A tough tie in the League Cup Quarter Final saw Crystal Palace bow out of the competition with a 3-2 defeat. Goals from Jean-Philipe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah couldn’t prevent defeat this time around, as a Gabriel Jesus hat trick was too difficult to beat on this occasion.
The match wasn’t without its talking points, however. A strong Palace performance despite defeat could have given them a lifeline, with Nketiah’s late goal only a consolation by the end of the 90 minutes. VAR (or a lack of in this case) was the major takeaway, but what else was on Glasner’s mind ahead of the two sides’ rematch on Saturday?
-
League Cup problems?
One of the big talking points ahead of these games was the lack of VAR. Despite every game taking place in a Premier League stadium, VAR would not be active until the Semi-Finals of the competition.
So you can imagine the confusion when Gabriel Jesus seemingly received the ball for his second goal from an offside position.
Images were shared around social media of an offside Gabriel Jesus receiving the ball before giving Arsenal the lead, a crucial goal that stamped the Gunners’ authority on the game and ultimately gave them the win, and something clearly didn’t seem to add up.
Regardless of people’s opinions on VAR as a whole, it would undoubtedly have caught that clear and obvious mistake and cleared up any confusion caused.
On the incident itself, Glasner said, "I’ve seen it, and I think it was offside, but there is no VAR, and everybody knows this. We gave them too many chances in the second half and when you do that then it’s just a question of time until they scored."
Clearly the manager disagrees with the initial decision, but at the end of the game the scoreboard decides the result. He knows that Palace lost no matter what decisions were made, and that’s something he will want to change before his opposite number returns to Selhurst Park.
-
Team mistakes
A cup run requires consistency all across the board, and whilst Palace have just come off the back of a five game unbeaten run, Glasner did not feel like they played well enough to go through.
Sometimes, defeats can result from injustice, and it can be argued that this one falls into that category, but Glasner argued that the team could have played a lot better to earn the victory.
He argued: “We weren't good enough. We are self-critical. I think we didn't perform at our best level. I mentioned it before at the press conference: we needed to perform at our best level to take the win.
“We missed several percentages. Out of possession, several percentages. In possession, we lost the ball too easily, too quick, and then the pressure increased. Also, in defence, it was sometimes half-pressure, half being in shape, and then Arsenal are too good, so that's a little bit frustrating today.”
His players will be hugely disappointed to have not continued their cup run, but lessons have been learned for what is still a relatively young team that is still growing into the season.
-
New debutant
Adding to the new players who have made their mark on Palace under Glasner is 18-year-old Caleb Kporha, an academy graduate who impressed in a tough tie despite getting booked.
His first competitive start didn’t end the way he would have wanted it to, but the manager was impressed after the 90 minutes, commenting on his performance “[He’s been working] very hard – that’s why he started today.”
“He had the yellow card and it was not too easy playing against Trossard, a great player with all his pace – but it's very positive for him.”
This trust in the youth has already been seen this season, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kphora in a Palace shirt again this season.
