Crystal Palace ‘struggled’ in first half at St James’ Park – Patrick Vieira on 1-0 loss to Newcastle

The only goal of the game came in the 32nd minute via Miguel Almiron. The Paraguayan picked up the ball just over the halfway line, beat Tyrick Mitchell for pace, and curled a shot around Vicente Guaita and into the top left-hand corner of the goal.

Palace’s best chance of the game came through Wilfried Zaha in the second half, but the Ivorian failed to slide Odsonne Edouard’s pass beyond Martin Dubravka.

The Eagles have now lost three in a row under Patrick Vieira.

“Frustrated, of course, to lose the game,” explained the French manager.

“The second half was quite positive in our way. Of course, losing the FA Cup [semi-final] was quite physically and mentally challenging.

“We have a young group of players who need to learn from those kinds of games and how you bounce back the game after it.

“We struggled to get into the game. In the first half an hour, we were quite slow with our passes, and we didn’t compete well enough.

“We conceded that goal, and in the second half, we tried our best, but we couldn’t score.

“We knew that it [St James’ Park] would be a tough place to come, but I expected us to compete a little bit more, especially in the first half an hour.”

Speaking on the South Londoners’ second-half performance, Vieira added: “I was really pleased with the way we wanted to compete against them, but we need to do it from the first minute of the game.

“The way we started the game, it gave them [Newcastle] confidence and belief as well.”