Patrick Vieira said he thought Crystal Palace played one of their best halves of football this season against Wolves at Molineux on Saturday.
The Eagles fully capitalised on a weak opening 45 minutes from Bruno Lage’s side, repeatedly winning the ball, forcing errors and taking a well deserved two-goal cushion into the break.
They ended the half with six shots on Jose Sa’s goal. Only against Burnley in November’s 3-3 draw at Turf Moor have Palace managed to hit the target so much and that was across 90 minutes of action.
And when Wolves inevitably came back into the game in the second half they were met with a resolute Eagles side who frustrated their opponents and became the eighth side to leave Molineux in the league without letting the hosts score a goal this season.
“It was a really good performance – I loved every single part of the game,” said Vieira afterwards. “We played really well, especially in the first half. In the second half, when we were a little bit tired, we showed a different attribute to our game.
“We defended well when we needed to. Overall, it was a really good team performance.
“The first half was one of the best [performances of the season]. But not everything is perfect because when you create so many chances, you want to take them, and we didn’t.
“This is something that we have to keep in our minds. When we were in a good period, we managed to score those goals, that was really positive, but we created enough chances to score more.”
Palace made a fast start to the game at Molineux but they were aided hugely by several individual errors from Wolves players.
Max Killman - tipped by many as an England senior prospect - couldn’t handle the Eagles front line at all during the first half and was partly at fault for Jean-Philippe Mateta’s opener after he allowed the Frenchman to beat him to the ball before lifting it over Sa and into the net.
Kilman then brought down Jeffrey Schlupp in the box to see Palace awarded a penalty which Wilfried Zaha fired home for 2-0, leaving him and the rest of the Wolves backline red in the face.
“This is why this performance made me really pleased,” added Vieira when asked if he had been surprised by his side’s fast start.
“We knew how difficult it was going to be to create chances. Today, we had the perfect game in possession – created a lot of chances and managed to score two goals against a side that doesn’t give a lot away.”
Palace skipper Marc Guehi agreed with his manager about how Palace started the game.
“It's really important for us to start games well and as you see when we start like that it can be a catalyst for the rest of the game,” he said. “The boys did excellent today - their pressing made it easier for us at the back.”
And the way Palace saw out the game - recording their seventh Premier League clean sheet in the process - was a further bonus for the centre-back.
“Two halves are never the same,” he added. “We knew that they were going to come at us, start well and be dominant on the ball like they always are. It was really important for us to stay solid and then see the game out.”
