Patrick Vieira was quite happy for Manchester City to give the ball to Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez as he guided Crystal Palace to a second clean sheet against the Blues this season.
City were beaten at the Etihad earlier in the campaign by Palace, and were frustrated on Monday night as Vieira's side earned a deserved point in a 0-0 draw. Palace become only the second side to stop City from scoring against a side in a season since Pep Guardiola's arrival, and Vieira explained his tactics after the game.
With 76 per cent possession, City's game-plan appeared to be to send long balls to Mahrez or Grealish, but they struggled to make the most of those opportunities and Palace were brilliant defensively in response. Vieira said he expected City to have the majority of possession, and praised his side for limiting the space available to the Blues when they had the ball.
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"You have to be ready, they'll have possession," he told Sky Sports.
"It was a team effort, both games we concede a lot of chance. Our keeper did a good game, our performance as a team was really good. When you play against players of their quality, you need a bit of luck. In both games there were times we were lucky. You need quality as well and we deserve it."
Going into detail of the tactics required to stop City for 180 minutes, Vieira said crowding the centre of the pitch, pressing high with Conor Gallagher, and always staying compact was the key to their two clean sheets.
He said: "Conor is full of energy and he loves defending going forward. We wanted to use his energy and positiveness to close down.
"He has a lot of intensity, he was really strong, won a couple of balls. we didn't have the same luck as the first game when we scored that goal.
"We were focussing on the defensive side of it [in training this week]. We knew we wouldn't have the possession.
"It was important for the midfield and five to be compact and stop those players finding the pockets. We wanted to force them wide and from there put pressure on. We had a good gameplan and the players executed it really well."
Speaking to the BBC, Vieira added that Palace also needed luck and a complete team performance, saying: "We worked hard, we worked well. We defended well and created a couple of chances. I’m happy with the team spirit and organisation today.
"When you play against City you have to concede chances. It’s all about having your luck on the day but also putting in a shift as a team. We did that today. We fought for the luck and we got a point. We’re happy with the performance.
"[I was happy with] the way we managed the game. We defended well as a team. At times during the season we’ve struggled during difficult periods. But today we stuck together."
Reflecting on his role, Gallagher told Sky: "You could see our game plan, to be organised and try to catch them on the counter attack. It was a very good performance from us.
"Before the game we had the belief we would win. We have played well and got good results, but we're happy with the point.
"They are one of the best teams in the world and to do that against them twice is amazing and shows what we can do as a team."
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