Crystal Palace's players were shocked to hear the news that Patrick Vieira had been sacked.

Joel Ward spoke about the situation after his side's 4-1 loss to Arsenal at the weekend.

Palace now have Paddy McCarthy in interim charge, until they can find a permanent replacement for Vieira.

“Anything like that comes as a bit of a surprise," Ward said of Vieira's departure, per The Mail.

“The tough thing in football is that it's a results business and we had a tough run of games and the hierarchy have made the decision about the direction they want to go and we have to respect that and make sure as a club right from the top, fans to players, we all get together and take care of business.

“Ultimately we're the only ones that can do that on the pitch so we have to stand up and be accountable for that."

Ward added: “It's a side of the game that no-one really likes to see. It's not a nice thing to happen in any industry. But we have to rebound from that. I'm sure he will go on to do great things in his next chapter. The club and players have the utmost respect for him. The way he applied himself and how he went about his day to day business, it's disappointing.

“But we now have to focus on retaining our Premier League status and that's the bottom line. We have to stick together and make sure we go out there and do the business."