Patrick Vieira’s initial appointment as the manager of New York City FC raised more than a few eyebrows around footballing circles. He’d previously been employed as Manchester City’s reserve team and Elite Development squad coach, but his profound experience as a player saw him linked with massive jobs such as manager at Newcastle United.
However, Vieira opted to replace the sacked Jason Kreis as the second ever manager of NYCFC on November 9th, 2015. New York City FC, like Manchester City FC, is a subsidiary of the City Football Group, the company owned by the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mansour.
While the ties between Manchester and New York would’ve certainly helped persuade Vieira to join the project, the nuances of MLS and the dreadful expansion season NYCFC endured could’ve certainly repelled Vieira.
NYCFC finished the 2015 season with 37 points from 34 games, good for 17th in the 20 team league. In other words, Vieira was joining the side that would’ve just survived relegation in any other league around the world.
Shortly before the 2016 started, Vieira admitted that “coaching in MLS is of course harder than in Europe. . .In Europe, if you want a player, you just go out and buy them. Here, you can’t do it unless you have all these certain criteria.”
Did Vieira have the know-how or prerequisite knowledge to thrive in MLS? Could he deal with the headaches of a salary cap, the resulting roster absurdities, the extensive and exhaustive travel and finding balance in a New York roster that contained the aging star power of David Villa, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and Mix Diskerud?
Eight matches into the 2016 season and things looked horrendous for both Vieira and NYCFC. They opened the season with a wild 4-3 victory over the Chicago Fire, but they accumulated four draws and three losses in their next seven games.
The momentum from a three-game win streak was then completely extinguished by a 7-0 drubbing to fierce local rivals New York Red Bulls.
Since mid-June, however, things have taken an extensive turn for the better. In NYCFC’s last six matches, they’ve recorded five victories. That kind of consistency in MLS is not to be scoffed at.
Key to NYCFC claiming the top spot in MLS’ Eastern Conference has been their ability to win on the road, the rejuvenated form of Frank Lampard (he’s scored five goals in those six games) and the sustained brilliance of Villa. The Spanish striker has scored 13 goals this year.
While Andrea Pirlo and David Villa have been named to the 2016 MLS All-Star Game, Vieira has been just as instrumental in turning around the fortunes of this young club.
NYCFC need only five points from their remaining 13 games to surpass their total from a year ago, but Vieira is targeting much more than that for his squad.
“I still believe there are some parts of the game where we really need to improve,” Vieira said. “We are more solid as a team, and I’m really pleased with where we are at the moment. But we are not perfect yet.”
Vieira is aiming for the club’s first postseason appearance come autumn. After that, Vieira is in no rush to try managing in Europe.
“I already am coaching for a big club. I made the decision to come here because this was the right place for me. This is where I can achieve what I want,” said Vieira.
“If it works for the next 10 years, I’d be more than happy to stay. If I stayed here for 10 years and we win year after year, I’d stay no problem at all.”
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