There is something new in the Premier League season 2022-23. Sky Sports, the owner of the main broadcasting rights of the premier league in England, has the right to conduct interviews with managers at half-time. So far, interviews with managers are only conducted before and after the game.
Of course, there are rules that Sky Sports must follow. Each manager is interviewed a maximum of five times during half-time. Another rule is that they WILL NOT be interviewed when their team is trailing at half-time.
So, what does that have to do with Patrick Vieira?
Viera’s troops, Crystal Palace, underwent their first Premier League match of the season by losing 0-2 to their visitors, Arsenal, last August 6 at Selhurst Park, London. Palace trailed 1-0 at half-time after Arsenal midfielder Gabriel Martinelli scored in the 20th minute. However, not only was Vieira the first manager to be interviewed by Sky Sports at half-time, the former Arsenal man was also the first manager from a losing club to be interviewed at half-time.
Sky Sports seems to be just trying to talk to Vieira. After all, the club they are facing is a club that the French manager has strengthened. Vieira was recruited by Arsenal even before France won the 1998 World Cup. The 46-year-old man born in Dakar, Senegal has been strengthening the Gunners since 1996, moving from AC Milan. Now he meets his former club, since he accepted the assignment as manager of another London club, Palace, on July 4, 2021.
Back to the first half of this season’s halftime interview. Sky Sports can breathe a sigh of relief, because Vieira doesn’t mind talking to him at all, even though his club is losing. In fact, Vieira looked happy when interviewed.
“I think we were a bit disappointing by going 1-0 down in the first half. We finished the first half pretty well, so it’s very important that we start the second half at the same tempo as we did in the first half,” Vieira replied when asked what do you think about the first 45 minutes.
Unfortunately, whatever Vieira said in the dressing room did not have the expected effect. Palace actually conceded again through an own goal made by their defender, Marc Guehi.
Maybe that’s why the Premier League made it a rule not to talk to the manager of the club that lost at half-time. So, they can concentrate and that will definitely take longer to give advice during breaks to all the players. In the final interview, Vieira admitted that his team still had a lot to do. Their pre-season was far from ideal, as half the team was in England, the rest on tour.
Thus, according to the quota, Vieira only needs to undergo four half-time interviews. Hopefully in those four interviews, Crystal Palace are ahead in the first half.
