Ask Crystal Palace To Appear Compact Against Chelsea, Patrick Vieira: It's Very Important For Us To Play As A Team

Patrick Vieira (Instagram @officialpatrickvieira)

JAKARTA - Crystal Palace coach Patrick Vieira asked his team to appear compact when facing Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday.

Quoted from Antara from the club's official website on Sunday, Vieira said, in addition to having to appear compact, his team also needed to be sharp when getting a chance in Chelsea's defense.

The French coach assessed that his team should be able to perform in a structured manner without shackled their offensive abilities so that they could put pressure on Chelsea.

The boss on Chelsea's preparations, his love for the FA Cup and the atmosphere at the club #CPFC | #EmiratesFACup

— Crystal Palace FC (@CPFC) April 15, 2022

"We can express ourselves and be compact at the same time. It's about managing good or bad periods as a team. To get the results we want, we have to be well coordinated and play a team game," said Vieira.

"It will be very important for us to play well as a team regarding what we want to achieve, if we want to defend deeper or higher. But we have to be united in one way or another not to let them play around."

The French coach went on to say, Crystal Palace must be ready to fight and work hard, but still play the best they can.

"Because we will have possession of the ball and when we have it we have to go forward and want to create chances and score goals. But we have to do that together," said Vieira.

In this match, Crystal Palace will try to maximize the combination of experienced senior players and junior players who have good potential.

Among Palace's ranks are senior players such as Joel Ward, James McArthur and Wilfried Zaha who have competed at Wembley before, with McArthur having even won the FA Cup with Wigan in 2013.

Vieira says he will rely on his senior players to nurture the younger ones, but he is not worried about how they will handle the opportunity.

"They (senior players) will have a big role to play because they have been there and know how to manage this kind of excitement," said Vieira.