Patrick Vieira is pleased with the performances of his team so far – and that includes a lot of players who have stepped in to lead NYCFC to an undefeated record through six matches and a raft of small early season injuries.
Given that depth and the results on the pitch, nothing will change about the mentality as the Boys in Blue prepare for the biggest match of the young season.
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Vieira said: “Strong team. It’s going be really tough and really difficult. Now our preparation will not be different from our first game of the season. We’re going to be preparing ourselves, we do our homework, we are going to go there with humility and try to give our best.”
The French Manager is a MLS veteran at this point, and knows that any match this early in the season is not too much to get riled up about,
“No, it’s like all the other games,” he said.
“Of course Tata I believe is one of the best coaches in the world – you just have to look at what he achieved during his career, and I think he deserves all the respect, and you just have to look at the way Atlanta played as well. I’m far away from Tata, and to look at the team and how they play, but as a team it’s going to be a really tough game for us. They have as well some weakness and we are going to try to exploit that.”
One thing is for sure, the team selection has never been harder at this football club,
“It’s still a long way,” Patrick told NYCFC.com.
“Still have a few days before making the final decision. When you look at the last game we played, Eben as a holding midfielder did really well, you look at the front 3 and they work really hard as well, it’s good to have David and Ring coming back to the squad. For me, it’s important to have all the players available – because that will allow me to make the starting 11 represent our football club."
