Oliver Glasner used the 1-2 defeat in Sunderland to take a fundamental look at Crystal Palace’s transfer policy. However, the 51-year-old ruled out a quick departure for the time being.
Just last Friday, Oliver Glasner announced that he would be leaving Crystal Palace next summer. He said he had already made the decision in October in consultation with chairman Steve Parish. After leading the South London club to FA Cup and Community Shield victories last year, the Austrian’s successful two-year spell at the club is set to come to an end.
If the Austrian’s announcement was intended to end his team’s weeks-long crisis by providing public clarity, the plan backfired. On Saturday, Crystal Palace lost 2-1 to Sunderland, and afterwards the coach lashed out. It was not so much the tenth game without a win in all competitions, but rather his club’s transfer and squad policy that drove Glasner up the wall.
Almost symbolically, the former Frankfurt coach refrained from making any substitutions on Saturday afternoon. The reason: “There were only kids on the bench. They had never played in a stadium with such an atmosphere before. I’m not saying this to protect myself, but to protect them. They need protection. I didn’t make any substitutions because it would have been unfair. I see them every day in training. That’s how it is.“
Worse still, everyone involved in the club has been aware of the situation ”for weeks, for months.“ ”What are we doing? We’re selling our captain the day before the game. I only found out about it yesterday at 10:30 a.m. All the set pieces, everything was prepared for him to play,” criticized Glasner, who continues to be linked with Manchester United. Formally, the Guehi transfer is not yet complete, but Glasner himself had already announced on Friday that the 25-year-old Ivorian would be leaving. A move that was reminiscent of Eberechi Eze’s equally sudden transfer to Arsenal in August: “Sometimes your heart is torn out in a season, one day before the game,” he emphasized. “We feel let down. There is no support. Everyone is disappointed.”
However, Glasner does not want to throw in the towel prematurely. He will remain Eagles coach “because the players deserve it. The players and the fans deserve it 100 percent. For me, it’s now about fighting with these players to achieve success again,“ he clarified. However, he felt he had to voice his criticism publicly because ”talking about it behind closed doors makes no sense. And this is perhaps the last attempt to achieve what needs to be done. If we continue like this, Crystal Palace, not Oliver Glasner, will pay the price.”
