Patrick Vieira Has Been Tipped to Succeed Wenger – Just How Good is He?

 Patrick Vieira is in his third season as New York City FC coach. Photograph: Tim Clayton - Corbis/Corbis via Getty images
Patrick Vieira is in his third season as New York City FC coach. Photograph: Tim Clayton - Corbis/Corbis via Getty images
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Patrick Vieira Has Been Tipped to Succeed Wenger – Just How Good is He?

 Patrick Vieira is in his third season as New York City FC coach. Photograph: Tim Clayton - Corbis/Corbis via Getty images
Patrick Vieira is in his third season as New York City FC coach. Photograph: Tim Clayton - Corbis/Corbis via Getty images

Almost as soon as he’d sat down in front of the waiting press upon his appointment as New York City FC head coach in January 2016, Patrick Vieira was asked to name a manager he’d modelled his own coaching style after. It was a question set up to garner one answer: Arsène Wenger.

Vieira spoke about José Mourinho’s insistence on meticulous preparation, Roberto Mancini’s determination and Manuel Pellegrini’s levelheadedness. Then he got to Wenger, highlighting the unwavering faith the Frenchman puts in his players. Even at that early stage, as Vieira took his first step into senior management, there was a sense that similar faith might one day be put in him to succeed his former manager.

And two years later those pieces may be falling into place. Whether by his own will or not, Wenger will depart Arsenal at the end of the season and Vieira is in the frame to replace him. More proven, accomplished coaches have been put forward as candidates – Max Allegri, Carlo Ancelotti and Luis Enrique to name a few – but they do not have the emotional connection to the north London club that Vieira has.

Is sentiment enough, though? Just how strong is the body of work Vieira has put together during his time at New York City FC? Could Arsenal really pick their next manager from Major League Soccer, given how the division is frequently derided for its perceived lack of quality? Those at Arsenal will be doing their research on Vieira, and there are reasons to justify the 41-year-old’s candidacy.

At NYC FC, Vieira has shown himself to be an astute operator. His teams play attractive, modern, and most importantly winning, football, the kind that will go down well at the Emirates Stadium. They finished runners-up in the Eastern Conference in each of Vieira’s two two years at the club, with NYC FC setting an early pace in the early stages of the new season. If there’s one criticism to be levelled at Vieira it’s that such regular season form hasn’t yet translated into a sustained play-off run. That must be the target this year.

Of course, with the backing of City Football Group, New York City FC have more resources than most others in MLS, but to claim they have bought success under Vieira would be to demonstrate a lack of a true grasp of the way the division works. Trades, drafts, allocation orders … while David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard have all turned out at Yankee Stadium, it’s not just a case of opening the checkbook in MLS.

His status as a World Cup and Premier League champion means he has authority in the dressing room, with Villa just one of the players thriving under his tutelage. Another was Jack Harrison, the England Under-21 winger who joined Manchester City in January. What’s more, Vieira has coped with the expectation heaped on his shoulders from the very day of his hiring at NYC FC. This is a franchise that fired Vieira’s predecessor Jason Kreis for missing out on the play-offs in their first ever season in the league.

Of course, it’s all relative. The pressure Vieira has dealt with in the States is nothing compared with what he would experience at Arsenal in the post-Wenger age. The Emirates has become a cauldron of ill-feeling in recent years and it will take more than Wenger’s exit to remedy that. Whether Vieira is, as a character, the antidote is down to hunch.

Vieira has been presented with the opportunity to use NYC FC as a stepping stone before. He held tentative talks with Ligue 1 side St Etienne last summer, but insisted that he “never asked to leave”. And before Vieira even arrived in New York, he was interviewed for the Newcastle United job in 2015. His name, coupled with the coaching education he was given at Manchester City, probably would have been enough to get Vieira a Premier League job. Instead, Vieira decided to cut his teeth at NYC FC, staying under the City Football Group umbrella for the time being. The idea, at the time, was that the Frenchman would earn his managerial stripes in MLS before eventually returning to the Etihad.

Indeed, the Arsenal job may not even be the one Vieira wants most of all. He says returning to Man City to succeed Pep Guardiola is his “fairytale story,” also revealing his ambition to take charge of a Series A team one day. “I’d love to coach an Italian team because it’s a pleasure when you work in a country with passion, and in Italy there is a lot of passion for football,” he told Sky Sports Italia last year.

Most recently, Vieira has insisted that he is “ready to coach any side in Europe.” While the Frenchman remains diplomatic, it’s clear he would answer Arsenal’s call. In fact, he would surely answer a call from most major European clubs. The Gunners were criticised for allowing a club legend to become part of a rivals’ coaching team in the first place, with Vieira a coach at Manchester City for five years before joining NYC FC. Dither on hiring him as a manager and they might miss out again. Others will come for Vieira.

There’s no way of knowing for sure if Vieira is the right man to succeed Wenger, but the Frenchman has yet to take a misstep as a coach. At Man City, young players are now surfacing from the academy system he helped put in place. At NYC FC, he has forged one of the most dynamic sides in MLS. At the very least, the prospect of what Vieira might do at Arsenal is intriguing.

The Guardian Sport



10-man Botafogo Wins its First Copa Libertadores Title

Players of Botafogo celebrate with the trophy after winning the CONMEBOL Libertadores final match between Atletico Mineiro and Botafogo, at the Estadio Mas Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 November 2024. EPA/Antonio Lacerda
Players of Botafogo celebrate with the trophy after winning the CONMEBOL Libertadores final match between Atletico Mineiro and Botafogo, at the Estadio Mas Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 November 2024. EPA/Antonio Lacerda
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10-man Botafogo Wins its First Copa Libertadores Title

Players of Botafogo celebrate with the trophy after winning the CONMEBOL Libertadores final match between Atletico Mineiro and Botafogo, at the Estadio Mas Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 November 2024. EPA/Antonio Lacerda
Players of Botafogo celebrate with the trophy after winning the CONMEBOL Libertadores final match between Atletico Mineiro and Botafogo, at the Estadio Mas Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 30 November 2024. EPA/Antonio Lacerda

Botafogo overcame playing with 10 men to win its first Copa Libertadores title after beating fellow Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro 3-1 in the final at Monumental de Nunez Stadium on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.
After just 30 seconds, midfielder Gregore, one of Botafogo's best players, hit the head of Fausto Vera with his foot and was given a straight red card.
“It was so hard to have one less so early in a final. It was an unfortunate move,” Botafogo defender Alexander Barboza said. “But Gregore deserves this title as much as we do. We made history and that won’t ever be erased.”
Winger Luiz Henrique scored first in the 35th minute from close range, and was fouled for the penalty shot converted by Alex Telles in the 44th.
Eduardo Vargas headed Mineiro's only goal in the 46th while Junior Santos, the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores with 10 goals, capped Botafogo's historic night with the third in injury time.
Brazil was assured of a sixth consecutive Copa Libertadores title and its 24th in history, just one less than Argentina.
It was also the third straight title for Rio de Janeiro clubs, after Fluminense in 2023 and Flamengo in 2022.
Botafogo, the last of the four big Rio clubs to win the Copa Libertadores, earned prize money of $23 million and a spot in the Club World Cup in the United States next year.
Despite sensationally losing Gregore, Botafogo reset and Luiz Henrique scored the opener. Henrique surged on the right flank and crossed to Marlon Freitas, who took a shot that was deflected. Henrique was in the right place to strike through the legs of goalkeeper Ederson.
Henrique and Ederson met again near the end of the first half when the striker surprised the keeper on the edge of the box. A penalty was given after a video review and left back Telles calmly slotted the ball home.
Mineiro came back with a more aggressive formation in the second half and was rewarded when veteran Hulk took a corner kick and Vargas, who replaced midfielder Gustavo Scarpa during the break, didn’t even need to jump to score with his head.
Mineiro had more chances to equalize through Deyverson in the 53rd, Hulk in the 56th, and Vargas in the 86th and 88th, all from close range.
But it was Botafogo’s Júnior Santos, who was sidelined by injury during the Copa, who scored the last goal.
“We just failed at getting some advantage at having one more player than them,” tearful Mineiro defender Rodrigo Battaglia said. “It was a very hard day for all of us.”
Botafogo coach Arthur Jorge joined Portuguese compatriots Jorge Jesus (Flamengo, 2019) and Abel Ferreira (Palmeiras, 2020 and 2021) as European coaches with a Copa Libertadores title.
Mineiro's Gabriel Milito missed the chance to be the first Argentine to win the tournament with a Brazilian club.
Botafogo also gave American owner John Textor his biggest trophy yet. Textor has been subject to criticism after unproven allegations about match-fixing when Botafogo squandered a 13-point lead last year and missed out on the league title.
“I grew up in Florida, which has a great connection with South American nations. For me, this is bigger than everything in Europe,” Textor said after the game.
He added the players he signed for Botafogo were free to choose their own path.
“What we do is to bring players, ask them to win trophies and then we honor their path. No multi-club (network) does that, an owner that leaves the decision to the player,” Textor said.
Next week, his team could win its first Brazilian title since 1995.
“I saw this was a hungry group of players since I joined,” said Telles, who joined Botafogo in mid-year. “No one was speaking about what happened last year, it hurt us all. We knew we had a burden to carry, to give something back to our fans. Now we did it.”
Botafogo was relegated from the league in 2020 but has risen to prominence again with Textor’s investment. He was part of a wave of foreign owners who came into Brazilian soccer after a 2021 law change paved the way for private investors.
Mineiro also has wealthy owner in Brazilian billionaire Rubens Menin, a construction mogul.