Next stop Seville for NYCFC’s Head Coach on his offseason European tour.
Following his week alongside Pep Guardiola at Man City’s City Football Academy, Patrick Vieira will spend time this week in Southern Spain.
Sevilla have enjoyed an excellent start to the 2016/17 season under Head Coach Jorge Sampaoli, lying in third place in La Liga through 12 games.
Argentine coach Sampaoli is seen as one of the game’s most innovative thinkers, having led Chile to the Copa America crown for the very first time in 2015.
Before that, he masterminded Universidad de Chile’s remarkable run to two Torneo Apertura titles, plus a Torneo Clausura and a Copa Sudamericana.
Vieira learned a lot in his week in Manchester with Guardiola and hopes that his time at Sevilla will be similarly illuminating.
“I leave after a week in Manchester a better coach – I will use these next two to three weeks to try to improve myself,” he said.
“Just being in training this week and watching how he [Pep] conducts himself, how clear he is on details he wants, his principles, I will take lots of things with me.”
In an exclusive interview with British newspaper The Telegraph, Vieira also reflected on the 2016 MLS campaign and revealed he had learned some tough lessons in his first year in senior coaching.
Reflecting on the heavy defeat to Red Bulls in May, Vieira said: “One of the issues is the traveling and I didn’t manage that week when we lost 7-0 to the Red Bulls particularly well regarding the rotation I made.
“That was a real learning process for me. We’d played Portland and Toronto in the days before the game and if I had to do it all again I’d do it in a different way - maybe leave some players at home.
“The tactical approach to the game was also completely wrong on my part. When I watched it back I put the blame more on myself and the staff than the players.”
Despite that loss, it was a season to remember for NYCFC as the team finished in second place in the Eastern Conference in Patrick’s first year.
The Frenchman is pleased with his decision to take up his role in New York and admits that he would have found it difficult to manage another team in the league.
“For me, the problem was jumping from playing straight in to coach a first team. It’s too difficult. If it was DC United or Atlanta I don’t know [if I would have moved to the MLS] but one of the reasons I chose New York is that I am still in the City Football Group.
“You have to choose the right club with the right people. That can have an impact when things aren’t going the right way – especially when you lose 7-0!”
