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Gunners boss believes Van Persie's attitude
is spot-on
This
is local London
Monday 15 September 2008
Arsene Wenger was pleased to see
Robin van Persie hand strike partner Emmanuel Adebayor
the chance to score from the spot in Arsenal's 4-0 win
over Blackburn at the weekend, insisting it illustrates
the 'collective spirit' oozing through the squad.
Van Persie opened the scoring on
Saturday with his third goal of the league campaign
and as the Gunners' number one penalty taker was steeling
himself to take the team's second-half spot-kick after
Emmanuel Eboue had been brought down.
But Adebayor, whose first-half header was his first
goal of the season, requested to take the penalty and
van Persie duly stood aside, allowing his team-mate
to score and give him the confidence to go on and complete
a morale-boosting hat-trick. That generosity delighted Wenger, and the Frenchman
knows it is a good sign that the squad are growing together
as they prepare to launch a title charge this season.
"I like the fact that Van Persie gave him the
penalty," Wenger told the club's official website.
"That is good for the team spirit as he had not
scored before today in the league this season. In the
end he got a hat-trick and that will give him the needed
confidence. "The number one penalty-taker is Van Persie, the
number two is Adebayor. But they have the right to reverse
it. So this decision is down to Van Persie. He gave
the ball to Adebayor, who had asked him if he could
take it.
"Last week, Van Persie scored
two, this weekend Adebayor scored two as well. I believe
this shows that the team has a collective spirit and
everybody can score."
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