Atlanta United doesn’t seem any closer to hiring a permanent head coach than it was when it fired Gonzalo Pineda in early June. But an intriguing candidate — one with MLS experience — has apparently emerged.
According to FOX Sports’ Doug McIntyre, Patrick Vieira has contacted Atlanta about its vacant head coaching position. This comes just weeks after he parted ways with Ligue 1 outfit Strasbourg after just one season in charge and a 13th-place finish.
After spells with Manchester City’s academy, his first senior-team head coaching position was with sister club NYCFC, who finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference in 2016 under his guidance before finding themselves on the wrong end of a 7-0 aggregate scoreline vs. Toronto FC in the conference semifinals. In 2017, they finished 2nd in the Supporters’ Shield standings but again fell in the conference semifinals, this time to the Columbus Crew. His final match in charge in the Bronx was a 1-1 draw against (ironically) Atlanta on June 9, 2018 as he was named head coach of Nice two days later, with NYC on a 8-3-4 record when he departed. Vieira’s cumulative record with NYCFC was 40-28-22 across all competitions.
After spells at Nice and Crystal Palace, Vieira was hired at Strasbourg in July 2023, with his departure projected by some to be a precursor to potentially being named Gregg Berhalter’s replacement at the helm of the USMNT. That said, it sounds like the former Arsenal great is at least somewhat keen on the idea of returning to MLS.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments.
Every week, Scarves and Spikes brings you original interviews, on-site coverage, live shows/podcasts, and the analysis you won’t find at the bigger national outlets. With 2026 being a World Cup year, Atlanta United facing yet another important transfer window, the U.S. Soccer National Training Center setting up shop in the Atlanta area, and NWSL Atlanta kicking off in 2028, your support helps us do even more.
What you get on Patreon:
- Atlanta United training ground updates
- Discord access — talk Atlanta soccer with the SnS team and other supporters
- Patreon-only mailbags
- Grey Gowder’s analytical deep-dives on roster construction, the academy, ATL UTD 2, and more
Start your free trial
Let’s look at it another way. Who with MLS experience is a better choice that we could realistically get? I’m not saying this because I know of one, I don’t. MLS has a lot a weird things that other league coaches may not be comfortable with. Some European coaches may not be willing to adapt to it even though Garth and a new TD could handle that part. Not being able to call the shots on players acquisition could be another deal breaker. That said, the last time I pulled for a team that hired a known MLS talented coach, it was a disaster. Call it Jason Kreiss and OSC. 🙃😳🙄
[…] haven’t heard a great deal about Atlanta United’s head coaching search outside of Patrick Vieira‘s apparent interest. But another name appears to have been on Garth Lagerwey’s list of […]
How about Emma Hayes? Break the gender barrier and she’s won more trophies than the last three AU coaches combined. (Don’t fact check me on that one)
But has she ever won the AmFam Cup?
Interesting that he reached out to us rather than the other way around. I wonder if he was not on our radar because of the USMNT speculation, or some other reason. Maybe he is on our prospective list, but we have not gotten around to talking to anyone yet.
I have no opinion on him as a coach, but he apparently wants to be here based upon him proactively reaching out. That’s a positive, at least.
Edit: After reading the article, it is unclear to me if he called us or we called him:
I didn’t see anything else in the article about this.
Elsewhere (but I forget where), it sounded like he reached out to us like you said.
My only cautiousness comes from the fact that he coached NYC out of all MLS teams, and they have a home field advantage that skews results heavily in their favor.
I would love to see either a breakdown of his away match performances compared to league average in that time, or his home performances subtracted by the average difference between NYC home win % in Yankee stadium compared to average home win % in MLS.
Throwing in the data in this article, it looks like they had a significant home field advantage, but then again we do too, albeit for different reasons
https://footystats.org/usa/mls/home-advantage-table
All MLS teams have a significant home field advantage, the league has the strongest home field advantage of any league in the world for whatever reason.
I’m comparing relative to the ~53% home field win rate across MLS.
Well, he did have to get used to his teams playing on a full sized pitch instead of a baseball field
I am happily surprised at the positivity of the first 10 comments here. I also think Vieira should get a nice long look. He has a strong winning record in the league already.
I was so glad to see him depart in 2018 because of how strong NYCFC was under his guidance. I would certainly be a fan of this.
Yes please
Yes Please
Think he’s a decent manager and Atl would be very lucky to land him at this point. He is, of course, very possession oriented and at times a little defensive minded, which I think typically yields better, more consistent results, but would imagine the possession phobic fans might be displeased.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with defensive/possessive, as long as it doesn’t come at the cost of being toothless with the ball. There’s a difference between suffocating your opponent slowly before surgically placing a killing blow, and dancing around playing keep away because you know you can’t hurt them, and delaying the inevitable mistake.
That said, I have no idea which of these Vieira would create. What stat would tell that story? xG per game? Shots per game?
I’m not sure I know of any pro coaches who’ve a system that includes the philosophy, strategy or tactic: “we’re gonna dance around and play keep away because we’re weak”. That sounds more like a function of the players (individually and as a gestalt unit) being toothless, unimaginative and/or inconsistent. Regardless, I’d wager a tidy sum that his system isn’t “lets just dance”, though imagine he might lean conservative in situations in which he feels the team is outmatched or facing an uncomfortable opponent or otherwise thinks it benefits the circumstances.
Oh I don’t mean that in the intentional sense. I mean it more like what we saw earlier this year and even in previous years where yes we have possession, but the ball goes meaninglessly back forth around the outer shell, from CB to winger, back to CB, to other winger, etc until it gets lost / a low chance cross gets hopefully put in / a shot from outside the box goes way over the crossbar. All because no one has the confidence or organization to play in the tight spaces, so they focus on keeping possession but never figure out how to make dangerous chances happen. Maybe a better way word to use would be “because you *think* you can’t hurt them”, or “don’t know how”.
That can be on the coach. Put together drills of quick one touch passes, create systems of play where once the winger gets the ball, everyone on the team knows he should have an option on the inside from a CM, FB overlap, and more importantly where that next pass is supposed to be afterward. Improve fitness so that players are able to phyiscally make those runs. I saw too many times over the years a winger hit a deadend with no passing options but backwards to the FB/CB. At some point that’s on the coach to recognize that’s a problem, and to implement changes. Pineda didn’t always have this problem, but it’s one I’ve noticed happen when our attack is doing poorly.
regardless, my question isn’t that it’s what he’s going to do as a system, it’s that he’ll be a strong enough coach that even if he does focus defensively that he knows how to prevent that from being an issue.
Pineda would like a word…
I think Vieira would be a huge upgrade. I’d prefer a shift to a more pressing and direct style of play, but perhaps only slightly pivoting from Pineda’s ineffective possession system to one that has had success in MLS is a smarter bet. Also, interesting that Vieira (or his agent more likely) reached out to AUFC. I realize there’s not a ton of openings right now, but he’s a coach familiar with MLS and wants to be here. This could be a good move if it’s what comes to pass.
I think we’re beyond being able to grumble about playstyle after being irrelevant for five years in a row, just make us a winner again please god
He’d be a good one. Worth hearing him out.