Glasner: I enjoyed watching my players today
Oliver Glasner says his Crystal Palace side were a joy to watch as their flying start led to a 5-2 win over West Ham United at Selhurst Park.
The Eagles enjoyed their biggest win of the season over the Hammers, going four goals to the good inside a spectacular opening 31 minutes, before seeing out the second-half in a professional manner and winning 5-2.
The Palace manager said it was the perfect way to follow up last weekend’s win over Liverpool, saying: “[The question was] are we still hungry, are we still ambitious after this big win at Anfield? Because very often, maybe the concentration, the focus goes down a little bit.
“You think about many situations that can happen in a game, with injuries or you have a red card down, so maybe you can change things. But I had no plan in my head when we were four goals up after 30 minutes!
“That’s the best situation you can have, and I really enjoyed watching the players today, what kind of joy they had in possession, how they combined, and it was really amazing to watch them.
“You could feel it in the whole of Selhurst Park: the fans were happy, the players were happy, and that's how football should be. But it's also important to keep this focus high over 95 minutes – we conceded a goal where we were a little bit, let's say, comfortable, [not] defending the set-piece. We knew this was one of their biggest strengths, but when it was 4-0 up, we said: ‘yeah, wow, cool, nice’ – but you always have to show the basics.
“In the second-half we did it really well, we scored a nice goal, we could have scored two or three more, so then it happened with Dean [Henderson], but I think he saved us three or four goals at Liverpool, so today we can [forgive him]. Mistakes happen, but it was a great performance today.
“The players, how they started the game in the first 30 minutes, were really amazing. It was nice to watch for a manager. It was an excellent performance, but now the game is played. The game is played, we have the three points, and it's our first back-to-back wins of the season.
“Now it's the third one in a row against Newcastle [we are aiming for], and this will be a big challenge. They will be fresh, so we have maybe the same situation as West Ham today [having played in midweek], a little bit tired legs. Of course, we take a lot of positive things from the game today, but stay focused for the next challenges.
“We can improve a lot of things, but yes, I think it was a good performance, definitely – but now it's the same, stay humble. The recovery starts now. It's not so difficult to perform once on a high level, but it's much more difficult to perform at a high level for many games.
“That’s our first back-to-back win, and this is our challenge: to keep this motivation high, to keep the way we want to play in offence and defence, because you always have to be concentrated, stay in your position, move the ball quick so that they don't get the ball, and this always starts in your mind if you are focused and concentrated.”
Glasner also gave an update on Adam Wharton, who exited the field of play on the hour mark after a knock to the knee: “I don't know, of course it hurts, so we will see. I don't think it's serious, it's painful, but he's a young guy so he can deal with the pain.”