BY ANDREW MCSTEEN
Patrick Vieira has confirmed that Nathan Ferguson, James McArthur, James Tomkins and Jack Butland will remain unavailable for selection as he prepares his squad for Saturday’s home clash with Aston Villa.
Although injuries to Butland (hand) and Ferguson (foot) are more long-term, the experienced pair of McArthur and Tomkins will rejoin the squad soon, with Vieira keen to welcome them back for their influence both inside and outside the team. Brea.
“Tomkins [injury] she is with her calf and will be back towards the end of the month, Macca will take a little longer”, said Vieira.
“Macca is a great player for us because of his character, his personality on the pitch, especially when he’s on the pitch. We miss his voice, his leadership, he always talks to the players and we miss him a lot.
“But we have to face it. When you look at Jeff (Schlupp), Ebs (Ebere Eze) or even Luka (Milivojevic) and Will (Hughes), we have different options that we can use.
“We have to change the way we play, because Conor (Gallagher) and (Cheikhou) Kouyate are leaving and Macca with his injuries. We have a different profile of players and we have to adapt to the profile of the players we have, the “It’s important to compete with the teams we face.”
“They know their bodies,” Vieira added of McArthur and Tomkins to the South London Press. “Macca cannot be managed, it is very difficult to manage him because he wants to be on the field he wants to train and he is not someone who can go out on the field and give you 50 percent. He can’t do that. And by the way, I love it. That’s who he is as a player, so you can’t change him.
“For Tomkins, it’s different, it’s just the issues and his calf. At a certain age it takes a bit longer, but he’ll be back. He’s doing the right things and he’ll start training with the team very soon. We miss them at both because experience is what we need and what we want.”
Chris Richards made his Palace debut in that draw at Anfield, with the American signed by Bayern Munich as one of five new arrivals in SE25 this summer transfer window.
Despite the handful of new players, Vieira is looking for more additions before the window closes on September 1.
“We have a good squad [but] we are a little short of numbers in terms of the injuries we have”, said Vieira. “We’ve just started the season so when you play one game a week you can manage, but when you get into the season where you play two games we have to have more rotation and it can be more difficult.
“We have to have more players that allow me to rotate a little more. [But] I’m happy because we have different options. We have players who are able to play in different positions and use different systems.”
Richards was one of five substitutes used by Vieira at Anfield, following his four changes at home to Arsenal the previous week.
This has been possible after the Premier League introduced a new rule to allow five of the previous three this season.
“He did really well when he came on,” Vieira said of Richards’ performance after being introduced as a 79th-minute substitute.
“He was composed, he defended well, he won a couple of headers, he has that physical presence and he did it very well.
“What the five changes allowed us to do was make early decisions, but it’s about the state of the game. Sometimes things go well and you don’t need to change anything, but having those five changes allowed me to make early changes and five is a pretty good number.”