Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville says that Robin van Persie should improve his performances this season in order to help his team get results. However, he says that the striker is alone not responsible for the average performances he has put in this campaign. Van Persie, who signed for United back in 2012 for £ 24 million, helped the club in the Premier League in his first season, which also turned out to be Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season in charge a manager. Since then, however, van Persie has struggled for fitness and form. It was heavily expected that the arrival of Louis van Gaal would propel the striker back to the top of the goal scoring charts, but it has not happened yet.
The striker did score in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, but he was unable to provide any influence in the 1-0 defeat against Manchester City on Sunday.
After missing the start of the season due to injuries, a Wedding in Cheshire and World Cup hangover, van Persie has played close to 800 minutes in the league. He has secured only three goals so far. Many believe that the 31-year-old is a player on the decline largely because of injury troubles. He was largely injury free when he joined United, but his career was severely halted by injuries prior to it.
“There’s pressure on Van Persie, people want more from him. He’s got to do better in long situations and needs to make better runs. But his team-mates aren’t finding him as much as [Paul] Scholes and [Michael] Carrick were two years ago. I called him a burglar before – he lives off back of centre-backs. The type of pass he wants is into space. In defence of Van Persie I don’t think his team-mates are in synch as they were two years ago. Maybe Carrick coming back will help him,” said Neville.