Crystal Palace’s Patrick Vieira “happy” with a draw vs Liverpool despite one-man advantage
Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is happy with his side’s performance in their 1-1 draw against 10-man Liverpool at Anfield. While speaking in an interview (h/t Liverpool Echo),
“We are really happy with a point. Overall I think Liverpool had the chances, we had a couple of good ones.
“It’s not easy to stay calm here. With the crowd and the atmosphere we managed the situation really well.”
The Eagles manager admitted that there was a plan in place to cope with the early pressure by the Liverpool side. They did that well, in all honesty, as our forwards failed to capitalise on the chances that the team was creating in the first half-hour of the game before Wilfried Zaha’s goal.
“Our plan was executed by the players. We didn’t show any kind of frustration.”
After the lacklustre performance against Fulham where we drew 2-2, it was essential for us to attain the three points and get the first win of the campaign. We started the match brightly with hard pressing and incisive passing into the Palace’s final third, however, we lacked precision with our finishing.
It took one counter-attack from the Eagles to break away from the high line and get the first goal on the scoresheet. It was a cool finish by Zaha who had not seen the ball too much before the goal.
With the way the game was played and the sustained pressure being piled up on the Eagles, it was expected that Liverpool would score the equaliser and eventually go for the winner.
Things took a different turn than expected, when Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez, on his home debut, was shown a red card for a headbutt challenge on Crystal Palace’s defender Joachim Andersen.
It was not the start that the forward would have expected and was a reckless move by the Uruguayan which cost his team tremendously and made it an insurmountable task for the team to mount a comeback.
Luis Diaz still managed to score four minutes after that incident, which makes our draw all the more impressive, and Vieira’s comments more of a compliment to us. Leading the game with the Reds down to 10 men and the Arsenal legend still seemed content with the 1-1 result.
Jurgen Klopp can be seen fuming with the reaction of the player and admitted that the red card decision was fair. Speaking at the post-match conference, Klopp said:
“There was provocation but it was definitely the wrong reaction. It was a clear red card. We cannot deny that.”
Title charge already slipping away
With two points in the first two games, it is looking like Manchester City could run away with another title unless there is a dramatic change in our fortunes. Nunez’s red card does not help the cause either.
Now, all eyes will be on the league game against Manchester United who will definitely be ready for a challenge amid their horrible start in the season.
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No one would have expected a situation where Liverpool and Manchester United are without a win coming into this match. It would require something special out of Klopp’s sleeves to have a better performance than seen in the previous games.
