“What happened today will not change my mind”

Robin van Persie will take the next penalty kick Arsenal earns as long as he is present on the pitch.

The Dutchman is a sublime finisher in front of goal with either foot, but dispatching spot-kicks is more a question of calmness and focus than just goalscoring ability.

And as Van Persie proved on Saturday, his adrenaline rush can get the better of him sometimes as he blasted the ball against Wigan’s Al Habsi. The 27-year-old did go on to prove his miss was indecisive when he completed his match winning hat-trick before being substituted.

Fabregas – who has had his spot-kick misses in the past against Stoke City last season and Man. City earlier this campaign – was the first-choice taker in Van Persie’s absence while the likes of Tomas Rosicky (against Sunderland) and Andrey Arshavin (against Partizan) have also had their bloopers from the spot in vital moments this season.

Indeed, only Samir Nasri has a perfect PK record – which includes two strikes in tense moments at Tottenham during the 4-1 Carling Cup win in September.

And following Van Persie’s show of impatience from 12 yards out on Saturday, the debate over Arsenal’s coolest head from the spot will go on as there may come a time when such an opportunity will decide games, but Wenger insists Van Persie’s miss will not see any teammate take over his role.

“[Van Persie has] always [been the No 1 penalty taker]. What happened today will not change my mind. I find it’s difficult to approve when the ball goes into the stand on the penalty, no matter how tolerant you are! I would have loved the ball to go in the net.” Wenger said.

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Steve of Chiang Mai - January 22nd, 2011 at 9:13 PM

Fair play to the Wigan keeper who went the right way….and I believe surprised RVP into making a mistake – he would normally put the ball in the keepers right corner and the fact that he went to the keepers left and the keeper went the right way put Robin off – on another day, against another opponent the keeper might have been MOTM

w12mcee - January 22nd, 2011 at 9:41 PM

your right, it was adrenalin and a reminder to him of what sort of mindstate to be in when taking pens. steve’s comment said he’d usually go for the right corner, not always, that was just his last one and he was being cautious. many times he blast’s it up into the roof at an angle thats unreachable for keepers. him and ronaldinho are two of the best who i’d noticed to do that. it looks great and is basically unstoppable, but it takes alot of concentration and technique. today he was a bit excited. he is no.1 pen taker and rightly so.

Lawrence J Beadle - January 22nd, 2011 at 10:15 PM

Don,t get to judgemental guys .who ha NOT missed a penalty.I am old enough to recall as a boy the great Ted Drake miss one. Even with his hair parted down the middle. i am that old!!!! Go Go Gunners

gunnerwilliam - January 22nd, 2011 at 10:50 PM

I think it’s fair to say after converting five to eight penalties any player will miss. So far I don’t know what’s the record number of succesful conversion.
Today the gunners were not harassed and harried like in the first game against Leeds.I would like to see how they cope when they are under pressure by Everton.
Anyway the gunners defence have not been been put under pressure by Wigan. So it’s too early to draw any conclion. My take is if Wenger is serious about winning the title, he should go for a quality cd and not some over the hill or crock.
If he really gets someone like Cahill,I think the gunners stand a reasonably good chance against Barcelona.

augustus ighonmieyetan - January 22nd, 2011 at 10:54 PM

agreed with lawrence beadle…whl has not missed a penalty,he scored against west ham,missed against wigan.dat’s football.look the world and show me one penalty expact…..

The BearMan - January 22nd, 2011 at 11:31 PM

I agree, RVP will not be fazed the next he is called upon. But I feel certain he will look back with a tiny regret???

If Mr. Wenger have no intentions of paying over the odds for a CB, and I agree Cahill at 25m or even 20m is way over priced! It would be better we ready a few of our reserves or get one on loan. Personally, I would end the attachment and get Chris Samba myself.

AnonymousGun - January 22nd, 2011 at 11:49 PM

Can we just lay off a bit on talks about transfer.. goddamnit. Let the manager worry about the team.. enjoy the win dammit. Off tangent at every opportunity to talk about a CB, a DM ..

Have faith with the team dammit..

wenger - January 23rd, 2011 at 1:50 AM

i have never seen adebayor miss a penalty.somebody prove me wrong

Randy Osae - January 23rd, 2011 at 5:18 AM

You are right. Indeed, during his Arsenal career Emmanuel Adebayor converted every single penalty kick he took – most of them coming in 2007/08, the season after Henry left.

Adebayor always used the style of placement (sidefooting the ball low) rather than power (where the ball is blasted)

Van Persie was actually the main taker at the start of that 07/08 season and he scored a PK in an opening day 2-1 comeback win over Fulham but he later missed a PK in a home 1-0 win over Man. City and Adebayor took over that role for a while.

Rupe - January 23rd, 2011 at 3:14 AM

As RVP himself said, he was feeling the pressure of going for his first ever hat-trick.

Won’t be feeling that pressure again, will he? 😉

And on the bright side, it’s always a good giggle being relaxed enough about a match to be able to sing “what the f***ing hell was that?” to one of your own players 😀

Yesterday was the best Arsenal performance for a long long time, and Robin was back to his best. This is not a day for negativity!!!

henrok jenk - January 23rd, 2011 at 10:05 AM

I do not understand when someone say Chris Samba technical skill and ball control when he is very effective as a centre-foward when blackburn tries to get back into a game. If people do not want him to join arsenal for `other` reasons pliz do not lie.