Patrick Vieira - A shadow of the player he was

[luke45]

Anyone else watching the Lech Poznan vs Man City game and thinking the same? I've thought he was average these days for some time, and tonight is just further enhancing my thoughts.

He certainly has to take the blame for the goal they've conceded. Can't take anything away from the strike, but he gave the ball away which started the Lech Pozan attack, and it was his poor header which fell to the feet of their player to score the goal.

I know he's obviously not going to be quite the box-to-box player he was at Arsenal at the age of 34, but he really has declined from the player he was, and when you look at how dangerous Paul Scholes still is at the age of 35, approaching 36, it shows that alot of players can still do the business at age. I'd go as far as saying Scholes is still the best passer of a ball in the league.

Now I've said that, it's probably a safe bet Vieira will equalise in the second half. ;D

[stokeramblers]

If you look carefully at his boots you can see Glen Whelan's left testicle still impaled on his front studs!

[luke45]

Nov 4, 2010 18:59:42 GMT stokeramblers said:

If you look carefully at his boots you can see Glen Whelan's left testicle still impaled on his front studs!

;D

[liamscfc93]

...and hes on £140,000 a week

[wigginbird]

No shit, I could have told you that, and I haven't watched any of his last half dozen games

[santy]

Different players age at different rates, everyone reaches that point sooner or later. It also comes down to other factors such as the training, is Viera on a schedule and set-up that accomodates him? I suspect Scholes, Giggs and Neville etc are very well looked after at Man Utd, not to mention Viera is probably down on his confidence too these days, he might be getting paid a lot but he doesn't get to feel important or even needed anymore, he's just along for the ride and when a players ego is deflated it can do him a lot of harm.