Every word from Patrick Vieira’s post-match press conference after Crystal Palace’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham

Patrick Vieira suffered the heaviest defeat of his Crystal Palace reign after Tottenham Hotspur won 4-0 at Selhurst Park on Wednesday evening.

A double from Harry Kane and a goal each from Matt Doherty and Son Heung-Min in the space of 24 minutes secured all three points for Antonio Conte’s side.

Here is every word from Patrick Vieira’s written post-match press conference at Selhurst Park:

A heavy defeat. What do you think went wrong tonight?

“What was wrong tonight was the quality of Tottenham’s forwards. 

“I think we gave them a little bit too much space. You get punished when you give them that space, especially in the second half.”

Two heavy home defeats in a row. How do you rectify that?

“I would not put those two games together. I think everything went wrong in the Fulham game – we had two red cards, and our attitude wasn’t right.

“Today, with the way we played the game, we had the right attitude, and we were toe-to-toe against them. We created the best chance in the first half and had a really good period.

“If we scored the goal before half time, maybe the game would be different. We came back in the second half, and they scored the goal through bad defending, I would say. 

“Against Tottenham, when you go one down, it becomes really difficult because they go back with the line of five and the midfield of four – they are really tight and there is no space. 

“In the counter-attack, they can hurt you – that’s what happened to us.”

Was it bad defending you would put it down to the second half being so different from the first?

“I will say that we didn’t defend well enough – we weren’t aggressive enough in those situations.

“Of course, you get punished because of the quality that they have. On the other side, I thought we did enough to score more than one goal tonight.

“The difference between them and us was that they were really clinical in front of goal and we weren’t.

“They managed their good period well, which we didn’t. That’s part of the experience between the two teams.”

Do you feel as though you have the players you have to play the way you want to play? Last season you played a high press and progressive, attacking football. Feel as though you have the players this season to do that?

“I think what is important for the players to understand is what I ask them to do.

“When you’re looking at the first half and the quality that we did today, that [the team line-up] was the right thing to do.

“When you’re in a good period, and you create chances which you don’t score, you leave yourself vulnerable.

“When you concede the first goal against that team, it becomes more difficult.”

Spoke about needing to be more clinical. How do you resolve that issue?

“It’s to keep working, being really demanding, and decision making.

“There are some situations where we had the opportunity to put players in different positions, and we didn’t. 

“That, as well, is something we have to keep working on.”

How disappointing is it to still be talking about your players not being clinical a year and a half into your reign here?

“Sometimes we want things that take time to have.

“We’re talking about young players and talking about knowing which part of the game they need to improve.

“Sometimes, when players score one goal or do something really well, we think that he is already there.

“We have some young players who need to improve. We put them in a really good condition – they are in a really good club where we allow them to keep improving.

“Sometimes it’s tough. Of course, it’s tough tonight. But we had quality and situations in the game today, but the frustration is that we didn’t take our chances – we have to keep working.”

The defence and midfield were blown away in that second-half spell. Feel as though the team is lacking a natural defensive midfielder like Kouyate was last season to protect the back line?

“It all depends on which profile of players you want. Today, when you’re talking about the two holding midfielders in Jeff [Schlupp] and Cheick [Doucoure], I think they were really good.

“Of course, physically, it became a little bit more difficult in the second half. But the quality is there. 

“When you play against Spurs, you have to expect to suffer. In the first 15 minutes, we suffered and ran a lot, but they didn’t create many chances.

“We finished the first half in better shape tactically – we finished in a good way.

“What was missing was that goal.”

Odsonne Edouard has had that hamstring injury. Is he fully fit yet, or just limited time off the bench?

“JP [Mateta] also came back from injury. I have Jordan [Ayew], who did really well in the last game, so there wasn’t any reason for me to change.

“I have a couple of players up front who are capable of playing – they are ready to play.”

How difficult is it to get the type of striker you really need at this club? Someone to score 20-25 goals to take you to where you need to get the team to get to.

“I think sometimes it’s good to remind ourselves who we are as a football club, what we can achieve, and what we can do in the market.

“We have young players who are hungry to do well and we are working hard with them every day – they want to improve.

“I am happy with the squad that we have. We have to keep working – I have to be really demanding of them.

“Hopefully, those goals will come.”