Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
When NYCFC’s first season in MLS went south, there was considerable doubt as to the future of the club, particularly when it came to their manager. Jason Kreis spent a year in Manchester getting familiar with the ins and outs of City and their larger apparatus, yet his season with NYCFC was disastrous. More questions deservedly came when NYCFC appointed Patrick Vieira as manager, not just because of his lack of managerial experience but his lack of association with MLS in general.
NYC seemed to be on a knife’s edge just a year into their existence, as hiring Vieira truly seemed to be a massive risk. But he’s consistently proven his managerial chops with each passing year, and in spite of their playoff failures, he can now be considered one of the best managers in the league, and one of the most promising young managers in the game.
Playing Atlanta United at Mercedes Benz Stadium is a difficult task as a manager because no matter what you do to contain them, they still will score. The combination of pragmatism and adventurism is a hard balance to strike, because once Atlanta score, they score in bunches. Vieira managed to strike that balance as well as any manager has in that stadium, especially going forward. Their fluidity in the final third is some of the best for any team in the league, and even without David Villa, that fluidity has remained.
One of the biggest concerns for NYCFC was their squad depth; largely because behind Villa, many wondered where the goals would come from. Tajouri-Shradi has been a revelation, Jo Inge Berget has been the backup #9 that this club so desperately needed, and they have such a strong midfield base with Ring and Herrera to build from that it allows Vieira to be tactically flexible while also expansive at the same time.
NYC are unbeaten in league play, and considering Atlanta are their likeliest contenders for the Supporter’s Shield as TFC focuses on CCL, drawing in that hornet’s nest is an accomplishment. They’ve also turned solid teams, particularly Orlando, RSL and the Galaxy into reserve squads at Yankee Stadium with the way Vieira has mastered the tactical nuances of playing on that weird pitch.
His attitude as a manager is a positive one; he always looks to find solutions to problems instead of harping on the ones he has. He’s also introspective in a positive way, especially considering the last two playoff exits for his team at the hands of TFC and the Crew. He had to undergo a learning process with MLS and everything that comes with the league, which takes more time than might be assumed, even to this point. Three years into this project, it seems everything is now clicking for NYCFC and Vieira to a point that it hadn’t in his first two years, even though plenty of signs showed that the arrow was pointing up.
Vieira came into the league with so much to prove, not just as a manager in MLS, but as a manager in general. Being one of the best defensive midfielders of his generation, he had an appreciation for all of the tactical nuances that made him such a great player but applying those as a manager is different than executing them as a player, especially in a league like MLS where had no association whatsoever.
But as NYCFC assert their claim to be the best team in the league, Vieira deserves plaudits as a manager for getting this group to be so unified, tactically strong and one that is consistently improving. They have the money to improve in ways other clubs don’t, but Vieira it must be said has taken this club to another level.
Vieira is a manager destined for higher levels of the game, and based on how he’s evolved at NYCFC, he’ll easily take on those challenges and succeed where others like him haven’t before.
