‘Fantastic’ – Patrick Vieira lavishes praise on Conor Gallagher after match-winning display for Crystal Palace
Patrick Vieira hailed Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher after the midfielder bagged a brace in Crystal Palace’s 3-1 win against Everton.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the 41st minute when Jordan Ayew forced Demarai Gray into a mistake and found Gallagher inside the area. The England international fired home his fifth goal of the season.
Vieira’s side doubled their lead in the 70th minute when James Tomkins stabbed home Will Hughes’ corner.
Everton pulled one back through Solomon Rondon when the ball fell kindly to him inside the penalty area from a Joel Ward deflection.
But the South Londoners wrapped up all three points in added time. Gallagher won the ball back on the edge of the box and curled a stunning shot into the top right-hand corner.
“He wants to improve – he’s really humble and working hard,” said Vieira. ” The challenge for him is to maintain that level to fulfil his expectation.
“Today, he was fantastic, and when the team plays at that level, it allows him and some of the players to express themselves.”
When asked if he was looking at a goal target for the 21-year-old, Vieira said: “We have to keep challenging him, we have to keep working with him to keep improving, but he can score goals.
“We as a team have to play to a style that allows those types of players to score and take their chances.”
Palace ended a run of four games without a win and secured their first three points since the 2-0 win over Wolves in early November.
“It was an important win for us – we needed it,” said Vieira.
“When you have lost the last three games, and you’re playing at home, you want to win. When you’re looking at how well we played, we were under pressure because it’s not easy to come out and perform like that when you have lost the last three games.
“It’s showing that the process of the way we want to play, even when we lose a game, is really good.
“There were a lot of positives to take from those games that we didn’t win, and today we showed concentration. I was really pleased with the team performance.”
PICTURES: KEITH GILLARD