‘Organisation and discipline’ – Patrick Vieira praises his Crystal Palace side for earning a point against Liverpool

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira hailed his side’s organisation and discipline after they picked up a point in their 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

The Eagles took the lead against the run of play in the 32nd minute against the run of play. 

Eberechi Eze collected the ball from a Vicente Guaita clearance and jinked his way through Fabinho and Trent Alexander-Arnold before setting Wilfried Zaha away. 

The Ivorian drove towards goal and placed a powerful shot into the bottom right-hand corner to beat Alisson from distance.

Luis Diaz pulled one back for the hosts when he bypassed several Palace bodies on the edge of the box to curl a thunderous effort around Vicente Guaita.

The Reds had 24 shots on Monday evening compared to Palace’s seven.

“There are a lot of teams that when they’re coming to play Liverpool, they would have taken a point,” said Vieira to SkySports.

“But today, I have to say we played a really good game collectively. I’m pleased with the point tonight.”

Darwin Nunez was sent off on his home debut in the 57th minute after he headbutted Joachim Andersen following an off-the-ball incident.

And the Eagles had chances to claim all three points – Wilfried Zaha hitting the post from a Cheick Doucoure cross in the 77th minute.

“That was the incident of the game,” said Vieira of the red card.

“Overall, we kept our organisation and discipline – it’s a really tough place to come to try and perform.

“We can be really pleased about ourselves because we created some really good chances. And in the difficult periods, we stuck together and defended really well. It was a really good team performance.

“I’m really happy with the way the team played today.”

When asked if he thought about tweaking Palace’s 5-4-1 formation following the dismissal of Nunez, Vieira said: “I was really pleased with the five at the back, the four in midfield and Wilfried up front.

“I thought that what we didn’t do well was keep the ball better and be more patient – the way that they were pressing made it really difficult for us. 

“I didn’t want to disrupt any organisation. I was expecting us to be a little bit better on the counter-attack.”