RVP: Attacking Reds deserve penalty tally

FORMER United forward Robin van Persie has moved to defend the club’s penalty record this season.

Bruno Fernandes scored from the spot on Monday night to book the Reds into tomorrow night’s Europa League semi-final against Sevilla.

The penalty was United’s 21st of the season in all competitions, and they have also broken the Premier League record for penalties awarded in a campaign.

Much has been made of the number of spot kicks the Reds have won, but the Dutchman believes his old side are simply being rewarded for playing more attacking football.

“If you get 21 penalties in a season, it shows you that you’re attacking a lot, you know?” Van Persie said.

“Maybe a couple of them could or could not be a penalty, maybe a little bit tricky, but even then you’re attacking and in a situation where the referee can give a penalty. I think it’s a good thing that they’re getting so many.”

And Van Persie says he is impressed with Bruno Fernandes’ accuracy from the spot for the Reds as he added to his tally against Copenhagen.

“Bruno has his very own unique style of taking them, but what I like is that he mixes it up,” he said.

“He’s not only doing that funny jump...it looks so strange to me because it’s not the way I used to take penalties, but he’s been doing it for so long. He hasn’t missed for four years.

“What I did like against FC Copenhagen is he changed his style - the keeper waited and he went fast.

“That shows you that he’s a worldclass penalty taker, because you have to mix it up.

“You have to go left, you have to go right, he’s doing the jump, but to be able to adjust, even with penalties, it shows you that he’s a world-class player.

“You have to come up with something new and he’s doing that, and it’s working. As long as it works, perfect.”

The former United man also opened up on his technique from 12-yards, saying: “My style was to take control. The ones I missed were when I was thinking about what the keeper was thinking, and where I was about to shoot it.

“But in the end I said ‘I will just take control, I will put it down how I want to put it down, I choose the corner and I will not change my mind.’

“Even if the keeper goes to that corner, I just have to make that penalty so perfect that out of 50 penalties, 49 should go in.

“My tip for people learning to take penalties is to take control.

“You have the ball, not the goalkeeper.

“The goalkeeper is reacting to you and make sure your penalty is accurate. You can practice that.”