Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit has stated that Patrick Vieira’s sacking at Crystal Palace was ‘brutal’ and he was told he would be sacked from his role at ‘7am on Friday (March 17)’.
The former France midfielder added that his compatriot was probably “frustrated” by Steve Parish’s call to sack him because he did not receive enough backing during the summer transfer window.
A major problem for Palace has been their lack of goals, with a heavy reliance on Wilfried Zaha as Odsonne Edouard and Jean-Philippe Mateta cannot score ten goals between them, let alone themselves.
Palace have only scored 22 goals this season, no team have scored fewer, although Wolves, Everton and Nottingham Forest have all scored the same amount.
The problem here for Palace is that all those teams have been in a relegation fight for several months now, but they just got into that dreaded fight and at the most wrong time.
However, with Vieira’s last game being Palace’s loss to bitter rivals Brighton on Wednesday, his former team-mate shared his thoughts on the matter, as he told Premier League Productions (03/19/23 at 13:10).
“I was sad about it,” Petit said. “I know he’s brutal, especially since I’ve been told he got a phone call at 7am on Friday, so I think he’s brutal. That’s how it is. It is modern football. Patrick knows the rules.
“He knows that right after the World Cup, things went very badly for him and his team. He has to pay the price somewhere. This is the way he is. I can’t understand that sometimes. This is the reality, unfortunately.
“If I were Patrick, I would be a little frustrated. Last season, they had a very good season. I thought that the club would have been more active in the transfer market, especially up front.
“If you look at the players. They have decent players. But nobody can score more than ten goals during the season. I think that was a big problem for them. They also lost Gallagher and he was the link between the midfielders and the forwards. I think they should have been more active in the transfer market.”
PALACE ARE IN FREE FOR ALL
There are 13 games in all competitions and zero wins. Also, not a single win in 2023.
If you ever want a primer on how to shoot yourself in the foot as a football club, drag yourself into a relegation battle, and then possibly get relegated when not many expect it, then Palace are writing that right now.
This international break is going to be huge in terms of who they appoint. Whether it’s Roy ‘taking two steps back’ Hodgson, someone on the inside, or an unknown figure.
If this continues to go wrong, then Palace will head downhill and it will all be their doing.
In other news, Martin Odegaard claims two Arteta signings have brought “different thinking” to Arsenal
