Arsenal: Patrick Vieira’s absence still casts a damning shadow?

I am writing this on Patrick Vieira’s 46th birthday. His absence from the Arsenal midfield is still felt now. It casts a damning shadow on the club’s team building.

In the increasingly PR-driven modern world, the official websites and social media channels of sporting organisations and leagues and other businesses are consistently looking to churn out content — I could say the very same about this site. And the official Arsenal website is no different.

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On Saturday, Patrick Vieira’s 46th birthday, the website celebrated the occasion with a couple of very interesting interviews about the former captain, one with his midfield partner in the Invincibles team, Gilberto Silva, and the other with Arsene Wenger.

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Their comments were quite revealing as to the inability of the club to ever replace the Frenchman. First and foremost, there was his reliability and his fighting spirit on the pitch. Gilberto heralded the ease of playing with the striding midfielder:

"“On the pitch, you could trust him. Any time he was there, we knew that it would be much easier for us in the middle.”"

Wenger supported that point, praising his ability to fight in the tough contests:

"“You could go with Patrick Vieira to Sheffield United on a Tuesday night in November and he could turn up and fight like mad.”"

It is significant that Wenger picks out Sheffield United, also. It is a famous football cliche. ‘Yeah, but could he do it on a cold, rainy night in Stoke?’ is a question you will hear in almost every football conversation down the pub. This is the same form, just using a different team. But the reason Wenger chooses United, I believe, is because Vieira actually did it against United on a cold, rainy Tuesday night. I should know. I was there, watching him brush off the futile battles of the Blades as he meandered his way through the swamp of a pitch to roll in the winning penalty.

But more than his influence on the pitch, his warrior-like qualities, his ability to play and to battle, Vieira was a leader, as Gilberto continued:

"“Patrick was a real leader – on the pitch, outside the pitch.”"

Wenger echoed that sentiment:

"“He was a fighter. I don’t think he was the same type of captain as Tony Adams, who was a more vocal leader. He was more of a guy who through the quality of his attitude and the quality of his game, became a natural leader in the side.”"

Those two qualities of Vieira, his leadership off the pitch and his willingness to fight on it, still haven’t been replaced. Arsenal lack characters and leaders in the dressing room, they falter when other teams fight them, they fold under pressure. And that is a damning shadow to cast over this club.

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Vieira left in 2005. It was 13 years ago. And still, the same problems preside. Change needs to come. Hopefully Unai Emery can bring it.