This guy has been an impressive performer at the last two World Cups.

Two of his great strengths, are Running With The Ball and 1v1 Attacking skills.

When he runs with the ball, or ball carries, he does it at great speed, having tight, close ball control, when needed, and takes
the bigger touches when he has space in front of him. Robben also keeps his head up well, so he can scan the field of play. His balance is also good, in that opponents struggle to push him off the ball.

In Robben's 1v1 Attacking skills, he uses the body swerve, or shoulder feint, as this move is also known, having a particular good one on his left side. He also utilises the Matthews cut, also known as the inside and outside of the foot diagonal dribble, with a preferred foot.

In addition he uses the standard cut, the inside of the foot move which has an exaggerated body fake to the same side. Robben doesn't often use the flashy stepovers, that Cristiano R uses, such as the Brazilian stepover, the reverse stepover and inside foot rolls or drags. With Robben's preferred evasion moves little can go wrong.

Robben is also a good passer and mover in confined space ash an attacking combination player.

A few days ago he was recored as the fastest player at the World Cup, at 37kph. Travis Dodd has been recorded at 34kph. Usain Bolt, world sprint record holder, has been recored at 45kph.

You wanna know how you know Robben is so good?

The defender knows he's going left, the whole world knows he's going left, but he still goes left anyway.

FIFA's tracking stats have him clocked at a high speed of 31.03

Not sure where the 37km/h reports came from

I read something on another site, I'm not sure where, but a Dutch newspaper said he was clocked at 37 kph and then compared it with Bolt's 45kph.

This.

*le cut inside man*

The other facet of play that is noteworthy I forgot to mention, is Robben has an excellent first touch.

He can stop it dead or receive with the inside and outside of the foot, taking the ball away from his opponent, particularly receiving the ball from the back of the pitch and turning to the front in limited time and space.

Despite all that, which I agree with, I am absolutely stumped that somebody at that level can be so fucking useless with their 'other' foot. Even in 1v1 when he goes right, he still has to unbalance himself a bit to use his left.

What I find amazing is his acceleration and both his ability and determination to stay upright. It doesn't matter how hard defenders try and bring him down he rarely lets it happen - they'll be hanging off his shirt and swinging at his feet but he just keeps on running.

Australia actually did an exceptional job at stopping him from coming inside from the right, which is something Robben is known for. IIRC it was McKay and Oar who were mostly tasked with this and did an excellent job, their high fitness levels helping them get back and block the inside run of Robben and letting Davidson cover the wide run. Top marks to them for that, and of course for Ange on driving home the importance of it.

Great player. Have a lot of time for him.

Good player but a diving hack. Genuinely one of my most hated players.

Edited by jlm8695: 26/6/2014 02:37:59 AM

Will never understand why this always gets thrown at players who are left footed, yet never gets mentioned about players who use their left foot for nothing more than standing on.

When he goes right, he often uses the inside of his left foot, usually after a fake on the other side, or an outside of the foot touch with his left foot.

This usually has the effect of a fake. Hence, when Robben dribbles with the inside of the left foot, going right, the defender is usually slightly off balance from the previous outside of the left foot fake.

I've been just as critical of Leckie and his non-existent left foot in this WC.

I think it's more often a problem with left-footed players. I cannot speak from experience in football, but growing up on Australian Rules us right-footed kids were always encouraged to mix it up with our left foot but the left footers ignored. Perhaps I'm implying a link that in reality doesn't exist, but that's my experience.

Strangely I'm very precise with my left but can get a lot more power from my right. I also write with my left hand but throw with my right, I don't believe this is very common.

He's not as bad as many. I'd say he's up there as one of the best in the world. Not just on skill but because he turns up in big games, unlike Ronaldo who completely fell apart against Germany.

The psychologists use the phrase 'mixed laterality' for this phenomenon.

Been my favourite player for a long time. Those runs down the wing for Bayern and the Dutch are just thrilling to watch.

I've noticed that the last few times he has gone right, he has still managed to cross the ball with the outside of his left boot, I don't know what everyone else calls it, we call it the 'banana' in our team, instead of using his weaker right foot. I was actually impressed by how far he is taking his one footedness.

As long as we are talking about him, does anyone remember the goal he scored against Man U a few years ago in the Champion's League? Pumped a volley off a corner straight into the back of the net, it was a bullshit amazing goal.

Agree with previous comments though, grub. Great when he stays on his feet, but he doesn't.

Interesting point. I think a leftie, as a rare commodity, gets plonked out to LB or left wing and that's basically that.

"A" grade diving prick.

https://vine.co/v/MFgBWT7j03K/embed

Make your own mind up.


Edited by Heineken: 30/6/2014 09:54:21 PM

Looks like a penalty, he gets tripped.

But it's the flop while in mid air that makes it look like a dive.

Edited by axelv: 30/6/2014 09:56:36 PM

Barely got touched.

Sick of pricks saying "there was contact". So what? Soccer is a contact sport.

Was that tackle likely to be called anywhere else on the park as a free? I doubt it.

Flopping diving bastard who should have been carded for his 3 earlier dives. Had he been carded earlier I'm betting he would have tried to stay on his feet there lest he get a second yellow.

Disgraceful.

Deserves to be retrospectively banned for any dives (take your pick) that he did last night.

Watch the highlights here http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/worldcupvideo/item?vh-video=1274950&%3Bvh-asset=1&%3Bvh-match=51

45+ clear penalty chopped twice instanteously
68 searching for a penalty, no contact, was a dive, should have been carded
74 would have been a penalty, but chose to evade and keep going
90+ penalty, look at the multiple angles, he propels himself forward and gets tripped on the way, he’s got nowhere to go but down, it’s the mid air theatrics however that make it look more dramatic.

Robben admitted to diving, refering to the 68th minute, but maintains the rest were not a case as he is correct.

If anything, Mexico should consider themselves lucky for not conceding 3 penalties in this game. And they’ve got no-one to blame but themselves for being unable to defend legitimately in the most dangerous area of the field. They couldn’t deal with Robben, and they crumbled mentally in the final minutes of the match. It would have felt like a dagger in the heart for them, but it was also up to the Dutch to never give up and go for the win.

Edited by axelv: 1/7/2014 03:27:10 PM

He has pace that is it.

He is always looking to dive in the box. Hate him

One trick pony. I can't understand why he hasn't been found out yet.

Because he is so good at what he does well.

I don't know, it might mean he's not actually a one trick pony.

I think about sums it up re Robben - and most likely why he's disliked so much, if only he took away his diving/acting he'd be looked upon as a great player more openly instead of distain.

Diving cheat and gives ammo to those "all they do is dive in sokkah/sokkah is a soft game" people