GALLAGHER & STYLE
Conor’s brilliance comes as no surprise to boss Vieira
BY DAVID ANDERSON
CONOR GALLAGHER may have surprised some with his red-hot form for Crystal Palace, but not Patrick Vieira.
The on-loan Chelsea midfielder took his Premier League tally to four goals and three assists after he created Palace’s second goal at Turf Moor.
That is a marked improvement on his return of two goals and two assists for
West Brom last season.
Vieira is not shocked and he knew he was signing a gem because the Eagles’ director of football, Dougie Freedman, had done his homework on Gallagher.
Freedman had been tracking Gallagher ( far right) for over a year and knew he had the talent to make an impact at Selhurst Park.
He was right and Gallagher capped the best week of his career, after making his senior England debut against San Marino on Monday, by laying on Christian Benteke’s second goal.
It was a superb piece of skill as he cut inside to leave Charlie Taylor on his backside before teeing up Benteke. He also put a headed chance on a plate for the Belgium striker, which he spurned.
Gallagher, 21, was Palace’s main creative outlet and he had a hand in their opener when Maxwel Cornet failed to deal with his cross, which led to Benteke’s opening strike.
Boss Vieira (above) said: “Honestly I’m not surprised by him. Dougie talked a lot about him and Dougie is a big fan of Conor. He knew him up and down, he knew how good he would be for us.
“I was really pleased that he managed to come on for England. He’s another player who is rewarded for the way he performs.
“He’s working really hard for the team and his team-mates and I’m pleased he managed to make an assist today. I’m really pleased that he found a way to adapt himself so quickly, which allowed him to concentrate on the pitch and express his talent.”
As potent as Palace were going forward, they were poor at the back and Burnley capitalised to score twice from set-pieces.
Sean Dyche said he targeted this weakness and Palace’s marking for Ben Mee and Chris Wood’s headed goals was non-existent.
The Eagles have conceded nine times from set-pieces this season and Vieira admits they must be more resolute.
He added: “Teams will look at our strengths and weaknesses to prepare themselves. We have to look at ourselves to be better, to be stronger.
“We need to improve that aspect of our game because in the modern game, set-pieces are massively important.”
Mee and Wood put Burnley ahead after Benteke’s opener. The big Belgian levelled things up before the break then Cornet cancelled out Marc Guehi’s strike with a superb volley to earn the
Clarets a point.
They might have had all three if Simon
Hooper had not bottled it when
Joachim Andersen put his arms around Wood to foul him just outside the area as he went through on goal.
Hooper did not even award Burnley a free-kick, but he did hand James Tarkowski and Ashley Westwood their fifth bookings to rule them out of Sunday’s clash with Tottenham.
Dyche was unimpressed with Hooper’s display and said: “I thought the referee was off his game today.”