Crystal Palace And Southampton Draw, Vieira Praises Jordan Ayew's Game

JAKARTA - Crystal Palace had to settle for sharing points with Southampton in the 17th week of the Premier League. Even though his team only drew 2-2, Patrick Vieira didn't mind and instead praised Jordan Ayew's performance.

In the match which took place at Selhurst Park Stadium, Thursday, December 16 in the early hours of Indonesian Western Time (WIB), Palace actually managed to dominate the match. This can be seen from their slick game which successfully opened the scoring in the second minute.

However, in the middle of the first half, Southampton managed to reply to the advantage. Unmitigated, the visitors even immediately changed the position to 1-2 through goals from James Ward-Prowse and Armando Broja in the 32nd and 36th minutes. This result lasted until halftime.

In the second half, Crystal Palace's efforts to catch up several times met a stalemate. Until finally Jordan Ayew equalized the score to 2-2 in the 65th minute which also broke the opponent's advantage.

Regarding the important goals scored by Ayew, Vieira gave positive credit. The coach said he was happy with Ayew's performance in this match.

"He (Jordan Ayew) is very important. I want him to continue playing like he has been playing lately," Vieira was quoted as saying on Crystal Palace's official website on Thursday.

"His work ethic is what we need and want and he gets rewarded for what he does on the pitch. I'm very happy he scored that goal," said the coach.

Despite Vieira's praise for Ayew's performance, he was actually not too satisfied with the performance of his team who had to share the points. But as far as they can secure a draw against a tough opponent, a point is well deserved for Palace.

"When you look at the game as a whole, I'm quite happy to take a point. Because they (Southampton) played very good football, pressed us very high and we didn't manage to play through the pressure," said Vieira.

"In the end they (Southmpton) had some chances. So the points we took tonight regarding the way we played, I don't think we deserved more than that (a point)."

Despite only being able to finish the match with a draw, Crystal Palace are still ahead in 11th position in the standings with 20 points. While Southampton is in 15th position with a collection of 17 points.