A career strewn with trophies at club and international level points to the 34-year-old knowing what it takes to win, but he is adamant that it’s the players who must take responsibility when results do not go well.
And a luckless third straight defeat at Poznan on Thursday has not diverted the Frenchman from a road he sees will lead to success.
“Everybody at the football club is working really hard,” he declared. “The players want to win, the manager wants to win, so do the fans and we are all giving everything to be successful.
“What’s important is that as players we perform. If we don’t win games, that’s our fault and the blame should not go on the manager. He makes the choices and decides the tactics, but it is the players who have to perform. We win all together, and we lose all together. It’s not the manager on one part, and the team on the other.”
Suggestions from outside the club that all is not well within the squad were laughed off by Gareth Barry earlier in the week, and his experienced teammate in the City midfield says that a healthy exchange of views is part and parcel of top-flight football.
“Having been at Juventus, Arsenal and Inter Milan, I know players argue,” Patrick adds. “That’s part of the game.
I don’t know any big football club where you do not have character in the dressing room, and character will make you win
...Patrick Vieira...
“Character will keep you going forward, and I think all the stuff we have seen and heard about City recently can be positive. It will make us improve, make us win trophies and I think what’s happening here at the moment is good.
“People may be trying to create negativity around the club from outside. That happened when I was Arsenal, Juventus and Inter too. What’s important is that as a club and a team we are really strong together. We have to believe in ourselves, and winning games will do that.
“Look at some of the players we have. Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Yaya, Shaun – there is real character in the dressing room and that’s why I am not worried at all. We are all here for the same objective, to win the Premier League, and the only way to do that is if we are all together. We all understand that.”
