Manchester United may be the biggest drawcard for the ICON Festival of International Football but Perth has been embracing the other clubs involved in this weekend’s games at Optus Stadium.
Crystal Palace had their first training session at Dorrien Gardens, the home of NPLWA side Perth Soccer Club, on Thursday morning and manager Patrick Vieira said he was enjoying the experience.
“We’re not Liverpool, we’re not United,” he told reporters. “I’ve been surprised to have so many people coming to watch our training session, to see the love people have for Crystal Palace and what’s interesting to me as well is there’s a large fan base here.”
Players were only too happy to pose for photographs and sign autographs for supporters once their on field duties had come to an end.
Prior to arriving in Western Australia, the London based side have played games in Melbourne and Singapore as they prepare for the upcoming Premier League season.
However, it hasn’t all be smooth sailing with players absent from the trip due to injury, while others “did not meet the entry requirements for Singapore or Australia when travel arrangements were made.”
Among those missing are key squad members Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke, Eberechi Eze, Cheick Doucoure, and Marc Guehi but that has given some youngsters a chance to earn valuable experience.
“Coming here was something that we wanted to do as a football club,” said Vieira. “We wanted as well to give these kinds of experiences to our players.
“Some of our young players have never been outside of London or England, so to travel and to play those kinds of games against those kinds of teams is of value for our football club.
“The tour has been good so far. When you play United and Liverpool in front of 80,000 and you look at the intensity of the game, those two games so far have helped us grow as a team.”
Former Arsenal midfielder Vieira is heading into his second season at the helm and believes that there were some really good foundations laid in the squad during a first year that saw Palace finish 12th and draw praise for their style of play.
“The balance between youth and experience was really good,” he said.
“The experience allowed those young players to express themselves. It’s important this year to find the right balance. When you are young, sometimes you get carried away by success and then you lose yourself and you put the team into difficulties.
“Experienced players always know how to manage those kinds of situations. We have some special talent, really young talent in this football club. But that talent will not be enough to let us compete in the Premier League.”
Palace have one game left on their itinerary as they take on Jesse Marsch’s Leeds United on Friday in front of what is expected to be a strong crowd.
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