Oh, Arjen Robben

Today we take a look at a player mostly eveybody hates, but only a few people like him! His name is Arjen Robben. Most people thing he is a selfish player, who doesn't ever look up and takes curling left-footed strikes at the goal, when he could clearly pass it. Now I actually like Robben and think he does have some fancy footwork, great passing ABILITY, and an amazing shooter. Arjen Robben

Arjen Robben was born in Bedum, Netherlands on January 23, 1984. He went on to play on the youth club vvBedum. Then Robben started his proffesional career in the 2001/2002 season at
FC Groningen. After one season with them he moved on to another team, PSV Eindhoven. Later, after two seasons with them he went to a more famous club we all know, Chelsea FC. In the 04/05 season he missed the run to the UEFA Champions League Semifinals, with an injury. His injury problems has been one of the weaknesses of his career. After three seasons with the English Premier League Club Chelsea, he moved on to the La Liga team Real Madrid. Then after two seasons with them he finally moved on to the team where he is today, Bayern Munich. Some say that he has been at his best at Bayern Munich, even though he did have an injury earlier this season. He helped lead Bayern Munich to the double in the 2009/2010 season.

Now that we have a little background on Arjen Robben we can look at stats and why everybody pretty much hates him! This year Arjen Robben had 12 goals and 5 assists in Bundesliga play. He did not make the top 20 in assists, but was tied for 12th in the league top scorers. So yes, I guess you could say in the 11/12 Bundesliga season Robben was for selfish that others since Frank Ribery had 12 assists and 12 goals and Klaas-Haan Huntelaar had 29 goals and 8 assists. But if you go back a season Robben had 12 goals with 8 assists. So he is not all selfish. Another huge reason people hate him is he can not always finish under pressure. He missed a penalty kick against Dortmund this season which pretty much ruined Bayern's chances of a title. He missed one in the Champion's league final. But then you also have to remember that he made one against Real Madrid in the Semi-Finals! Then you could go to his injury record over the years, but I would say he has improved the last two years. His performance for his national team has not always been great, but look at everybody else this year in the Euro 2012 for the Netherlands, they haven't exactly been up to their high standards. So there is really no way to tell if you should hate or love Arjen Robben. I would say I love the ability that he has to dribble around people, do fancy passes, and take nice strikes at the goal. But if you want to say that he is selfish and he just wants personal glory the choice is up to you!

Well that's it today, France plays Ukraine later. Then after that its England vs Swedeen!