Vieira has major role to play

February 09, 2010

Patrick Vieira

Roberto Mancini believes Patrick Vieira can have a huge impact for Manchester City after being impressed with the Frenchman's debut on Saturday.

Vieira came on for the final 30 minutes of City's 2-1 defeat to Hull and although he could not alter the result, the veteran midfielder helped his side look much better after a very poor first half.

With Mancini still concerned by the number of injuries that have hit his squad - paying particular attention to the lack of numbers in midfield - the Italian is looking to Vieira to play a key role in City's push for Champions League football next season.

"I hope Patrick can stay fit for the next 15 games because if we have Patrick at 100% I think he can play very, very hard every game," Mancini said.

"Patrick is an important player with a good mentality. On Saturday he went on the pitch and changed the situation in the middle and I think the whole team can improve with Patrick on the pitch."

Vieira was one of only two signings by Mancini in January - along with young winger Adam Johnson - and Mancini wants him to shore up the centre of midfield where City have had concerns this season.

"I think this is a good squad but we have had more players injured and this is difficult," he said. "In midfield, we have had only three midfielders, Gareth (Barry), Nigel (de Jong) and Stephen (Ireland), and it's impossible that you can play a season with only three midfielders."

Vieira is likely to be involved again tonight against Bolton and the same goes for Johnson, who also made his debut as a substitute at Hull and set up City's goal.

"He's a good player, he played very well," Mancini said. "He's young but can be a good player for us in the future."

Those performances were bright spots in a defeat which saw arguably City's worst first-half performance since Mancini took charge.

The usually cool Italian admitted he had let his players know about it at half-time.

"Yes, I was angry," he said. "This is normal. I was angry after the first half, but I told them if they had a good second half they could recover."

City improved after the break, but could not find an equaliser as Hull lifted themselves out of the drop zone, leaving Mancini in need of three points tomorrow to quickly restore his side's momentum.

"I watch the players every day and when they work they work well and they want to arrive at our targets," he said. "On this I'm very confident.

"I think that Tottenham, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Arsenal are five teams playing for two places and we have a good chance."

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John Gidman's curly perm, Manchester (09/02/2010 at 10:35)

We should have added more strength in depth in the last window. We should have a squad of around 10 players and that should gives us enough options to cover loss of form,injury and generally give us a plan b and c if the games aren't going our way.
At the moment we have no cover on the right,PETROV is playing out of position and couldn't hit a cows backside with a banjo with his right foot,IRELAND is way below his normal form and BARRY looks like he's either carrying an injury or he is tired and needs a rest.
The signing of VIEIRA and JOHNSON will add much needed variety but we required a creative central midfielder and a box to box player to boost the numbers and give the other players a kick up the backside.
IMO we should have kept WEISS as cover for SWP and added 2 more to the squad.

Portsmouth Blue (09/02/2010 at 10:43)

He will prove to be a huge asset to us,give him a chance and a bit of time.

The President of LALAC (LETS ALL LAUGH AT CITY), always above the berties (09/02/2010 at 10:49)

looking at how fat he has become,i would agree and say he certainly has a major part 2 play..
wemberlee !!!

George Roper (09/02/2010 at 10:57)

No use moaning now you just had a transfer window to strengthen and instead messed about with a guy who was never going to get a permit and you left it too late to bring in Gago.

Blue Jazzman, Marple (09/02/2010 at 11:07)

Let us not forget we are part of this team – just as much as RM, SWP CT or anyone else as the individuals we love or hate

The lack of success over decades can not be put down solely to individual players, current or recent past, or to managers, coaches, chairmen, chief executives, stadia – they have all come and gone and still and all we failed to achieve what we should have – We might not like the banner at OT but it is fact

Between us we have all failed to live up to the potential of this great club

We, the fans are the only long term constants – so maybe we are to blame

So let’s look at ourselves – closely – and resolve to eliminate the negativity that floods across the pitch, match after match, and give it everything we have tonight

This is a really critical match – we need a win – preferably a big win

Never mind being the twelfth man – lets be the thirteenth and fourteenth also - even if (and this is the biggy) the players start badly – In fact if they start badly they need even more support – not less

It was a known fact that teams came to City to keep us at bay until the crowd got at the players and things went from bad to worse

I know we have a good home record, but given how dire our away record is we can’t afford any kind of slip up

We need to make Bolton feel really uncomfortable – Lets go for it

Pivo, Manchester (09/02/2010 at 11:17)

There's no doubting Patrick is a top talent but the question most people ask is (quite rightly), has he still got the legs to compete in the Prem? I suspect I'm like many who think he probably hasn't. I hope he proves me wrong. Even if he's less effective physically he can still do a job for us in short bursts as he did on Saturday, plus his experience in the dressing room must be a big plus for us.

Peter Beagrie`s beagle (09/02/2010 at 11:21)

Let`s hope so because we need some impetus from midfield that`s for sure. CTID

Swiss Blue (09/02/2010 at 11:35)

Am hoping SWP and Johnson can give us some skill and pace down the flanks tonight and fire in some decent balls for whichever two strikers Bobby goes with (EA & RSC with Tevez rested for Saturday IMHO). 4-2-4 tonight. Let's get at Bolton who are missing their best defender and tear into them from the off. Almost like when Brian Horton was in charge back in the early 90's! Ah the memories. Goals goals goals (shame plenty were going in our net).

LEASE ON COUNCIL HOUSE IS 250 YEAR'S, MANCHESTER (09/02/2010 at 12:03)

STARTING TO LOOK LIKE EDDIE MURPHY'S NUTTY PROFESSOR TO ME . LUHG .

glad to be blue, halifax (09/02/2010 at 12:07)

can we play a game without 3 holding players.stevie is a midfielder,not a wide right or left.surely at home we can play stevie with one holding and some genuine width,sweep one side johnson on the other tev and ade up top.viera,de jong and barry all do the same thing and that means no creativity at all

The Kippax Kid, Irlam (now West Sussex) (09/02/2010 at 12:27)

We may be short in the middle of the park but thats not an excuse to play SI out on the right and if we go 2 goals down, lets not chase the game with 3 defensive midfielders on the pitch. I am a big fan of Bobby Man but I think we need to be a bit more optimistic in our style of play. My midfield tonight would be Johnson, Viera, SI (free role) & SWP. rest DJ & Barry and keep Petrov away from the right wing. He is so predictable!

TruBlu132 (09/02/2010 at 12:48)

Blue Jazzman.....couldn't agree with you more.

I go to every game pretty much and even when we play well, there are still the moans and groans from the eternally pessimistic!!
Also, we don't sing much unless we are playing and winning against the top 4 sides. I have been to some incredible atmospheric games and have to say that we up the game when we all sing. However this doesn't happen at every game and is a true reflection of our attitude to other teams.

The game against portsmouth was embarrasing. I know there wasn't much to shout about, but we didn't even start off singing. Well actually I did, and was almost shushed to sit down!!

Lets sing sing sing at every game and show our true support. We are the best supporters in the land and all the world and we need to show this every game. We can criticise and moan after a game if we play badly, but during the 90 mins lets support and sing our hearts out.

CTID

Grant600 (09/02/2010 at 13:11)

why are we complaining about the lack of depth in our midfield on 9th February!!??
shouldn't this have been addressed in January instead of the shambolic dealings on the last day of the transfer window!!

Andrew Shaw (09/02/2010 at 13:51)

Does the team raise the crowd or does the crowd rally the team? Maybe, if we were a bit feistier on the pitch, it would get the crowd going which in turn would get the team going. When they are in full flow and really getting stuck in, there is a great atmosphere in the ground. It only happens once in a blue moon. Having said that, every one tends to look back at Maine Road with rose tinted spectacles. There were many an afternoon in the seventies when there would have been about 32000 present and no atmosphere whatsoever. In the eighties, there really was no atmosphere when our crowds dipped to under 20,000 and the team were, for the most part, dreadful. The afternoon would be punctuated by a 30 yards David Phillips screamer to get us the points and lift the murmur. Occasionally, he'd do it twice just to surprise us. This idea that we should have a fanatical full house screaming for blood at every home game is laudable and would be fantastic but for the most part, it hasn't happened at City regularly in the past and I suspect you could say that about most teams in fact.

trevels1968 , Failsworth (09/02/2010 at 15:52)

Viera may indeed make an impact, unfrtunately for you it won't be on the pitch.

tommybatess, Langley (09/02/2010 at 16:01)

What game was Mancini watching? Viera did not change the game one iota,Johnson did though.

john blue, levenshulme (09/02/2010 at 16:22)

Not watched any of hull game but everyone i spoke to said when he came on he was bobbins.

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