“But more important is how he is playing. It was a very bad game for him. That is why I changed him.”<\/p>\n
![\"James](\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/79383000\/jpg\/_79383453_wilson_getty.jpg\")
<\/p>\nVan Persie’s slump in form could present an opportunity for 18-year-old James Wilson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Of those 13 touches, two were when he took corners, and Van Persie was taken off 15 minutes from the end.<\/p>\n
His surprising slump in form contrasts with the immediate aftermath of Louis van Gaal becoming Manchester United manager, when Van Persie’s place appeared set in concrete.<\/p>\n
There were even suggestions the Dutchman, who has a close personal relationship with his manager, would inherit the captain’s armband instead of Wayne Rooney.<\/p>\n
Six months on, Van Persie is not even sure of his place in the team.<\/p>\n
Being replaced by James Wilson at Arsenal has raised the possibility of Van Gaal trusting the 18-year-old with his first Premier League start of the season against Hull at Old Trafford on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“You shall wait and see,” teased Van Gaal, when asked exactly that.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, United assistant-manager Ryan Giggs was slightly more expansive, recalling the debut he gave Wilson inthe corresponding fixture last season, when the teenager scored twice.<\/p>\n
“James did well when he got his chance,” said the Welshman. “United have always given young players a chance. It’s part of the DNA.”<\/p>\n
It is the availability of Falcao, who has recovered from a calf injury, that should concern Van Persie more.<\/p>\n
Apart from his match-winner against Everton, the Colombian has not made much of an impact on the pitch since his deadline-day arrival on loan from Monaco.<\/p>\n
Off it, Falcao has caught the eye.<\/p>\n
![\"Falcao](\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/79383000\/jpg\/_79383455_radamel_falcaogetty.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFalcao has returned to training sooner than expected after sustaining a calf injury<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So diligent has been his approach to training, one senior figure at United this week compared the 28-year-old to Cristiano Ronaldo, whose dedication to his craft was well known within the club.<\/p>\n
The speed of his recovery from a cruciate knee ligament injury has not caused concern either, even though Theo Walcott, who suffered a similar problem on the same January weekend, has still to make a complete return at Arsenal.<\/p>\n
And there is no issue over Falcao’s bravery either, with the same source revealing the South American’s desire to “run through brick walls” if it was required.<\/p>\n
Understandably, no decision has been made by United about whether to trigger a clause in their loan agreement with Monaco that would make the transfer permanent.<\/p>\n
There is a feeling though that, as one of the world’s marquee forwards, Falcao is capable of having a major impact.<\/p>\n
Should his potential return – initially as a substitute, either against Hull or Stoke on Tuesday – be marked by the desired goal output, Van Persie could find himself squeezed out in a manner no-one could have envisaged when he scored that brilliant header against Spain during the World Cup.<\/p>\n
Not that Van Gaal is viewing the present situation as permanent.<\/p>\n
“For Robin it is a question of confidence, or maybe scoring a wonderful goal at the right moment,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It could be tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal says Robin van Persie’s confidence is low after a “very bad game” against his former club Arsenal. The \u00a324m Dutch forward has scored just three times in 11 games this season. Van Persie, 31, was substituted during United’s 2-1 victory at the Emirates and could lose his place to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":69784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-69783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}