Former Arsenal captain Robin van Persie is doing a great job as the manager of Feyenoord.
The Dutchman angered many fans when he left the Emirates for Manchester United in 2012, and some of his comments later have permanently ruined the relationship.
However, like Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fabregas among other players who played under Arsene Wenger, Van Persie is slowly becoming an excellent manager.
Now, he is ready to implement a tactic that Wenger famously employed at Arsenal.
Photo by Chris Brunskill Ltd/Getty ImagesRobin van Persie says he will copy Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal tactic at Feyenoord
Wenger revolutionised football during his time as the manager of Arsenal.
The legendary Frenchman introduced diets and nutrition in English football when nobody cared about it back in the day, and that changed the sport for the better.
Wenger was tactically fantastic as well, especially in attack. His sides always played beautiful football and scored a ton of goals.
The problem back then, as it is even more today, is dealing with low blocks. It’s extremely hard to break down a side that just sits deep and blocks all your shots.
To tackle that problem, Jack Wilshere once revealed that Wenger would place mannequins inside the box in training and ask players to get past them and score. If they failed, they’d have to start over again.
I see Wilshere talking about how wenger used to drill this, he’d spread mannequins close together randomly everywhere around the box and outside it, then group players in 3s, they had to get through them playing one touch then score, if you messed up, start again 👌👌
— Seán Kane (@SeanDMKane) August 8, 2025
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Robin van Persie, who also played under Wenger, was reminded of that in a recent press conference, and he loved the idea so much that he wants to use it at Feyenoord now.
He said after their 3-1 win over Volendam: “That’s a good one, especially for us after 37 chances and 25 of them blocked.
“That’s really interesting.
“You’ve triggered me here. It’s a really good one because if I make the connection to today, our shots got blocked too often.
“I will do that exercise. Thank you, thank you very much.”
Van Persie, Fabregas, Wilshere and Arteta are all making Wenger proud
Wenger’s former players are all doing a great job as managers of their respective clubs.
Arteta’s Arsenal are looking unstoppable at the top of the Premier League table and are the favourites to win the title this season.
Van Persie’s Feyenoord are leading the Eredivisie table as well, while Fabregas’ Como have lost just once all season in the Serie A.
Wilshere, who recently took charge of Luton Town, has won three games in a row in all competitions and seems to have turned things around for them.
Wenger must be so proud of all of his players at the moment. The same cannot be said about Sir Alex Ferguson.