Patrick Vieira has admitted that his Crystal Palace players have made it more difficult for him to select his team after the 2-0 win against Oxford United.
Palace made nine changes for the Carabao Cup second round tie at the Kassam Stadium, with Wilfried Zaha, Joel Ward and Joachim Andersen among the players not involved for the Eagles against the League One side.
But Vieira's much-changed side ensured progression to the last 32 of the competition, with goals from Odsonne Edouard and Luka Milivojevic helping Palace to victory against Oxford, who caused the Eagles some problems, particularly in the first half of the contest.
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And Vieira was pleased to see his side come through the test, with the Frenchman moving to explain why he chose to make so many changes as he offered his verdict on the cup tie.
Explaining his team selection after the game, he said: “We are at the beginning of the season and the players on the field today show me every day that they want to play, they want to start. So this was a good chance for them to show me they want to play every week.
“They did it really well and that will bring more competition and make it more difficult for me to choose the starting XI. That’s what we want – everybody feels really concerned [invested] in what we want to do. We want to take those games and try to go as far as we can.”
Assessing the match as a whole, Vieira added: “It was a challenging game. I think in football if you don’t have the right mentality the opposition can make it really difficult. We were a little bit sloppy in the first-half but we came back in the second-half with better attention and managed to score those two goals. It’s good for us to go to the next round.”
Palace will learn who they will face in the third round later this evening (Wednesday) when the draw is made, following the second round clash between Tranmere Rovers and Newcastle United.
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