Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira says the 3-1 defeat to Napoli has shown the defensive improvement the Eagles still need to make. A winter trip to Turkey concluded with a defeat against the Serie A side yesterday (Sunday), with Palace losing out 3-1 after Wilfried Zaha had given the Eagles the lead on 33 minutes, only for Victor Osimhen to equalise two minutes later before two second half goals from Giacomo Raspadori gave Napoli victory. Despite the loss, Vieira was pleased with aspects of what he saw from his side, adding that there were positives for him and his players from the trip away, which also included a 2-2 draw with Turkish side Trabzonspor. However, he admitted there were some key things that Palace needed to improve, with the Frenchman demanding more from his players as the Eagles prepare for the return of competitive football in two weeks’ time.
Patrick Vieira said: “I was pleased because we doubled up the training. Physically we are in a good place. We can compete for 95 minutes. We put in hard work, hard sessions. There was a bit of fatigue. We’ve had a couple of young players as well. I’m really pleased with the week in Turkey. Defensively we have a long way to go, but we are playing against a top Serie A team still involved in the Champions League. It was a really good test for us because that highlights the phases of the game that we have to improve and shows how we have to go more into details and be more solid defensively. The positive is that we defended well at times, but it is not consistent enough. We created situations, we had a couple of chances where we could have scored but we didn’t score. We are just a little bit immature in those kinds of phases. We concede goals at the wrong time and then when we had chances to score goals we didn’t take them. We have to grow up… Challenge wise we have to be more determined. I have to keep being demanding to the players because I think we can go forward.”
