By Myles Palmer
Patrick Vieira now finds himself in a very difficult situation.
And he has put his long-suffering, all-forgiving manager in a very difficult position as well.
Tonight’s Premiership game at Leicester is a vital one, especially after two 1-1 draws and after Manchester United lost 1-0 to Liverpool last night.
Sunday’s game at Leeds was a tame game whch fizzled out into a 1-1 draw. First half was OK, second half was drab.
Wilcox beat Luzhny far too easily to create Robbie Fowler’s early header.
Classic bit of ball-watching by Ashley Cole.He must have learned it from Kenny Sansom’s popular coaching textbook, Ball-watching For Left Backs. It’s a good book which I thoroughly recommend.
For instance, in Chapter One, Kenny writes : If a ball is being crossed from their left wing, make sure you get sucked in so that the ball will go over your head,and the man you should be marking will score. I always did that against Man United and Steve Coppell always scored. It worked every time!
Still, a fabulous equaliser by Pires who started and finished the move. Super pass from Dennis, dummy by Thierry, one touch with the right footk, let it run into your stride and BANG! Left foot shot inside the
near post. World class, or what?
Wilcox fell on Ljungberg, one of those accidentally-on-purpose fouls on the touchline, twisting Freddie’s ankle and putting him out for three weeks.
Basically, at this moment, I’ve only got two things to say about Vieira.
One, Patrick Vieira is a warrior. Two, from his point of view, the second half of 2002 is more important than the first half.
The footballer we have known and loved since 1996 is a natural-born warrior.A magnificent athlete, a truly great footballer with a huge competitive instinct. He combines skill, steel, power – and passion.
But remember this : A warrior doesn’t fight with his sword. He doesn’t fight with his spear. He doesn’t fight with his AK-47.
He fights with his heart.
A warrior’s most effective weapon is his whole-hearted determination to win the battle for his cause.
And when we see Patrick Vieira playing more feebly at Leeds than he did against Liverpool last Sunday, we can see his heart is not in it.
Only five minutes into the game I got a phone call saying, “Vieira’s not up for it.”
A harsh call, an early call – but a correct one.
Obviously, Vieira does not WANT to play badly.He has not become a coward. He has not become a cheat. It’s just that he is not in the right emotional state to perform at the
phenomenal level we expect.He is playing as well as he can play in the state he’s in.
Fair enough, he played pretty well against Man United, Juventus and Aston Villa.
Can he really hit the heights again for Arsenal? I don’t know. Nobody knows.
This is a World Cup year and Vieira is the boss in France’s
team now.
Zidane these days is the superstar who has won everything : European Footballer of the Year in 1998, FIFA world player of the year in 1999 and 2000, Serie A player of the year for the 2000-2001 season.
So Zizou has won everything except the Champions League. And if he doesn’t win that this year he wants Vieira to help him win it next year.He has been pretty up front about that.
Oddly, the two men share the same birthday : On 23 June, duringKorea/Japan,Zidane will be 30 and Vieira will be 26.
In last summer’s Confederation Cup, Vieira became the main man in the absence of Zizou, who needed a break before joining Real Mdrid.
In the final in Yokohama Japanese goalie Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi came out rashly and Vieira was able to head Leboeuf’s long ball over him and into the net for the only goal of the game in 28 minutes.
He had not scored in 40 internationals until France played South Korea in the opening game.
The other French stars, especially Pires and Henry, now look to Vieira, who will be captain of France in 2004 and 2006.
Vieira has to gear himself to retain the World Cup, a massive task. He has to peak in that same stadium in Yokohama at the end of June.
Soon after that he has to peak again. He has to prove himself to a new crowd, a new team, a new press, at Real Madrid.
So in terms of his own feelings about his life and his career, January is the start of a long year where he will be under a LOT of pressure to perform at his best.
A lot of pressure to play like a super-gladiator, a midfield colossus, a £50-million superstar.
From that perspective, Leicester v Arsenal is a pre-season game for him.
Remember, Vieira is only flesh and blood like the rest of us.He loves Arsenal and he respects Arsene and he is genuinely grateful to the loyal fans who have helped to make him one of world football’s greatest players.He would like to leave on good terms. He might even want to come back
when Ashburton Grove opens.
But, as I say,it’s a very awkward scenario now because France need him,Arsenal need him – and Real Madrid think they need him.
The bottom line, probably, is that Vieira is a very strong-willed character and he will do what he wants to do.
Emotional blackmail will not work with him.
So I don’t know how he could be persuaded to stay at Arsenal. It’s not my job. I don’t own the club. And I don’t manage the team.
But I might say this :
Stay and play where you make a difference.Arsene has decided to stay and work at a club where he can make a difference and you are his core player, his backbone player. You are important because you are spinal and he wants you in front of Sol. He wants you winning the ball
for Robert and Thierry. You will never be European Footballer of the Year at Real Madrid because Raul and their other strikers will always make more headlines than you do.
A glamour club, backed by the government, banks, referees and linesmen, can win everything in sight -everybody knows that. It’s boring.There’s no challenge and no sense of
achievement in playing for a team that wins every game.
Let’s face it, Real Madrid will probably win La Liga in 2003 and the Champions League as well, whether you join them or not. So you won’t make a big difference by going there.
It would be a bigger achievment,and more exciting, and more meaningful, to stay here and win it with us. Don’t take the money and cruise and pose around the Bernebeu
– stay at Arsenal, run your lungs out and make history !
Don’t do it the easy way, do it the hard way ! Play for Arsenal and create a legend and have a 20-foot bronze statue outside Ashburton Grove that will be there forever and ever and ever!
22nd January 2002.
P.S. Three of us were watching the Man United-Liverpool game.
When the final whistle went, after Danny Murphy scored that late winner, my wife Jan said,”They’ll really be up for it on Sunday now.And they’ll have had a day longer to recover.”
And I said, affectionately, “Oh, shut up – you sound like a football manager!”