Glasner on speculation, momentum & Manchester United...

First-team

5 Mar 2024

Oliver Glasner says Crystal Palace are targeting an unbeaten run to end the 2023/24 Premier League season, as they prepare to host Manchester United at Selhurst Park on Monday (6th May, 20:00 BST).

With the Eagles on a four-match unbeaten run, and with three games left this season, the Palace manager spoke positively about his hopes for the culmination of the campaign at his pre-match press conference.

Glasner also discussed transfer speculation linking his players elsewhere; his recent trip to the United States; and the strengths and weaknesses of Manchester United, ahead of their meeting on Monday....

For Glasner's pre-match team news updates on Marc Guéhi and Ebere Eze ahead of Monday's game, please click here.

Pre-match press conference: Manchester United (H)

On transfer speculation surrounding his players…

I’m always optimistic because all these players have contracts with Crystal Palace.

It’s May, and many situations can change, so nothing is 100 percent. [Marc] is under contract, he's a good player, he's our captain, so I'm very positive and confident that he plays for Crystal Palace.

[Regarding speculation regarding Manchester United] I read somewhere that almost the whole squad of Man Utd is available, so maybe we can get 10 from them! I don't know what will happen, but there's always an audition. Every game is an audition for the players and for us as a team, so we want to show us from our best side regarding football.

We’ve had some great performances in the last weeks, we had some great results in the last weeks, and now it's up to us to continue playing with this confidence, playing with this intensity, and playing with this passion until the end of the season.

It's a good moment, Monday night football against Man Utd at Selhurst Park. We will give our best, do our best, so that we will have the next win.

On his recent trip to the United States…

My generation already retired, so I'm a big Michael Jordan fan! It's my age, and I really got up many times in the nights [to watch], unfortunately, in playing life. Now it's not so much again, so I need my sleep now, I'm older!

But yeah, it was a trip planned for several weeks, because it was when Man Utd was moved to Monday, we knew there would be some days off, especially after three games in six days, so the players also need these days, and we planned this trip, meeting our co-owners.

I was lucky that the [Philadelphia] 76ers had a playoff game against the New York Knicks, but they lost yesterday game six, so now they're up in the play-offs. But yeah, it was a fantastic experience.

They lost game four, so we talked about game five, what they could do at Madison Square Garden, and I think Steve [Parish] and I gave good advice to them, because they could win at Madison Square Garden! Now it went wrong and they lost! Our discussion was about basketball.

On the players having some days off this week…

[They’re] mentally refreshed, yes. We spoke about the three games before, and we had a deal: the more points, the more days off, and the players did really well, so they had more days off!

Yesterday's session took I’d say 30-40 minutes to get back into the rhythm, into the shape, but it's normal – we expected this after some days off. But at the end of the session yesterday we had very good quality, very good energy, and the same today, so we're back.

On coming up against Manchester United…

I expect a lot of quality, players' quality and coaching quality. Erik ten Hag did a fantastic job at Ajax Amsterdam. I think last year Man Utd won a cup. Great manager, great team. They suffered from many injuries this season, but they still have a lot of quality, offensively.

Antony, [Alejandro] Garnacho, [Bruno] Fernandes: individual, one-on-one players, and a very physical striker [Rasmus Højlund] with finishing qualities. I think with [Kobbie] Mainoo, one of the rising stars with 18 years in the English football, he also had his debut for the English national team.

So a fantastic team, and of course a big club – but with respect, we go for the win.

On former United ‘keeper Dean Henderson…

It was difficult for him, because when we arrived, just one game before, it was the decision that Sam Johnstone is the starting goalkeeper, and he took it very professionally.

When I arrived, I spoke with both, I said I don't want to change this decision again, because Sam had a great game at Everton. He worked very hard, and then it was unfortunate for Sam that he got injured with the English national team.

Dean got the reward, because he was working so hard, and he always had our confidence. I think I was asked this question, and I always said: ‘this is the best situation for a manager, having such great keepers.’ Dean does an excellent job for us, big saves, helping us winning at Liverpool with some outstanding saves.

He's done a great job. When Sam will come back in pre-season, it's the same with our offensive players: they are back from injuries, we need this competition also in training, that we reach the edge as much as possible. It's the same with the goalkeeper.

On the characters in the Palace squad…

From the beginning there were great characters, I always mentioned it, but when you come in new, you have to get to know each other, and it's not just me, but new staff.

We started building a group, building a unit, and I think we found our basement in how we want to play, we found our basement in how we want to cope with each other. We're still working on our basements, but it's good to see that we could have many players being disappointed because they don't get the minutes they deserve.

And then it's so good to see that the players, when they come into the game, and it doesn't depend if they get 80 minutes or 10 or 5, they do everything so that the team can win the game or get the equaliser like it was at Fulham.

This is the best you can have as a manager and the best you can have as a team, and this gives me a lot of confidence in our group.

On Palace’s four-match unbeaten run…

We hope that we can keep this momentum. But again, it's up to us, how we work during the week. You can't say now, ‘OK, relax during the week and switch on on Monday evening.’

The players could relax, and yesterday we started preparing and the players looked to be ready because I can see how focused they are in training, how we want to play, what we want to do, that they try their best. It doesn't mean everything works perfect, but they're always doing their best and so this is the best we can do to keep this momentum up.

Of course, we now have four games unbeaten and the goal is to stay unbeaten until the end of the season.

On Manchester United’s strengths and weaknesses…

I have mentioned it before, they have a lot of quality in offence. But also, yeah, like every team, they have their weaknesses.

It’s for us to control their strengths, but also use their weaknesses, and also what fits to our strengths. We can't play, or we don't want to play, in a different way to what we did in the past.

We get confidence in what we are doing. We see, yes, we've kept the last three teams at Fulham, Newcastle and West Ham in single figures of shots against us – it was four, seven and nine. And this is how we want to play, to keep them away, get a lot of pressure on the ball and create chances to score.

This is the way we want to play. This is the same way against Man United. Of course, we prepare, but we have to take care of where we get our chances.

And then go there, play with the support of our fans – and they will be, again, a fantastic support. We’ll play with a lot of energy, play together as a team, and give the best to get the three points.

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