“I have to change my tactics to suit my team-mates, and play outside my zone,” Van Persie says. Many United fans who travelled to Athens would have just liked him to bury the chance he smashed over the bar late in a 2-0 defeat. Before he starts trying to pick the team, Van Persie had better concentrate on doing his real job, as Roy Keane would have reminded him back in his demonic sergeant-major days.