“In possession we all know what they are capable of doing,” he said of Ebere Eze and goalscorer Wilfried Zaha, in his post-match press conference. “Today we needed a big performance out of possession.
“Zaha didn’t show any kind of frustration. He didn’t touch the ball much, but he was really dangerous. Eze, the more time he was going, the more he felt comfortable in the game.
“The goal we scored showed the talent of both of the players.
“Of course I’m pleased with the point, but even more with the quality that we showed today. We showed some sides of the game that we need to show more often. We defended really well and we worked hard.
“When you’re looking at Jordan [Ayew] and Ebs and Wilf, they ran a lot today behind the ball. What I’m really glad and happy about is that those players who like to have the ball at their feet didn’t show any frustration today.
“They worked with the rest of the players. We need to have that to win more football matches.”
Vieira switched to a back five for the match, and says the tactical flexibility paid off.
“That was our plan and it was executed by the players,” he said. “We remained calm and composed and kept our organisation. We managed to deal with the crosses with the three centre-backs really well.
“It’s important to have that kind of flexibility. The way we played today, we played the system a couple of times last year.
“The players are capable with their responsibilities. To have this flexibility is really important.”