Oliver Glasner faced the media on Friday afternoon, as his Crystal Palace side attempt to revitalise their season on Sunday against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Eagles are one of four Premier League teams still without a win eight games into the season, and loiter in the relegation zone. An agonising 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest increased the pressure on the Austrian manager, but Glasner is confident his sides fortunes will turn around.
Glasner also discussed team news, Tottenham Hotspur and how Palace can improve during his Friday press conference duties.
Below are the main takeaways:
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The Missing 10%
Despite Palace's barren start, Glasner is optimistic that the Eagles have been competitive in their matches so far, only suffering defeat by more than one goal on one occasion.
"We want to play in the Premier League, we want to challenge with all these teams, and what this season told us until now is that we are competitive."
"Yes, we don't get the results. Yes, we are missing some details, some percentages. But I didn't find any game, although we just have three points, where we said there was no chance to win it, so this gives us confidence."
However, the Austrian implored his side must improve in order to come out on the successful side of these tight encounters, stating, "it is [important] also not to rely on this, so it is to work and to find and get this last 10% we need to win the game."
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Team News
The Eagles face no fresh fitness concerns, with Glasner confirming "the same squad is available as on Monday at Nottingham."
Unfortunately for Palace, this also means that several members of his squad will be unavailable for the crucial tie on Sunday.
Chris Richards remains absent with a hamstring injury, whilst summer signing Chadi Riad is still recovering from an MCL tear. Matheus Franca is also a long term absentee, as the Brazilian continues his recovery from a groin injury.
Glasner is hoping that Cheick Doucoure will return to the side soon, with the Malian international returning to training.
“Cheick Doucouré has had just one training session with us this week, but it will still take time, so it is the same squad.”
The Austrian manager also provided an update on Adam Wharton who has struggled with a groin injury this season.
“We are discussing [whether to send him for surgery], and when we take the final decision we will inform you. At the moment he will be with us for at least the next week."
"We have three games: we play on Sunday against Tottenham, we play on Wednesday against Aston Villa and then the Wolves away game. He will be with us for the next three games and then we will see what happens.”
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Learning From Mistakes
Glasner stated the importance of analysing each match, and finding where his Palace side can improve, stating, "it's always important after any game – and what we also did when we had a winning streak, not always just running through the city and everything is fine – it’s always analysing the game, very neutrally, not emotionally."
The Austrian manager explained, "this is what we did against Nottingham. We had 20 shots in an away game, with seven on target. We had our situations. It's not just ‘we don't score goals, we don't create chances, we don't create situations."
I don't know when Crystal Palace last had 20 shots in an away game. So in some parts it goes in the right direction, but on the other side, we also analysed why maybe we didn't have these clear chances in the box.
Glasner expressed how his Palace side must take advantage of situations through better decision making, and the willingness to be brave and positive on the ball.
"I can understand, because again, we are human, the players are human. Very often we had the situation where we could pass into the box, we had good runs into the box, but we always took the riskless pass, and then cutting back and playing the safety pass, and then Nottingham recovered well, and when they have eight or nine players behind the ball, it makes it more difficult."
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The Strength of Spurs
Glasner warned his side must be wary of the quality Tottenham possess, with the North London side boasting an array of attacking talent.
"I just heard that maybe [Heung-Min] Son is not available, but, you know, they’ve bought [Dominic] Solanke, a top striker of the Premier League. They have Brennan Johnson, he's in great shape, a lot of pace. They have [Dejan] Kulusevski. Richarlison had his comeback yesterday, they have Timo Werner, so they have a very good midfield, they have a lot of pace in defence, so it's all about intensity."
In order to overcome a difficult Spurs side, Palace will need to take advantage of the opportunities they create, by exploiting spaces left by the advancing Spurs defenders, and by enacting a brave aggressive press.
"But if you find them, you can create chances, so this is what Brighton did in the second- half, this is what also AZ Almakaar did yesterday, in three or four situations, when they could put pressure on the defence, winning the ball high, or even with a lot of pace, and they got in behind, so you always get your chances, and this is what we will go for."
