Crystal Palace undermine Patrick Vieira’s progressive impact with only Jack Butland to thank in Brighton draw

AFP via Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_14 January 2022

Crystal Palace suffered a sucker punch all of their own making as rivals Brighton snatched a late point following Joachim Andersen’s late own goal.

Chairman Steve Parish began the night talking of his surprise at how quickly the Eagles had progressed under Patrick Vieira since their change of direction in the summer, but little of it was on show here.

Brighton dominated from the off and would have been ahead before the break were it not for Jack Butland, making just his fourth Premier League appearance for Crystal Palace. The ex-England keeper saved wonderfully from Leandro Trossard in a one-on-one before saving Pascal Gross’ first half penalty.

After years of struggling for confidence and chances - especially after a big mistake at Millwall last weekend - it was a fine showing from Palace’s second choice keeper.

It was not one, however, that was being matched across the pitch.

Palace have done so much to move forward under Vieira. They came to the Amex under Roy Hodgson last season and sat extremely deep, managing just two touches in the Brighton box. The Eagles snatched a smash and grab 95th minute win that night, but it was not how Palace wanted to play going forward.

"They play high so we thought come a bit deeper, but it didn’t really work and we paid for that," said Conor Gallagher.

"It was a really difficult game, I don’t think we played well. They were the better side, on the ball we weren’t good enough at all. We didn’t feel confident, they pressed well and made it difficult but it was disappointing."

They have become exciting and progressive, using Brighton as an example, but discarded that philosophy here. The south Londoners did almost pull off another surprise win as Gallagher capped a superb flowing move on the break to stun their hosts.

But Brighton continued to push and finally struck when Neal Maupay’s late cross was diverted through the legs of Butland and in via the boot of Andersen.

The Seagulls were more than deserving of their point, but still haven’t beaten Palace in their last six despite their dominance. Given their lack of cutting edge, perhaps a more aggressive, familiar approach from Vieira’s Palace would have seen them leave with all three points.

"I think it is fairly obvious that at times they had most of the ball and were causing the issues" said Butland.

"To concede a late goal like that when we defended so well, it feels like a loss but it is a good point.

"We’ve shown great character throughout the season, I think we’ve got that. But that is football, they pressed us and scored in the manner they did."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in