Robin van Persie’s coaching debut ended in defeat on Sunday as Heerenveen lost their opening game of the new season in the Netherlands at Ajax Amsterdam.

A goal from Kristian Hlynsson was enough to send Heerenveen home without any points and leave the former Dutch international striker, who played at Arsenal and Manchester United, feeling they had missed out on an opportunity.

“Based on the entire match, there might have been more in it,” Van Persie told television reporters afterwards. “We had a few chances in the first half. We had hoped that one of them would have gone in and created a bit more belief.

“In the second half, you could see our intentions but we didn’t really create any chances.”

That is what he said he would work on for the next game.

“We are going to face FC Utrecht next week in high spirits.

“With this way of playing, I cannot promise that we will win every match, but in terms of intensity and sometimes also quality, this is football as I think you should play it. We will show that every week,” he added.

The 41-year-old Van Persie, who scored 50 goals in 102 internationals for the Netherlands, was part of Feyenoord’s coaching staff as an assistant and youth team coach after he retired from playing in 2020, before joining Heerenveen.

They will play their first home match of the season against Utrecht on Saturday.