Patrick Vieira admits Crystal Palace “needed that win” against Leeds United after a run of disappointing results.
The Eagles went into their clash against the Yorkshire side at Selhurst Park 17 th in the Premier League table after picking up just one win against Aston Villa from their opening seven matches.
More frustrating was the fact Palace had been playing well and their position in the table was not a true reflection on their performances, Vieira claimed. The south London side managed to draw at Liverpool [1-1] and Newcastle [0-0] and against Brentford [1-1] at home, but were narrowly beaten against Arsenal [0-2] and Chelsea [1-2] at Selhurst Park.
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Palace also went two goals ahead against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, but fell to defeat after the Premier League champions rallied to score four second-half goals, with Erling Haaland netting his first hat-trick.
But Palace finally managed to claimed their second league win of the season on Saturday, despite going a goal down to Pascal Struijk’s opener for Leeds after ten minutes. Odsonne Edouard equalised 14 minutes later, heading in Michael Olise’s free-kick.
Palace had consumed most of the pressure in the first-half, but turned things around in the second period after Vieira commanded his players to “be a little more direct”. In the end, they got the winner they deserved thanks to Eberechi Eze’s composed finish with less than 15 minutes remaining.
“It was that we of course have the ability to play better in the second-half than we did in the first. We needed to be more in their face and a little more direct,” Vieira told Sky Sports post-match.“We needed to find our front three for them to hold the ball and to wait for support from the midfielders. At times we did it better in the second-half.
“Obviously they [Leeds] dropped a little bit physically and that allowed us to play more directly but I was really pleased with [the fact] we remained calm. Of course it was tough, it was difficult, but I’m really pleased with the players because they really deserved to win games.”
A 2-1 win over Leeds means Palace went level on points with the Whites but one place behind due to goal difference. The Eagles are now 15 th in the Premier League table with three points separating them from the relegation zone.
“All credit to the players because going 1-0 down, fighting back and to compete and get the win, they worked really well and fully deserve it because in the last couple of games we played we didn’t get what we deserve. It was a good win for us,” added Vieira.
“We just needed a win because when you look at our performances lately we were quite good. The only thing we were missing was a win. We didn’t play as well [against Leeds] as we did before but we managed to win the game.
“So it’s important for us to find the right balance. When we didn’t win we didn’t throw away everything we’ve been doing in the last couple of months. We won today but are still going to try to improve as a team. It’s a good win, we needed that win. It wasn’t really pretty but we need some different ingredients from our last couple of games. Today we worked hard, we pulled up our sleeves and we competed. At the end we scored that goal and it’s good for us.”
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