Patrick Vieira believes his Crystal Palace “deserved something” from their trip to Manchester City after a “perfect” first-half performance against the Premier League champions.
Patrick Vieira said: “Disappointed of course to concede four goals in the second-half but at the same time I think our first-half was a perfect one because we didn’t give them much space. We worked really hard and well, we were well disciplined, we made it difficult for them to find the solution. I think we spent a lot of energy defending in the first-half and then when we come back in the second-half we lost a little bit of physicality, concentration, discipline and we can’t do that against the team and players they have. When they scored that first goal it became really difficult to build this kind of momentum and believe, this is a really experienced team so they have to manage those kind of situations better than we do. Frustration of course because we did enough, especially in the first-half, to get something from that game. It’s not just about the concentration, it’s about the quality of the team, they quality of the players we are facing. We can’t drop concentration and discipline because the players will put the ball in the right place at the right time and they can score goals. The way they play they always create chances and we did it well in the first-half to not give them those kind of opportunities. Then, in the second-half, we have to accept that with the quality they have they can get back and win the game. There’s nothing more I can ask the players to do today.”
