Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira hails Chris Richards as ‘defensively very strong’

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira has praised American star Chris Richards after giving him his first Premier League start.

Richards, who completed a $13 million transfer to Palace from Bayern Munich in the summer, had made just five appearances for the English club before his clash with United. with all three of his Premier League starts coming as a substitute.

But that changed on Wednesday after the US central defender made his first start against Manchester United, England’s most successful club.

American Chris Richards made his first Premier League start for Crystal Palace on Wednesday.

Eagles head coach Patrick Vieira praised the center back after the tie.

The defender impressed on his top-flight debut, particularly with an excellent tackle on Antony in the first half.

And, his efforts were rewarded by the coach after the game when Vieira praised Richards’ defensive talents, but conceded that the American needed more minutes to build his confidence.

It was really good. I think defensively he was very strong,” the Eagles head coach said.

“Of course, you can see that he needs to play more games to gain confidence, but when he needed to defend, he did very well.”

The defender impressed on his top-flight debut, particularly with an excellent tackle on Antony (L)

‘We bought Chris knowing his strength and quality. He has been very unlucky with a couple of injuries that have kept him from training or playing.

“Now he’s fully fit, we know he’s a good defender and he can play when we want to build from behind, so we just need to build his confidence now, but the quality is there.”

Palace salvaged a late-night equalizer thanks to a sensational Michael Olise free-kick in stoppage time, having trailed a goal two minutes before half-time when Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring.

Richards came into Palace’s back line after starting defender Joachim Andersen injured his calf in Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Chelsea.

Palace salvaged a late-night equalizer thanks to a late Michael Olise free-kick

Andersen, who has played in 17 of Palace’s 18 league games this season, is expected to sideline for three weeks with injury.

In his absence, Richards moved alongside Guehi in the center of defense and the former FC Dallas star certainly increased his chances of taking the job.

Richards expects another call-up to the starting XI on Saturday when Palace host fourth-placed Newcastle.