Crystal Palace assistant manager Osian Roberts said the reason Eagles boss Patrick Vieira was unable to attend Friday’s pre-match press conference was due to an urgent family matter. He told the press that Vieira had needed to leave the training ground immediately after taking the call but to expect that “normal service’ would resume from tomorrow.
Osian Roberts said: “My thoughts are, first of all, with Patrick and the family. It makes a big difference when Patrick’s not here because he’s our leader, he’s the manager and you always want him at the helm. Leaving matters. But of course, we have a responsibility to make sure, in this unfortunate circumstance, that we do everything correctly to make sure that everything goes as seamless as possible [and] as smooth as possible until he’s back with us.”
Roberts later praised the coaching staff and the players at Crystal Palace for their professional reaction to the news and said that the first team’s training session had not been interrupted by the absence of Vieira.
Osian Roberts added: “We’ve got a good group of staff here that have worked and rallied round to make sure that this morning, the training has been seamless. The players, as usual, have been professional in the way that they’ve applied themselves so we’ve had a good training session this morning.”
