Crystal Palace’s players urged to ‘stick together’ after third successive Premier League defeat

Patrick Vieira has called for his Crystal Palace side to “stick together” after suffering their third defeat in a row and are without a win since the international break.

The Eagles picked up a point against Burnley in the 3-3 draw but have lost three in succession against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Manchester United, slipping down to 13th in the Premier League table.

Vieira’s side have also failed to score in consecutive games for the first time since the start of the season when they lost 3-0 to Chelsea and drew 0-0 with Brentford.

“It’s important to win the next match. We have to analyse the part of the game that we need to improve,” said Vieira.

“I always say that during the season, there will be a period where we will go through a difficult period, and this is a period where we have to stick together and work even harder.

“The result in the last two games is not what we wanted or what we were looking for. But when you’re looking at the game itself, and how we played, there are a lot of positives to take from those performances we’ve had.”

The Eagles had a chance to put themselves ahead at Old Trafford when Jordan Ayew met Tyrick Mitchell’s corner in the 74th minute. But Ayew, without a goal since the 4-1 win over Leeds in November 2020, placed his effort wide despite being unmarked at the back post.

“At times, our front three could hold the ball better – we didn’t keep the ball well enough up front,” said Vieira. “Jordan had the chance of the game, and he didn’t take it. But, on the other side, he was fantastic for us today – his work ethic. He was the best player up front.”

Despite Will Hughes making his debut for the South Londoners last time out against Leeds during a 10-minute cameo, the 26-year-old stayed on the bench for the entire 90 minutes on Sunday, with Vieira opting to bring on Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze to try and salvage a point following Fred’s opener.

“I had the plan to bring him on,” said Vieira on Hughes. “But when you concede the goal, you’re looking at the players who can score and who can create chances, so I just went with Eze and Michael.”