Frank Lampard credits Patrick Vieira's team-talk after New York Red Bulls defeat
Friday 22 July 2016 06:44, UK
Frank Lampard says Patrick Vieira's team-talk after New York City's 7-0 loss to New York Red Bulls in May helped improve the side's form.
New York City suffered their worst defeat in the club's history to their fierce rivals, New York Red Bulls, and are set to face off for the third and final time of the regular season - live on Sky Sports.
Since then, Manchester City's sister club have gone on to win five of their last eight league matches, including the club's first victory against the Red Bulls - a 2-0 win on July 3 - and are now first in the Eastern Conference standings.
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There has also been a marked improvement in Lampard's form - five goals in his last six matches - and the former Chelsea midfielder says Vieira's words after the 7-0 thrashing helped spark their upturn in motion.
"Patrick was great after the match, he was very smart," Lampard told Sky Sports.
"It was about drawing a line under it, not dwelling on it and still taking the positives from it. The positive response was very smart.
"We could have cried, and been fearful of the future that we want, but we wanted to push on from there and if you look at our results since then that's been great and exactly the right reaction that you want."
With New York City joining MLS in 2015, the two sides have gone head-to-head a total of five times, with the Red Bulls winning four of the clashes.
Lampard has featured in three of those with City still searching for their first win at Yankee Stadium against their main rivals, and the 38-year-old says it is a rivalry which is improving the more the two sides play each other.
"I think it's growing," he added. "It's fairly new and enhanced by the fact that we beat them for the first time, the two teams are pretty close.
"But they're out in New Jersey, and we take to heart the fact we are in New York City itself and within the five boroughs so I think the rivalry is going to get stronger.
"You can sense in the build-up to the week with the fans and social media."
Watch the New York derby on Sky Sports 3 from 5.55pm on Sunday or follow with our live blog. You can watch an extended interview with Frank Lampard when Soccer AM returns on August 6.
