Vieira shares insight into Richards, Doucouré and Eze

First-team

30 Jul 2022

Patrick Vieira led Crystal Palace to end pre-season on a high, beating Montpellier 4-2 at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon.

The win came from a confident performance, put in just six days before opening the Premier League against Arsenal next Friday.

It gave Vieira the chance to introduce several new faces to the faithful in SE25 too, with Chris Richards, Cheick Doucouré, Malcolm Ebiowei and Luke Plange playing there for the first time.

Speaking with Palace TV, the manager shared a little insight on three key players from the Montpellier game.

Match highlights: Crystal Palace 4-2 Montpellier

Cheick Doucouré

“He did really well. He’s a player who still needs to grow and believe in himself even more. But you can see he’s really comfortable on the ball and switched his game quick enough for us.”

Eberechi Eze

“It’s about the number of minutes [he plays]. He played a lot of friendly games and is in really good shape. There’s no doubt about his quality. He can create goals, he can score goals, and again on the other side – how can we help the team to defend better?

“I think today you can see he’s really focusing and concentrated on his position out of possession and he’s playing with belief and confidence.”

The manager on a victorious final pre-season game

Chris Richards

“It was really good to give him his first 15 minutes. He’s a solid defender who loves to defend, especially in a one-v-one situation. He’s really comfortable with the ball.

“He needs time, of course, to get used to what we are doing and how we want to play. He’s an important asset for the football club.”

First-team
Pre-season

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