After two weeks of back-to-back training sessions and intense camp in Turkey, Patrick Vieira has revealed Crystal Palace's players are in for another round of double sessions.
Speaking with Palace TV, the manager said he will continue his demanding schedule – training before and after lunch – in the buildup to the Premier League return, because "we have a lot we still want to improve."
Commenting after the 2-1 friendly win over Real Valladolid, Vieira explained: "We have the weekend off and a double session on Monday. We have a lot to catch up on because we have a lot we still want to improve.
"We want to challenge ourselves, want to compete every single game we’re going to face and the best way to do that is to prepare. When we start the games will be one after the other, so the big job, the big work, has to be done now."
That's not to say the manager was unhappy with his side's display against Valladolid – far from it. He said that "it was good to win but I was pleased with the performance as well," adding: "It’s always good to go back and win football matches and today was really competitive. We found it really difficult to create chances and came back in the second-half and played better in the last third. This is one of the reasons why we scored those two goals."
Palace initially found themselves 1-0 despite dominating the evening. They came out for the second-half with attacking impetus and soon pulled level through Wilfried Zaha.
The No.11 secured a brace from the spot 20 minutes later, and in doing so ensured Palace ended the winter break with victory behind them.
"We changed at half-time and put him [Zaha] more as a No.9 and [Odsonne] Edouard went more on the left-hand side," Vieira said.
"Wilfried’s timing at running in-behind is really interesting and at the same time Edouard when he comes to play between the lines can create the overload you always want. Wilfried is a goalscorer – and should score more than two today!"
