Ghana forward Jordan Ayew has revealed the message from his manager at Crystal Palace at the start of this season’s English Premier League.
The revelation of the message from Patrick Viera comes after Ayew scored his first goal of the season which happens to end a 43-game run without a goal.
The striker netted after 65 minutes to secure Palace a point, striking home from a tight angle after a sustained spell of pressure.
He said he was pleased to score for others, but particularly for Vieira.
“It’s a relief I think,” he told the BBC post-match. “I knew it would come at some point because I’ve been working really hard for [a long] time. I was happy for myself personally – for my confidence, it is important – for my family, friends, people who have been supportive and especially the manager, who has been really supportive.
“Since the first day the manager came in he told me he has big faith in me and belief in me and I should keep on working hard and it will come. It may take long but at some point, it will pay off and today it paid off. We’re all glad… Today there were negatives and positives but I think it was a good result.”
Continuing to focus on the goal, Ayew said he has experienced some misfortune at times but today felt luck was on his side.
He continued, saying: “Sometimes in football, I’ve been really, really unlucky and think today luck was on my side. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s just football. I control what I can control and the things I can’t control I don’t focus on. I just focus on what I can control. Today it went my way.
“I hope [I continue to score], I hope so. But the most important thing for me is to make sure I work hard for the team.”
Finally, the forward turned his attention to the game as a whole, saying:
“I don’t know the reason why we played really, really well and at some points, we just stopped playing. Sometimes we were sucking in the pressure and conceded two goals in five minutes.
“In the dressing room we made some corrections and went back for the second half with a bit more desire, more high up the pitch and that allowed us an equaliser.”
