Robin Van Persie doubts Unai Emery will ever be on Arsene Wenger’s level as he struggles to “connect” with his Arsenal squad.
The former Gunners striker was reacting after Nicolas Pepe scored a late brace of free-kicks to seal an undeserved 3-2 Europa League victory over Vitoria.
The Group F clash appeared to be heading in the direction of the Portuguese side after they twice took the lead at the Emirates Stadium, only for substitute Pepe to convert two set-pieces – the second of which came in stoppage time.
After losing at Sheffield United on Monday night, Emery launched an impassioned defence of his tenure as Gunners boss on the eve of the Group F clash – but what followed was as below-par performance rescued by the brilliance of Pepe, who until then had struggled to live up to his hefty price-tag.
When asked if he thought Arsenal had improved since Wenger left, Van Persie said: “I don’t think so. I don’t think that Emery really connects with his players.
“I think they are still weak on set pieces, which was a problem at my time, to be honest. But everyone should feel responsible. Arsenal lose 12 to 15 points per season by set pieces. That should stop.
“If you want to play for the first couple of places you have to sort it out, you have to find a way.
“As a player you want to have that feeling, you have to sprint back, now I see a couple of players jogging back, and there’s danger there. I don’t feel that in the team.
“If you have a very strong coach, and you are in midfield and you see danger somewhere, you sprint for your life, because you know if you don’t do it you get punished.”
And Van Persie went on to cite a training ground video that was “sent” to him recently showing Emery apparently struggling to communicate.
“I’ve had [Arsene] Wenger, Louis van Gaal, [Alex] Ferguson, I had so many coaches, and their main quality was to be clear,” Van Persie added.
“If I’m really honest…someone sent me a video last week of him [Emery] trying to explain something, and I couldn’t really figure out if he was saying, ‘calm, calm’ or ‘come, come.”
“That is very important, you have to be clear, you have to be the leader and the leader needs to be clear towards his players.”
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