Patrick Vieira stressed that he was confident Crystal Palace Fans understand the process their team went through after the undefeated 2023 continued with a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Palace failed to score a field goal in the 10-man match, which was decided by Joachim Andersen’s own goal in the 27th minute and Cheick Doucoure received two quick yellow cards around the clock.
It might have been a different story if he had come back Wilfried Zaha It was not fractional offside before scoring with five minutes left, but instead it was Palace’s ninth league game without a win, continuing a slide that drew them into a relegation battle.
It was another disappointing afternoon for Palace’s touring support, but Vieira believes they understand that it’s part of a learning process for his young team.
When asked if there were boos from away support, Vieira said: “I haven’t heard of that. If you’ve heard that, fans always want teams to perform well and win, especially when you’re away from home you always understand the frustration.
“But the players tried hard and did their best to get back into the game, scoring goals to come home with something.
The fans know where we are as a football club, who we are and what we want to achieve. There is a process running.
“You have to look at the number of new players on the team, how young they are, how many are on the roster. Premier League and we know how important this experience is.
“They have to be revealed so we can learn. If we are all on the same page, these players will be the best players in the future.”
Villa are just one place above Palace in the league, but are now seven points above them and are looking to the challenge for the European nations instead of the scrap below.
Unai Emery’s first win against Palace in four tries was significant considering they had surrendered to losing both of their previous home games 4-2.
“The manager set us a goal to try and win at home,” said Matty Cash, who darts and leads the low-mid right to the single goal.
“His first goal when he came in was to win away and I think we achieved that, we were great away. And we have to do this at home.
“I think we have to be more resilient at home, it’s a great stadium, a huge crowd every week.”
This was not a match that will stay in the memories for very long. Neither side had a shot on goal until the 74th minute, when John McGinn’s shot hit Vicente Guaita directly, and this was to be a single shot.
But Cash said performance is important in grinding a result.
“In games like this we have to be patient, of course 1-0, we try to build, we try to have style and it takes time to do that,” he said.
“Everyone should agree on this, but it takes time, we have to be brave to do it, they have to be brave with us.
“That’s how you get results and I think we showed good character here.”