Success is relative in football, it’s usually measured against the size of a club and it’s past achievements, for a team like Crystal Palace now led by Patrick Vieira, a mid-table finish and something like a quarter-final finish in the FA cup would be considered a success, with the players in the team at the moment.

Crystal Palace announcing Patrick Vieira as their new head coach definitely came as a shock to a lot of premier league fans, although he had an impeccable record as a premier league player winning all the trophies available in England, he has not been able to transfer that excellence to his new career as a manager, the French man has taken over from Roy Hudson who was one of the most experienced managers in the premier league and gave Palace an unspectacular but steady few years in the Premier League.

The former Gunners captain was the last to lift the premier league title for the North London club and was a serial winner with both Arsenal and the French national side. He has since left operations at the heart of midfield for the touchline and is now charged with leading Crystal Palace for the 2021/2022 season.

He started his managerial career at Manchester City with the developmental and u19 teams managing the likes of Angelino, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Brahim Diaz. He managed the Cityzen youth for three seasons, before moving up to the MLS to manage New York City FC another subsidiary of the City football group. He led them to consecutively higher positions in the MLS, finishing 4th in his first season and 2nd in his final season before the move to Europe.

The French manager arrived in France to manage OGC Nice and much was expected from him because he was inheriting a squad known for their attacking prowess and while he started well, his 30-month spell at the club would be remembered for a capitulation in his second season that saw Nice lose five games consecutively including to bottom of the table Dijon. During his time with Nice, he had to deal with the exits of key players like Jean-Michel Seri, Alassane Plea, and Malang Sarr and also had to manage the puzzle that is Mario Balotelli but when they lost to 2-3 to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League securing a group stage exit, there were no excuses and Vieira got the ax.

Now the pressure is on Patrick Vieira to be successful in the premier league as a manager or as successful as a Crystal Palace manager can be at least. Last season the Eagles finished in 14th position avoiding the drop zone for the most part of the season. This season the London club faces a totally different test with most of their senior players being out of contract. Vieira is faced with the challenge of succeeding at Palace and getting his managerial career back on track.

Patrick Vieira finished 11th for Nice in Ligue 1 and that was considered a poor season considering the caliber of players he had to work with and things will not be any easier in the premier league with all the teams trying to strengthen their squads before the end of the transfer window while Palace have lost a number of first-team players from the 20/21 season.

Crystal Palace had a relatively quiet purchasing window and although there were rumors of PSG left-back Layvin Kurzawa joining the club before the window closes, it is unlikely Palace will be able to complete the deal. They were however able to bring in talented youngsters like Michael Olise from Reading, Marc Guehi, and Conor Gallagher (on loan) from Chelsea and the more experienced heads of Will Hughes from Watford and Joachim Anderson (who was impressive last season on loan to Fulham) from Lyon.

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