Patrick Vieira felt Crystal Palace were not brave enough in possession during their 1-1 draw with Burnley but insisted he was happy with his tactical tweaks.
The Eagles went into the game on the back of a midweek win at Watford, which saw them revert to their usual 4-3-3 formation after a change of system for the recent loss to Chelsea.
Burnley’s visit saw Palace appear to go with a 4-2-3-1, while Luka Milivojevic, James McArthur and Jeffrey Schlupp earned recalls that meant a host of attacking players were left on the bench.
Schlupp broke the deadlock after nine minutes but Milivojevic put through his own net 40 seconds into the second half and it ensured the draw specialists had to settle for a 12th drawn match of the Premier League campaign so far.
“We didn’t change the system, we just changed the profile of the players,” Vieira said.
“If you ask am I happy with what we produced in the first half? I will say no as of course I want more situations in front of the goal.
“In the first half, we weren’t brave enough going forward and we had too many passes going backwards. Every time we won the ball after they played a long ball we couldn’t get it on the floor quick enough to pass it around as they closed us down really quickly.
“But I’m happy with my decision. I’m happy with the performance of the team overall as we played a team who made it really hard and difficult for us, so we have to give them credit. About the decision and system I used, I’m really pleased.”
One major positive for the Eagles was the performances of Michael Olise and Wilfried Zaha, who started in the lone forward role with Jean-Philippe Mateta, Christian Benteke and Odsonne Edouard left on the bench.
Olise made Schlupp’s goal and also combined on several occasions with Zaha, who hit a post in the second half.
Vieira added: “We had width with Wilfried and Michael. With Wilfried coming inside we had Michael on the opposite side and that allowed us to create chances one-v-one.
“The same on the other side. Those two players understand the game and have a really good connection together.”
Burnley were able to maintain their improving form with another point after a taxing week where they had registered victories over Brighton and Tottenham.
Erik Pieters perhaps paid the price after he was forced off in the second period, but the Clarets were able to name top scorer Maxwel Cornet on the bench after a short lay-off with a foot injury.
“We will have to wait and see. We hope it is not too serious,” boss Sean Dyche said of Pieters with Tuesday’s visit of Leicester in mind.
“Obviously Maxwel we will hopefully get more training into him because he only had one training day this week.
“We are hopeful he will be clear now and we will try to get him properly fit, but we are getting players back fit now.
“We ask a lot of these players with the game schedule but I know the stats and facts. We are a super strong side when it comes to the physicality.”
