I will try and make this a considered post rather than an angry rant, but I am having my doubts about Vieira’s judgement over some aspects of our play.
I’m not calling for his head and like him as person and acknowledge he is trying to stick to certain football principles.
However, in my view the way we are setting up is not getting the best of our resources.
The very talented Eze and Olise appear to be luxury players as there is nobody to win the ball for them and they drift aimlessly around midfield having no influence on the game.
This results with us being dominated in midfield and if Doucoure is pressed in deep midfield we are unable to start any moves.
The only outlet is the long pass from Anderson.
This means Zaha is isolated when playing down the middle chasing lost causes and having zero impact on proceedings.
When it’s clear the tactics are not working (as in today and v Forest) I can’t understand why Vieira does not react and make changes.
If the players are not following instructions change them for those who will follow them.
If the players are not capable of performing in line with the tactics, change the tactics to suit them.
It doesn’t seem like rocket science.

Excellent analysis. I think the problem Vieira has is that it sometimes works. Away at West Ham only 3 games ago I thought was one of our best displays for years. The same tactics obviously didn’t work against Forest or Fulham though.

We struggle against teams who dominate the midfield and harass our back 4. We panic against such tactics which causes our ‘luxury players’ to play deeper and deeper until they become ineffective. Look at the last two games, we just could not get on the front foot.

Personally I think it’s time to go back to 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 so we can compete better in the competitive areas. We also need to make sure we pick the players capable of competing.

On the plus side, when the so called better teams sit off us, we actually look far better as a team and cause more problems.

Some sobering 22-23 stats from the Premier League site considering our progressive style;
Shots on target 19th
Big Chances missed 19th
Through balls 19th
Crosses 20th

However, a heady 8th for backwards passes, 3rd for counter attacking goals and league leaders for number of times dispossessed.

Mean nothing in isolation I guess but wonder what the club’s analysts make of that one.

In fairness to Vieira I’ve heard him bemoan our inability to move the ball forward on more than one occasion this season

It really is so easy to fix, 4-2-3-1, two DMs, Luka will do, there role is to stop attacks and defend the CBs, Doucoure cant do it on his own, which leaves Wilf, Eze and Olise more freedom, and a CF who can hold the ball up and is like Mateta only better, Edouard is never going to cut it in the premier league, but no, we have PVs vision of one DM and all other M/As playing out of position,

My preference for Palace would be for two holding midfielders to give the team better balance, win the ball in key areas and allow us a platform for our attacking players to flourish.
I note there is a tendency though for the better teams to play with one midfielder sitting deep.
For Man City that’s Rodri (and before him Fernandinho) for Liverpool it’s usually Fabhino and for Arsenal it’s Partey.
However, these teams have better players than us and are more equipped to dominate possession and create and take chances.
Vieira’s aspirations are admirable, but there’s a danger it will not produce football which creates many chances (as the stats indicate) or leads to winning as many matches as we need to breathe more easily.
It will be interesting to see his team selections moving forward.
Part of me wonders if he plays the ‘one number 6 and two 8s ‘ in midfield because he’s wedded to the idea or because he just doesn’t rate the alternatives in Luka, Hughes and Jairo.