Crystal Palace boss “not surprised” after losing pre-season friendly against Liverpool

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira “not surprised” that Liverpool won 2-0 in pre-season friendly

Speaking after the 2-0 pre-season friendly defeat against Liverpool as quoted by the official Crystal Palace website, Patrick Vieira admitted that he wasn’t surprised by the result.

The Reds were on the back of a 4-0 loss against Manchester United before they faced the Eagles in Singapore. But goals from Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah sealed a comfortable win.

Pre-season is largely for the manager to try out a few things and build up the fitness levels of his players. Jurgen Klopp has been doing exactly that, going by the vast amount of substitutions he has made in both games.

Speaking after the game, the Arsenal legend admitted that the gap in quality between the two teams made the difference on the day. In his defence, he was without some of his key players going into the game.

“This is a team that in the last five or six years are fighting to win the Champions League and the Premier League. We knew how challenging this would be… We are never happy to concede goals when we play football matches. But on the other side, look at the quality of the Liverpool squad. We are not surprised at all”

Vieira is humble enough to admit that the Reds have a superior team capable of fighting for the biggest trophies. Whether these are the words that Palace fans would have wanted to hear is another question.

The Reds now face RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg this month. A Community Shield match against Manchester City on 30th June seems like a mouth-watering tie.

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The Reds are yet to win that trophy under Jurgen Klopp. It may not have the same ring to it as the FA Cup or the EFL Cup, but it is still a piece of silverware to add to our ever-growing tally.