Crystal Palace boss Vieira wants January additions to remove ‘comfort zones’ for some of his players
Patrick Vieira wants additions in this upcoming January window to challenge his Crystal Palace squad.
The Eagles signed Cheick Doucoure, Chris Richards, Malcolm Ebiowei and Sam Johnstone in the summer but also lost the experience of Christian Benteke, 32, and Cheickhou Kouyate, 33.
Frenchman Vieira has repeatedly stated that he wants to add experience to his squad, but chairman Steve Parish revealed last week that the Eagles will focus on loan signings in the winter transfer window.
“I always believed that the team needs to be improved,” said the Palace boss, right. “We need more players to challenge the players that we have already. We need competitiveness, which will bring the best out of the players.
“We may have to take some of the players out of their comfort zone. To do that, we need those kinds of challenges.
“The other side is whether we can do it or not. We still have a lot to improve, on and off the field.
“It’s important for us to understand where we are and how competitive this league is. If we want to improve, we have to make the right decisions to help make the team competitive.”
Palace have suffered back-to-back defeats against promoted sides, losing to Nottingham Forest before the break for the 2022 Qatar World Cup and restarting their Premier League campaign with a 3-0 loss to Fulham on Boxing Day.
They travel to Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve to take on their third promoted side in a row.
“There are a lot of aspects of the game that we need to cover,” said Vieira when asked what differences he would like to see from his side at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday. “But first of all, it’s the competitiveness. We weren’t brave enough [against Fulham] going forward – we played too many backwards passes.
“That has to change. We have to believe more in ourselves and believe more in what we’re trying to do. The quality has to be better.”
The reverse to Fulham was the fourth time this season that Vieira’s Palace side have failed to register a shot on target in a Premier League outing.
“We didn’t create any chances to have a shot on goal,” admitted Vieira. “We need to play forward, and we didn’t do that. If you’re not brave enough to play forward, it will be difficult to have a shot on goal against any team in the Premier League.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
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