This mentality explains several things about the current team: their FA Cup semi-final, top 10 league position and focus on improving further.
“It’s important we continue to push,” Butland says. “We’re not the finished article, we’re not a group that’s done yet. He [Vieira] is keen to make sure we don’t forget that. He keeps us grounded, he keeps us humble, he keeps pushing us, that’s for sure.
“It’s been a very enjoyable year, one we’re not dwelling on. We want to achieve more. We’ve got goals from much bigger things. We want to go and win the semi-final, keep pushing in the league and go as far as we can. We’ve got no ceiling at the minute.”
Butland was talking with the FA’s matchday programme for Sunday’s semi-final, which you can purchase here. He was discussing a competition which has shaped his season at Palace, playing in all four rounds and conceding just twice.
It didn’t start how Butland would have wanted, with what he calls “a defensive mishap, if you like,” but went on to result in two crucial clean sheets, victory against his former side and a 4-0 triumph to book a semi-final berth.
