Arsenal vs Manchester United from the late 1990’s through the early 2000’s was the dominant rivalry in English football, and the first time in the Premier League era where United had a long-term competitor they had to deal with. The competition between the two clubs was fierce enough that it spawned off different documentaries and gave us numerous captivating moments: the 1999 FA Cup semifinal, Arsenal clinching the title at Old Trafford in 2002, the 2–2 draw at Highbury in 2003, Ruud Van Nistelrooy hitting the crossbar and nearly derailing Arsenal’s undefeated season. The PL has gone through numerous incarnations throughout its history, going from the big four to the big six, to what currently now is the big two with Manchester City and Liverpool. In those seven seasons from 1998–2004, the PL was undoubtedly dominated by Arsenal and Manchester United.
Of all the players that played a part in Arsenal’s glory run, there might not be one that’s cast a larger shadow over the club upon his departure than Patrick Vieira. Even though Thierry Henry set an impossible standard for future Arsenal strikers to match (for my money, he is the greatest player that’s ever played in English football), Arsenal have been able to maintain high-end attacking production in the years following his departure. The midfield position hasn’t benefited from that same continuation of first-rate performances, even though there have been some talented players that have operated in the midfield. Cesc Fàbregas was amazing at his peak, and if single-value metrics existed back in the 2000s, it very well might’ve rated him higher than Vieira at their respective peaks because of his ability to be the central hub of a high level attack. Perhaps the player that’s come closest to providing the same level of press-resistance from deeper areas was Santi Cazorla, before injuries nearly ended his career.
I did wonder beforehand whether there was a little bit of nostalgia coloring people’s evaluations of Vieira. From the Arsenal fan point of view, some of that could be the natural tendencies that fans have in reminiscing about the greatest time of their fandom, and in the process bumping up the rankings of players who helped create those memories. There also seems to be a certain level of fondness for PL football during those early years from some circles of football punditry, which can also end up in players having an elevated reputation that perhaps wasn’t deserved. As with all the profiles for this series, we will be looking at a handful of seasons, in this case the 2000–01 through 2003–04 seasons. This takes into account both Arsenal’s team success from 2002–04, and that those four seasons covered what remained of Vieira’s prime.
Scouting report
The best way I would describe Patrick Vieira is that he had the passing abilities of a top-notch technical midfielder, but he just happened to be a colossus at 6'4. A lot of the discourse surrounding his playing career seems to focus more on his physical attributes, with his technical skills almost getting reduced to a footnote, which has led to several players mistakenly getting the tag as “the next Patrick Vieira” because of only possessing physical similarities. Not only could this be seen as problematic, but on a basic level, it just misses the point of what made Vieira such a unique talent because he was a dynamic passer who also combined that with being a very large individual. If he saw a teammate moving into open space in the middle third, he knew how to get them the ball, even if it meant using the outside of his foot to create a passing angle. He was proficient at little aerial passes to nearby teammates, and when needed, he could beat split the opposition to find teammates streaking into dangerous areas without them having to break their stride.
Not everything was smooth with Vieira as an on-ball creator. He was very good in terms of his penetrative passing from just inside the middle third, but one could argue that he perhaps wasn’t quite great at it. He did have his moments where the ball would get stuck in his feet and allow for incoming pressure to arrive, although even then he still had the wherewithal to get himself out of trouble more times than not through foul drawing. When receiving ball the ball on the half-turn in deeper areas, Vieira possessed excellent fluidity but that wasn’t necessarily the case as he advanced further up the field as he could look somewhat statuesque.
Vieira’s ball carrying abilities from deep were superb, which is part of the reason why people view him in such a high regard. He was great at being able to use his arms as leverage to stiff arm opponents or even swim through them to gain the upper hand, all the while making sure that he didn’t get called for fouls. Because of his long legs, that allowed him to frequently flick the ball over opponents and continue possession. One issue that capable ball carries could have is dealing with tunnel vision when driving up field, but that wasn’t the case with Vieira. While his passing wasn’t always spot on in these situations, I don’t think you could knock him for missing opportunities to put teammates through in dangerous spots because of a lack of awareness. We also have some statistical evidence that illustrates this. In the 32 league games that Statsbomb tracked during the 2003–04 season, only Robert Pires completed more deep progressions into the final third on a per 90 minute basis (8.88) than Vieira’s rate of 7.59 (passes, dribbles and carries are included in that metric).
Off-ball movement was another part of Vieira’s game that was solid. He had the speed needed to make forward movements into the final third, and he knew when to get himself open from deep. There were a few moments where he’d move into areas of the pitch that were already occupied, which eliminated potential passing options and lessens his value in that department. What’s interesting is that the common narrative emerged that once Arsenal acquired Gilberto Silva, Vieira ended up roaming forward considerably more than in previous seasons, and I’m not sure if that’s actually true. While I do think Vieira was a bit more forward venturing from the sample of matches viewed, it wasn’t markedly different compared to when he was playing with Edu as his midfield partner.
Vieira’s usage defensively was quite similar to how United deployed Roy Keane, which probably reflects the realities of what was needed out of a two man midfield in the PL during this era. Between the two, Vieira had fewer moments where he would try to go on a rampage and tackle everyone in his path. Both midfielders loved to take away airspace from their nearest opponent, and given that Vieira did possess greater acceleration alongside those famous long legs of his, he was better in this department. He used his frame to take away possible passing lanes by making himself big, and he was quite adept at being able to dig the ball from behind and cleanly gaining possession. As well, he had solid awareness for tracking runs into the box when having to defend deep in his own third.
This isn’t to say that Vieira was flawless defensively. He did miss his fair share of 50–50 gambles when trying to step up to pressure, which would take him out of the picture just enough to allow the opposition to create quick 1–2's. There were moments where he’d go to ground and just plainly miss on a sliding tackle. As well, his ability to defend in 1v1 situations was somewhat shaky. When the opponent had his back to goal or even on the half-turn, he was a shark in snuffing out any danger. When face to face with the opponent, Vieira didn’t have the greatest lateral movement to keep up and could look rather stiff. Despite those weaknesses, I still think he brought solid value defensively. I also buy that there was a hint of a fear factor that Vieira had which deterred opponents from truly exploiting his weaknesses, like a cornerback in the NFL who the opposition doesn’t want to throw it to his side because of his reputation to shut down wide receivers.
Analysis
It’s abundantly clear that Patrick Vieira was a key member of those memorable Arsenal teams from 2001–04, but just how good was he? While he was a creative passer, I think he was a level short of the absolute best in this department. His ball carrying from deep was superb, but in comparison, he did have some struggles in the final third as an on-ball threat when he couldn’t build momentum from deep. His foul drawing was amazing but unlike with Kaká, it wasn’t as if a boatload of those fouls were coming at the edge of the penalty area which can create dangerous set pieces. Where he did win on the margins was with his off-ball movement, particularly his ability to attack space. Vieira was strong on the defensive end, but his shaky lateral movement was a concern in the moments where opponents could go straight up against him in a 1v1, though he didn’t get beaten too often for that to start chipping away severely at his defensive value. If I had to ball park it, I think he was very good on offense and a tad bit worse on defense, but still a positive there.
Since both Keane and Vieira played similar roles during their peak, it’s only natural that they have been tied at the hip when discussing their careers, and it does make for an interesting comparison. I think that Keane’s passing from the defensive to middle third was slightly better, partly because he didn’t suffer the same issue Vieira had in getting the ball out of his feet. Vieira was better at taking chances with his passing towards the final third (compared to Keane who had his issues with conservatism with his passing further up the pitch), and within reason, I more so lean towards players who take chances with their passing. In terms of their gravity as ball carriers, Vieira has the massive edge. While both were accomplished defensively, Vieira’s length allowed him to create certain defensive actions that Keane wasn’t able to do. If having to choose between the two, I would take Vieira as I think he added more value with his passing, while in addition having more range as a defender.
Vieira was certainly fortunate to play with the collection of talent that Arsenal accumulated during the first half of the 2000’s. It’s interesting to see how the club went about constructing their team that eventually peaked from 2002–04. A lot of the key players they acquired were between 23–26, with the most notable incoming young talents being José Antonio Reyes and Fàbregas in the summer of 2003. It bears a bit of resemblance to what Liverpool did from 2015–18. Similar to Liverpool, Arsenal had a blockbuster center-back signing in Sol Campbell which gave new life to their defense. They also sold high on assets which helped fuel future success with the transfers of Marc Overmars and Emmanuel Petit to Barcelona, although those two did help Arsenal win the double in 1998, whereas Liverpool didn’t have nearly the same success on a team level with Coutinho before he left for Barcelona. This resulted in a steady progression domestically when looking at their true talent level, and silverware eventually started to come their way as well. Arsenal did the double again in 2002, and arguably gave away the title in 2003 despite posting identically numbers to their title winning season.
This all built up towards 2003–04, undoubtedly the greatest season for Arsenal as a club, and one of the most historic league campaigns anyone in English football has had. Even though their point tally from that season only ranks 9th on the list of most points gained in a single season, going undefeated has endured in such a way that it still remains one of the great achievements for any English club. And that Arsenal team was very good with Vieira playing a pivotal role in reclaiming the league title. In that 32 game sample, their non-penalty expected goal ratio was just over 66%, which in today’s era would equate to a credible title contender in a lot of seasons. Without having event data for the league as a whole during that season or from 2000–04, we don’t have a grasp on where Arsenal’s underlying numbers would rank compared to other great sides from that period. If I had to guess, it probably would’ve at least been in the top two given the PL hierarchy at the time. What’s interesting to note is Arsenal having such a high xG/shot from open play considering the era they played in, a credit to how much their fluid positioning in attack amplified the talent at their disposal and flummoxed the PL. Given that it would be another 9–10 years before PL clubs started to realize the importance of shot locations, I wouldn’t say that Arsenal had the same affect on English football as what the Seven Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns had on the NBA. However, I do think that they deserve credit for being ahead of the curve in terms of shot selection.
At the end of the day, I‘m of the opinion that Patrick Vieira’s reputation has slightly outpaced his actual abilities and production that he provided. Many people have looked at him as something of a unicorn, which ends up forming the basis of arguments for why he’s one of the best in the PL era, and I just can’t get there 100% with that line of thinking. My little quibbles with his on-ball tendencies on offense along with his questionable side to side movements when defending 1v1s keeps him from “all time great” status. With that said, Vieira does get bonus points for his game scaling well onto high level domestic sides, and I do think that the overall package he brought to the table as a legitimate two-way threat was good enough that I feel comfortable saying that he was a great player.
Special thanks to Mark Thompson and Statsbomb for their help in making this profile possible
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Previous Profiles
#1: Zinedine Zidane
#2: Roy Keane
#3: Claude Makélélé
#4: Steven Gerrard
#5: Kaká
