Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira details the significant difference between a player and manager

Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira admits it’s way easier to be a professional football player than a manager.

The Eagles boss, regarded by many as one of the greatest Premier League midfielders of all time has relatively made a smooth transition from playing to being a coach.

He had success at New York City FC and French side Nice before accepting the difficult job of trying to change the style of football and establishing Crystal Palace as an attractive mid-table Premier League side.

In his maiden season in south London with the Eagles, Vieira led Palace to just one point short of their all-time best Premier League points tally of 49, with the Eagles finishing 12th on the league table with 48 points.

But this season has been a different story with just six wins in 24 league games, it’s been a challenging campaign- so much that the World Cup winner has had to constantly take pressure off his under performing stars.

“As a manager, when the team hasn’t performed the way you want, you get home you watch the game again,” said Vieira, speaking at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit.

“You get frustrated. You try to get the answer and it’s not always easy to find, You absorb the pressure from everybody around you, around the football club.

“When things are not going the right way, there’s this kind of negativity that you have to manage and you have to control. It’s not easy, but it’s part of the job - and I love it.”

Last season was truly refreshing for Palace fans who saw their team make a return to Wembley for the first time in five years after reaching the last four of FA Cup, this year they crashed out at the fourth round to Southampton who have just lost at home to League Two side Grimsby Town.

Palace will travel to Villa Park this weekend in the league hoping to bag their seventh league win of the campaign, the first win of the year- and to ease pressure on the growing frustration within the fanbase.