arsenal to have big nights.

BIG NIGHTS in my book are like 1967, the Lisbon Lions of Celtic, 1989, Mickey Thomas at Anfield, 1999, Man United's treble at the Nou Camp, turning Bayern over in injury time, 2005, Liverpool 3-0 down to AC Milan in Istanbul but winning the European Cup on penalties.

Those are big nights, historic nights, legendary games whose drama echoes across the decades.

And Arsenal have not had enough of those nights to become a giant club that can stand tall among the biggest clubs in football.

HOWEVER, I have a gut feeling that Robin van Persie is a player that can help them do that.

A special player who can do special things, he's still young, still learning the game, still fighting for his first team place.

If I had to think of a player who might score a really dramatic goal at a vital moment, like Charlie George did in the FA Cup final against Liverpool, it would be Robin van Persie.

It's just a feeling, just a guess. Nobody can predict football results, let alone football careers.

We'll see. We'll take each game as it comes.

It's the start of the season and it's been a stuttering start for a lot of teams and a lot of players.

September 15th 2005

Home | Previous News'99 | Features | Comment | Interact | Search | Links | Subscribe