DURBAN - ONE of the interesting bits of information to emerge last week was Crystal Palace’s appointment of Arsenal and France football legend Patrick Vieira as their new manager.
The 1998 World Cup winner succeeds Roy Hodgson who has since retired from management as the Eagles boss.
Vieira will bring much-needed confidence and positivity to Selhurst Park.
He was, after all, one of the most dynamic leaders in the Premier League era, famously leading the Arsenal “Invincibles side” that won the league without losing a game in the 2003/04 season.
A heavy challenge lies ahead for Vieira. He has inherited a squad that has only 14 senior players under contract while the future of the Eagles’ marquee player, Wilfried Zaha, remains uncertain.
𝐓![CDATA[]]>𝐡![CDATA[]]>𝐞 𝐟![CDATA[]]>𝐢![CDATA[]]>𝐫![CDATA[]]>𝐬![CDATA[]]>𝐭 𝐢![CDATA[]]>𝐧![CDATA[]]>𝐭![CDATA[]]>𝐞![CDATA[]]>𝐫![CDATA[]]>𝐯![CDATA[]]>𝐢![CDATA[]]>𝐞![CDATA[]]>𝐰 🎥
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) July 6, 2021
Hear from our new boss 🙌#CPFC | https://t.co/utMcYSDkhb pic.twitter.com/aIeJYudoE2
Vieira is fearless and will be up for the challenge. After all, he was one of the few players that dared to stand up to former Manchester United captain Roy Keane who was one of the most aggressive football characters you could find.
Palace are taking somewhat of a risk by employing the Frenchman, given that he has never worked in a full-time managerial job in England before.
As we have seen multiple times before, football greats do not usually make great managers. This is because they tend to lack the analytical ability of so-called average players.
Average players have to do deep introspection and preparation to compete while gifted players do not as things just come automatically and naturally to them.
Palace themselves would have seen this play out when Dutch football legend Frank de Boer infamously managed them for a short period in 2017. De Boer led the Eagles in the Premier League for just four games, losing all, and the club failed to score in that time.
It is regarded as one of the worst managerial spells in Premier League history.
Back to it with the new boss 💪#CPFC | https://t.co/utMcYSDkhb pic.twitter.com/WzcSALuX3q
— Crystal Palace F.C. (@CPFC) July 7, 2021
In favour of Vieira, we have seen that he enjoys attacking football as evidenced by his two full-time coaching spells so far – with New York City FC in the US and more recently with Nice in the Ligue 1.
During his time in the US, he would have learnt a lot while also transforming the New York club into one of the few MLS teams that are actually worth the time watching.
At Nice, Vieira did fairly well in his first two seasons as he got the club to play decent football amidst its boardroom turmoil. However, things began to fall apart in the latter part of 2020 and after a poor run of form, which included elimination from the Europa League and flirting with relegation, he was sacked.
Will Vieira be able to do well at Palace? That is honestly a question that nobody can answer at the moment. His managerial career has had its ups and downs.
As we have seen from Vieira’s character in the past as a player, he is a realist and will understand that his team is not the best in the league, and that he needs to adapt his tactics to suit the strengths and weaknesses of his players.