Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira felt a draw was what his side deserved after Michael Olise netted a late free-kick to earn the Londoners a point against Manchester United at Selhurst Park on Wednesday evening.
Patrick Vieira said: “I think we deserved the point. Really challenging against a really good side. We found it difficult to close them down but we managed to stay in the game. In the last 15 minutes we put pressure on them. Michael scored that free-kick. It was tough, we worked hard and we got rewarded. I saw organisation, really good team spirit, communication. We kept our discipline and that helped us stay in the game. We had that Wilfried [Zaha] run at the end. If it was a different player [than Aaron Wan-Bissaka] he wouldn’t catch him. That was a tough game against a good side. We needed luck to stay in the game, but we provoked that luck.”
Palace welcomed United to Selhurst Park on a run of three successive defeats in league and cup, scoring just one goal in that run, meaning they were under a degree of pressure to stop the rot.
Patrick Vieira added: “The process takes time. People are waiting for us to win games because of our talent. But the talent isn’t enough. The process allows us to be competitive. The team will still have to grow, to believe. It was important not to lose today.”