Tag: Van Persie

Former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has been appointed head coach of his formative club Feyenoord, the Dutch outfit has announced

The 41-year-old was in his first post as a head coach at Heerenveen and leaves them in ninth spot with immediate effect.

Van Persie said he could not wait to get to work at Feyenoord, who are third in the Dutch top flight and take on Inter Milan in the Champions League last-16.

 “Everyone knows how special my bond with Feyenoord is,” said Van Persie who was assistant coach under Dick Advocaat before taking over at Heerenveen last May.

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He also started his playing career at the club before moving to England where he won the Premier League with Manchester United and the FA Cup with Arsenal.

After a spell at Fenerbahce, he returned to Feyenoord for his final year as a player.

“We are delighted that with Robin van Persie we can appoint a true club icon as the new coach of Feyenoord,” said Feyenoord manager Dennis te Kloese.

Robin van Persie promised that he and his Heerenveen players would “keep playing our own game” and would not be “traumatised” after suffering a record 9-1 defeat at AZ Alkmaar in the Dutch league.

It was only the former Netherlands, Arsenal and Manchester United striker’s fourth match as a manager after being appointed head coach of Heerenveen in May.

“This is tough,” said the 41-year-old, who scored 50 goals in 102 international appearances. “You’ll encounter a number of bumps in your career. This was a very big bump. We learned a few more lessons from this match than we normally would.”

Sven Mijnans opened the scoring for AZ after just four minutes but Luuk Brouwers equalised for Heerenveen midway through the first half.

Former Tottenham striker Troy Parrott, 22, soon put the home side back in front with his first goal for AZ since a £6.7m summer move from north London.

Things quickly turned sour for the visitors at the start of the second half as Republic of Ireland front man Parrott added a further three goals in just eight minutes.

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Van Persie then watched his side concede a further four goals in the final 20 minutes to give AZ Alkmaar their record win in the Eredivisie, moving them up to second place in the table.

It was also the first time Heerenveen had conceded nine goals in the league and leaves them 12th  in the table, with four points from Van Persie’s first four games in charge.

“This is part of football. I have not been traumatised by this and neither have my players,” said Van Persie.

“Even when things aren’t going your way, with three goals in quick succession in the second half, it’s important to keep doing the things you agreed on.

“We’ll keep playing our own game. That’s what I believe in and what we believe in.”

Robin van Persie’s coaching debut ended in defeat yesterday as Heerenveen lost their opening game of the new season in the Netherlands at Ajax Amsterdam.

A goal from Kristian Hlynsson was enough to send Heerenveen home without any points and leave the former Dutch international striker, who played at Arsenal and Manchester United, feeling they had missed out on an opportunity.

“Based on the entire match, there might have been more in it,” Van Persie told television reporters afterwards.

“We had a few chances in the first half. We had hoped that one of them would have gone in and created a bit more belief. In the second half, you could see our intentions but we didn’t really create any chances.”

That is what he said he would work on for the next game.

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“We are going to face FC Utrecht next week in high spirits.

“With this way of playing, I cannot promise that we will win every match, but in terms of intensity and sometimes also quality, this is football as I think you should play it. We will show that every week,” he added.

The 41-year-old Van Persie, who scored 50 goals in 102 internationals for the Netherlands, was taken on Feyenoord’s coaching staff after he retired from playing in 2020, before joining Heerenveen.

They will play their first home match of the season against Utrecht on Saturday.