PALACE manager Patrick Vieira thinks his side should have defended better against Manchester United in their pre-season friendly defeat.

The Red Devils ran out 3-1 winners in Melbourne, although Palace did get their consoluation goal through a header from Joel Ward.

Vieira says that he knew they game against Erik ten Hag's United would be a tough one, but was happy with the atttitude from his players.

He told Palace TV: “I think on the three goals that we conceded we should defend better.

 “There is some pictures that we have to look at again, but when you look at the individual talent of that team, we knew that it would be tough and difficult.

“But we had a couple of chances and I believed that we could score goals, and I was really happy with the attitude we showed.

“We didn’t give up, we tried to work well and work hard together. JP [Mateta] had a couple of situations, and we had a couple with Jordan [Ayew]. We kept fighting until the end.

“We had a situation where we could score the second goal, but at the end it was what I was looking for because of the tempo of the game. It was a Premier League game, and I was pleased with the intensity of the game.”

The boss saw that United took control in the second half of the match, although he was happy with the impact by the academy players. 

“We showed a positive attitude after that [United's first goal], we tried to get there.

“At times we didn’t defend well enough – there was a lot of space between the line and our pressing wasn’t good enough. We created space in behind and then it was really difficult for us.

“Victor[Akinwale] was there one-on-one and that foul didn’t allow him to take his chance. But they came on the field and they were really positive, really aggressive and the attitude they showed coming on in the last 15 to 20 minutes was good.”

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