Quotes from Patrick Vieira

I think football reflects our society. Our society changes. The evolution of society dictates the evolution of the game.

I sincerely think that firing Roger Lemerre was the easiest solution. There had to be a guilty party, and it was him. He was the ideal prey. He had his share of responsibility like everybody else, like the French FA who organised friendly matches at the other end of the world, but the actors - the players - have the greatest share of it.

A winning mentality does not come in one day. I'm sure that every single player at Arsenal wants to win, but it is coming to the moment when you need to play really bad games and win 1-0.

You train far more in France than in England. Here, we still see football as a game. Football is a job. There is still the mentality where training is at 11, you come in at 10:30, and when it is finished, you leave straight away.

I think England has to change the way they are teaching football because football is changing, and the method isn't changing as much.

When you are 14, 15, 16, you can train every day in France, and sometimes you can train twice a day.

When I told Arsene Wenger I was leaving, he said to me, 'I have £25m to spend on a few players.' My answer was, 'Obviously, Mr. Wenger, you are not shopping in Harrods. That will only buy you one good player.' Now I have been proved right.

It had never been a decision to choose between the French national team or the Senegalese national team because I was growing up in France and playing in the French youth national team, so it was something really normal.

I enjoyed playing for the national team, the French national team, because I think France gave me a lot and gave my family a lot, so to wear the French national team shirt was really good, and I wore it with pride.

I think what African football needs is better organization, better structure, and I think, after that, we'll help the players to be more professional when they're coming to play for their national team.

You have some people who recognise the players or coaching staff, but there are a lot who don't have a clue, who look at us and ask, 'What sport are you doing?'

When United play at home, they get some advantage that other teams don't get. I think when you go to United, Madrid, Barcelona, or Milan, when the referees referee these kind of games, it's always difficult to go against these kind of teams.

If I am the best, I am capable of saying it, but if I find the others better, I am also capable of shutting up. And staying on the bench. Full stop.

We need a club where there is a structure in place, with the necessary support a young coach needs. With a beginner, you need to be patient; there may be ups and downs.

You need somebody to open your eyes, to tell you there's things that you can do, and I had that person in Brian Marwood. I think if I'm where I am today, it's because of him.

If you look at Arsenal today, I really enjoy watching them play - they play some really good football - but that is not enough to win football matches or to win competitions. But in our time, we were winning, and we had the strength to not play well but somehow manage to win the game 1-0.

I don't look further than next year because in our world, anything can happen.

I think when you move to a country like the U.S., you need to understand the culture, to understand how people see the game, and adapt yourself.

I spent nine years at Arsenal, which makes the club really special for me.

I wasn't ready to manage straight away. You have a few players who stopped and managed a first team straight away and were successful, and then there are the other ones who take different pathways. And I think what was important for me was to understand what I really wanted to do.