patrick vieira manager
Have you picked up any injuries or has anybody become unavailable after international duty? When will Eze be back?
We had all the players coming back from international with no issues so they are all fit and ready to go. Eze is getting better, he started taking some part in the collective training. But again, we don’t want to put any kind of pressure or any kind of date on when we will be ready but he is doing well. And we just have to evaluate how he is feeling week after week, we’re not going to make any date on his return.
As the manager of Crystal Palace how do you process the news that such a close rival to you (Newcastle) is now going to have such extreme spending power in the future?
I think it’s it’s good news for Newcastle football club and I think it is good news for Newcastle fans and it is good for the city of Newcastle and we have to be happy for them. This is the way it goes, this is the way it’s been in the last couple of years so we just have to manage and deal with it.
How are you feeling about returning to your old club on Monday?
I’m really looking forward to it. I had the chance to play for this football club for nine years and you know I arrived at this football club as a kid and I left as a man. This is the club where I played my best football, so obviously going back there will be emotional but I will put that on the side because what will be important for us is to perform well on try to get points.
Arsenal hasn’t won the league since you left. How would you analyze Arsenal before when you were there and after now you’ve left?
I think this is a question to really ask the people who’ve been inside this football club who can’t really talk about it. ‘m like everybody else I just analyse things from outside and I don’t want to go into details because when you don’t have all the information it’s really difficult to talk about something that that you don’t know. I was outside of the country and I did not follow Arsenal as much as you guys – I think you have a better thought about what’s going on at Arsenal.
How are you rating Mikel Arteta?
Well, I think when he was under pressure and I think he did quite really well because he’s always been calm and composed. You know, I think winning games and losing games he always been consistent and the way he was conducting himself and I think this is a really good sign of a person who has everything under control. You get criticized because you did not win the first couple of games and then you get the manager of the month because you win a couple of games. So this is the industry that we are in so what is important I think is he is doing it really well is to focus on what he can control, meaning like how the team play and keep going and try to change things around and I think he’s done quite really well.
What did you make of the comments from Arteta – do you know him as a man?
I don’t know him really well as a man. Of course, as a player, I think he was a really good player. I think he had a wonderful career. I think when you look at the way that he managed himself, to be a manager, I think he was in the City group. And he learned the job before getting a chance at Arsenal. And I think he did everything the right way. If I can say that. I think he’s somebody who, when he was playing, going into a managerial area was something that he wanted to do because of the way he was playing on the field, talking a lot with his players around him. He remind me a little bit of Didier Deschamps of the French national team, because when he was playing, you knew that Didier was going to be a football manager. And I think Arteta is quite in the same kind of mindset. I will say, obviously, hearing what has been said about me, it’s always nice to hear good things about yourself, and I thank him a lot for those kind words.
You mentioned putting the emotions of going back to Arsenal aside, do you think that’s going to be difficult for you?
I will answer that question after the game. But now, I am really looking forward to it. Spending nine years is quite a long period of time and in that period, we were successful. And I was really pleased to be part of a generation of players who made history for this football club. So going back there will be emotional, yes. But again, the focus and the concentration will be about how can we perform well, to have more chance of getting what we want.
Crystal Palace have been playing really well before the international break, but is it key for you to start turning those brilliant performances, like the ones against Brighton and Leicester, into wins now?
Yeah, that’s what we need. I think we are really close to getting what we want winning football matches, I think the process of getting the win is there. We are still making, I believe, some mistakes that cost us points, and is important for us to turn those good performances into wins.
Are there any players you’re worried about their game time while they’re away on international duty? Players who maybe won’t be able to play from the start at the weekend.
No, not at all. I think the majority of the players went to international and they played the majority of them 90 minutes. Some of them a little bit less. They came back they had a couple of days off. They had the session today so they will have time to recover and be ready for the game on Monday.
You seem quite a cool and calm character off the pitch is there ever been a game as a manager that has got to you emotionally?
Not yet. It is just about controlling yourself I believe as a manager and controlling the emotion and I always try to do that and I will try to do it again on Monday.
Nathan Ferguson – is he progressing well?
He is progressing well. He started working on the field on himself with the physios and he is getting better as well.
