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His arrival had the effect of a real bomb on the other side of the Alps. While Italian coach Alberto Gilardino was dismissed from his duties to everyone’s surprise, Patrick Vieira, who no longer had a bench since his departure from Strasbourg last summer, was called to the rescue by the management of Genoa to heal the wounds and find the remedies for the thousand Genoese ills since the start of the season: “ Genoa CFC announces that it has entrusted the technical direction of the first team to Patrick Vieira. The new coach will lead the first training session in the afternoon after the finalization of his contract at the Villa Rostan headquarters. After a professional career, Vieira coached the teams of New York City, Nice, Crystal Palace and Strasbourg. Welcome Mister », It was then written in the press release published on the Genoese site. The Arsenal legend arrived in Liguria signing a two-year contract with an option for a third year, also including a clause valid for the two parties to possibly part ways at the end of this season.
“ A very quick negotiation between me and the club. I found a proud group that wants to do well. It’s not easy to lose a coach who got along well with the players, but the respect has gained. It won’t change. Now we have to focus on what we need to do to win matches and I saw a lot of desire to work. The most important thing is how you play, not so much the initial formation. It will take time and work, but already, the match against Cagliari is very important. We will give everything to have a good match, but obviously everything will not be perfect, because we need time, because a group without results lacks energy, the player must feel good in his head to do better », Declared the former French midfielder in his introductory press conference. In this sense, the great premiere of Patrick Vieira was eagerly awaited this weekend with the reception of Cagliari, on the lawn of the Luigi-Ferraris stadium, during the 13th day of Serie A. Despite a good general performance after the equalizer signed Morten Frendrup, then the goal to pass in front of Fabio Miretti, the Genoese Grifone had to settle for a draw (2-2).
Rant against arbitration!
Despite the disillusionment of having pocketed only one small point against a direct competitor for maintenance, Patrick Vieira prefers to retain the positive content of the match, which represents a solid basis for work for him and the members of his staff including Kristian Wilson and Aitor Unzué: “ I’m sorry we didn’t win this game. The boys played a proud game as they competed with the opposition. I saw the boys focused and with the desire to do well. Then, with the work we do every day, we will be stronger as a team. The atmosphere was exciting. I liked the environment in the stadium. From a playing point of view, we played a good match, we have things to improve. The goal is to improve as a team. Today we played an interesting match, we found the midfielders between the lines creating dangerous situations for the opponent. » With this result, Genoa climbs to 16th position, just behind Cagliari.
As the final whistle approached, while Genoa was leading the score, the referee of the match Mr. Sozza decided to whistle a penalty for Cagliari five minutes from the end and Roberto Piccoli did not tremble to equalize : “ it’s football, it’s difficult to accept the second penalty. With all respect for the referee, I believe he made a mistake with this penalty. I felt sad for the boys because we deserved to win this match because we were the stronger team in the second half. Beyond the draw, the main thing was to restore confidence in the team, because we have quality and today we demonstrated it. I am very satisfied with what I saw on the ground. The boys had a good match. We can score more goals, we made bad choices, but what I saw is very positive for the rest of the championship. » First match and first standoff against the Italian referees.
First bickering with Mario Balotelli
Relations between Patrick Vieira and Mario Balotelli have never been good. The two players were teammates at Inter and Manchester City, then the Blues legend coached the Italian international at OGC Nice, which Balotelli left in January 2019 due to poor relations with the French coach. . In an interview given to Daily Mail in 2021, Vieira said: “ Mario’s mentality is not suitable for a team sport like football. I wanted to bring ethics and compactness, but it was very difficult for me to work with him. The situation had become unmanageable for both of us, which is why we decided to separate. » Far from letting himself be carried away with his strong character, Super Mario responded in the columns of SoFoot a few years later: I lived in Villefranche-sur-Mer, it was crazy. I smiled every day, I went to the seaside every day. A dream life. The problem was that Vieira’s way of playing didn’t suit me. I got along well with him, but sportingly, I didn’t agree. If I hadn’t had these problems with him, I would never have left Nice. I was really happy there. » The reunion thus promised to be frosty in Liguria, while Patrick Vieira also affirmed in 2018 that he wanted “ answer him, stick him to the wall or coat rack. »
But very quickly, Patrick Vieira wanted to bury the hatchet: “ I know him very well, he is a player and a person that I like. He must continue to make himself available to the team to help them do well and win. He’s certainly an important player, but he has to keep working. » The same goes for Super Mario who declared earlier in the week: “ we had differences on certain footballing ideas, but on a personal level we always got along well », Balotelli indicated on Italian television. But this Saturday afternoon, Patrick Vieira decided to leave Mario Balotelli on the bench, bringing him in for a few seconds in the 89th minute, which the Italian striker did not really appreciate as he walked onto the pitch with his face closed without speaking to his new trainer: “ he came in at the end and he was a bit disappointed, but when a player is angry that he didn’t play as much as he would have liked, that can only be a positive factor for me as a coach », Preferred to put the former 1998 world champion into perspective. This promises electric weeks in Genoa.
