The Palace manager expressed both his calmness for the home side and respect for the away, cautioning that Everton are a strong team despite also experiencing some frustrating recent scorelines.
Vieira shares Everton caution and reveals Palace key to collecting points
Patrick Vieira explained that Crystal Palace are focusing on their consistency ahead of the Everton clash as the south Londoners attempt to bounce back from recent results.
Addressing Palace’s last few outings, Vieira said: “I think the last four games, one point is not what we wanted of course. The results weren’t what we wanted and expected but on the other side we have to look at how we performed. We lost some games we deserved at least a point from.
“The two games played away from home we may not have created enough to win but on the other side we didn’t concede enough [chances] to lose. We need to find a balance and really understand the importance of taking our chances against any team. That was the hard learning we had in the last couple of games.”
Vieira was then asked to explain how his former manager Arsène Wenger may have impacted his approach to changing form, and said he has embraced remaining steady through good and bad times.
“When things were going well not to hype and when things not going as good as expected, not hitting your head against a wall. Consistency is the word going round the team because I don’t want to throw away the good work since the beginning of the season. We aren’t going through a good period but we expected that [at times this season].
“The mood at the Training Ground is the same. We know there are some details we need to improve to turn those games into wins.”
Vieira was also willing to take positives from the location of Sunday’s game, with Palace returning to Selhurst for consecutive matches after two away trips.
The manager called now “the right time” for two matches in SE25, saying: “I think the home game has come at the right time. When you need to win games, especially the next one, and are playing at home with the fans we know the support will be there.
“We will have to perform well and try to win that game. The fans will have a massive part to play in the performance and that’s why I’m looking forward to the game on Sunday.”
Finally, Vieira turned his attention to Everton, who recently beat Arsenal after eight games without a win:
“I think I didn’t need to watch the Arsenal game to know how good and dangerous this Everton team can be. When you look at the players and manager this is a good team. We’re only talking about games they lost or drew but if you look at the performances I’m sure there were some positives the manager is happy about.
“It’s going to be a challenging game but I believe we have what it takes to win. That’s the priority. We have to focus on ourselves, our performance, to win that game.”