Over the past few weeks, City manager Roberto Mancini has been infuriated by a succession of recent refereeing performances.

The dismissal of Mario Balotelli at Liverpool in November left the Italian grumbling.

However, Mancini was pushed to the brink of exasperation by the dismissal of Vincent Kompany against Manchester United last month, when, only days later, Glen Johnson escaped punishment for a very similar challenge on City winger Adam Johnson.

The subsequent intervention of the Football Association in suspending Balotelli for a further four games for his tackle on Tottenham's Scott Parker had Mancini steaming as well.

In addition, there was a controversial penalty awarded against Micah Richards during City's Carling Cup semi-final defeat by Liverpool.

It has all left the Blues feeling rather annoyed, and triggered Vieira's tirade.

"I don't want to say that everyone is against City but when you look at the last few decisions, you are asking yourself if something is wrong here, if people don't want us to win the league," said the former France midfielder.

"It felt like that anything City do will be amplified and we get punished, compared to the other teams and the other players.

"We are trying our best to win the league and we accept our punishment.

"But when you look what is happening to the other clubs, it makes us really frustrated."

Vieira conceded that inconsistencies amongst the refereeing fraternity were part of the problem rather than a bias against City.

However, as relative newcomers to the top table of English football, they could be perceived as an easier target than the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea.

As former skipper of a title-winning Arsenal side, Vieira has the presence not many members of the City old guard can boast.

And he is using it to stand up for his club.

"Confusion is really dangerous, especially for the referee and the refereeing body," he said.

"They have to be very careful about how they deal with some of the situations.

"A referee has to make a decision he thinks is right. But a good referee is someone who referees with his personality and with common sense, to make the decision that he thinks is right at the moment, not because he is afraid of the consequences - that is not good."

And, not only is Vieira worried about the inconsistencies for players and clubs, he also believes the more sanitised approach acts to the detriment of the Premier League, which eventually will undermine its standing around the world.

"The beauty of the English game - especially in the Premier League - is the speed of the game, the passion from the players and the tackling," he said.

"England is the only country in the world where fans in the stadium applaud the striker who has scored but also the defender who wins the ball with a tackle.

"Now it looks like you cannot tackle anymore. The referees' body has to be really careful to not kill the passion of the game.

"Other players will never accept a fellow professional going to hurt somebody, these kind of players need to punished severely.

"But if these changes to the rules mean there is more of a European pace or style to the Premier League, English fans could get bored and would not come to see the game."

And that brings Vieira back to Kompany's challenge on Nani, which brought the City skipper a four-match ban, when, to some, on first glance it was not even a free-kick.

"If that was a red card there would have been a sending-off in every game I played for Arsenal," he said.

"It was one of the harshest decisions I've seen in the last few months.

"I was quite surprised that the referee gave a foul."