“From the first minute I would say that Fulham were the better team,” he said in his post-match press conference. “We had to do aspects of the game where we weren’t present, and at the end we get what we deserve.
“We didn’t do anything today to get something from that game. It is really difficult to understand right now and this is one of the frustrations that I had, because I was really pleased with what I saw in the last couple of weeks in training and I expected a better performance from the team.
“This shows again the quality of the Premier League. Look at Fulham and the team, and the quality they have. We still have a lot of work to do to compete and today we didn’t compete at all.
“Of course, the two red cards didn’t help us but outside of those situations it was more the performance from the first minute that let us down.”
In the midst of train strikes and more, Vieira was keen to praise the defiant atmospehere generated at Selhurst Park.
"It is tough and challenging for them to get to the stadium," he said. "Especially when you give a performance like we did today, and seeing the reaction they had in the last five minutes, they showed a lot of appreciation and I want to thank them for that.
"To see them still singing at the end is something that is good, that we as a manager myself and as a team have to keep in our mind and give them a bit more of what they deserve,
"We are capable of doing it because we have done it previously, and we will do it again."