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NEW YORK CITY FC MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 24, 2016

Patrick Vieira

Harrison, New Jersey

Red Bulls - 4

New York City FC - 1

Q. Second half, looked like your team lost it with a number of yellow cards. Did you think the emotions got to your team too much as the game went on?
COACH VIEIRA: I think there's two ways of seeing it. Yes, it can be the emotion. It can be the comment from Jesse during the week that influenced the referee. And I think everybody has to analyze the situation.

I think, when you put in a question mark on the referee's credibility before it begins, that can have an impact, and I think you will agree it had an impact on the referee's performance today. And I feel sorry because we came here to play a good game and to play a Derby game, and Derby game sometimes, yes, the tackle is late, but I don't think the referee -- the referee, I believe, got influenced by the comment during the week.

Q. Patrick, Bradley Wright-Phillips, in these two years of this rivalry, has had a lot of success. What's made it so tough for you guys to deal with Bradley Wright-Phillips and also Sacha today.
COACH VIEIRA: I think we didn't defend well as a team. I think, as a team, we give them too much space. I believe, as a block, the way we planned to defend, we didn't respect it.

It was really too easy for them to penetrate centrally, and Andoni was sometimes exposed against two players. I believe that from the front players, we didn't work hard enough to make it more difficult for them.

Q. (No microphone)?
COACH VIEIRA: Bradley is a good player, and I think like any other players in the league, when you give them space, he can express his talent. And we knew how good he is, and he confirmed the quality that he has.

Q. What do you think the Red Bulls did differently today in this game compared to the previous match in terms of controlling the match and getting your side kind of pinned back in your own half?
COACH VIEIRA: Influencing the referee during the week, I think that has a message part of the game. Certainly, they wanted it, I think, more than us. I think we didn't show enough to take back something at home. I think, when we had the ball, I was quite happy with the way that we played, but I'm really unhappy with the way that we work as a team without the ball, and I think this is how we let ourself down and we make it a little bit more easy for them.

Q. July 3rd, your team handled the press very well. What was different about how they were pressing this game that made it a little more difficult for you?
COACH VIEIRA: I think the comment from Jesse during the week had a massive impact on the referees, and of course, that had an impact of the way we play them. But when you take in doubt the credibility of the referee, it happened that the referee sometimes making the wrong decision. I think today he make more decision in favor of the Red Bulls because the manager had been crying all the week. In the end, he gets what he wanted to.

On the other side, we knew about the way they were pressing, and I believe that even under the press, we managed to get the ball from the back the way we wanted to. Of course, at 3-1 with Tommy chances, if he go to the back of the net, 3-2, that could be a completely different game.

Q. Patrick, Jesse's talked about the refs a lot this year, not favoring his side. Do you think that has influenced other matches as well this year, or do you think in particular this one alone really influenced it?
COACH VIEIRA: I think you watched the game the same way I watch it. I think we all have to make our own opinion. I think it didn't just happen like that. This is a plan. This is a way, I think, he wanted to go for, and he get fined for it. So that means he did some things wrong. You wanted to accept it or not, but that had an impact on the referee's decision, as simple as that.

Q. Patrick, there always seems to be some kind of tension or animosity between you and Jesse since the beginning of the year with this rivalry. Is there anything that that stems from?
COACH VIEIRA: No, not at all. I think we are completely different as a person and as a character because he is acting one way, I'm acting a different way. But I think this is part of the Derby. He wants to win, I want to win, and sometimes there's tension. I think there is two different clubs acting in a different way, and this is a part of the Derby.

But, of course, I think you can see that, after his comment, as a football club, we decided not to respond because that isn't the way we want to do things. We have the full respect of the referee. We do understand that sometimes decision is really difficult to make from the referee. One day he's for us. One day he's against us. We understand it, and we respect it, and some people don't, and they prefer to cry openly, and it's good because it went for them this time.

Q. When you talk about the impact that it had on the game, could you be more specific? Was it the penalty kick?
COACH VIEIRA: No, the penalty kick, it was a penalty kick. I saw that, and it was clear. You have to look at it. You watched the game, and I think you look at the first three or four offsides that we had, there was no way that was offside. We wanted to know. Look at the way the referee make a decision on the field. You have the opinion, and some of you may think that I'm wrong, and I fully accept that, and this is my perception, the way I seen it.

And then after that is the fact, and the fact is that the referee has been influenced by the comment and put the credibility of the referee on the line, and this is really poor for the game.

Q. But that's not the referee. That's the assistant referee you're talking about for the offsides.
COACH VIEIRA: No, but you're talking about the offsides, but the referee, they all have the same rules. They all read the papers like everybody else. So we're talking about the linesman, talking about the fourth -- the referee, we're talking about the referee, we're talking about all of them. You get influenced by what you read and what you hear.

I don't think it's appropriate to come out in the week that there's a Derby, and there's a reason why he came out.

Q. Patrick, you came into -- this team came into the Derby in first place facing a team that needed the result. Do you see -- and this has happened before in your career, where you've probably had rivalry games against a team that's desperate, such as the Red Bulls. Was there a way you could, in hindsight, maybe protect your team from the possible extra influences from the opposition like this, from something like making the team aware the referee could be influenced by the coach?
COACH VIEIRA: You know, the only things you can control is our performance. That's the only thing. The referee's decision, you can't control it. We have to control our own performance, and I will do my own auto critic about the way we played. Yes, I maybe a little bit exposed the team. I would have to reflect on the team performance.

But the only thing I can control is our team and our players' performance. The referee is making a decision, and the referee making a decision with what's going on in the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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