Glasner reacts to defeat at Newcastle
Oliver Glasner has given this thoughts on Crystal Palace’s 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on Sunday afternoon.
“A disappointing defeat, disappointing result,” was the Manager’s verdict, speaking to his post-match press conference. “The most disappointing part for me is conceding another two goals from set-plays – five of our last six defeats, we just conceded goals from set-plays, and then you can’t win games. This is what we have to get sorted.
“It's my responsibility, together with my staff, to give the players better solutions, that they feel more comfortable and can defend this in a better way.
“It's always a second phase where we are not really structured and then conceding goals, because there's many parts of the game I was really pleased today. I think we played really well. [Apart from] maybe the last five or six, seven minutes, when we went all in to get our goal – before that, we didn't give them chances from open play. We defended really well.
“On the other side, we created a few good situations, with a big chance straight before half-time.
“With all the circumstances, you know, making a concussion sub in the first-half, making another substitution straight after half-time due to injury problems with [Nathaniel] Clyney, and then showing a performance where I think a point was possible…
“But we have to solve the problem of conceding goals from set-plays so often.”
"There are a few explainable reasons. Maybe with Chris Richards [injured], we don't have one of our best headers in the box available. With Ismaïla Sarr [at AFCON], who plays a key role on the near post and is also quite tall.
“He's not here, and [injured] Dani Muñoz was a good presence with his physicality… and then losing one of our best headers in the first-half with Jeff Lerma because, for example, when he got injured, it was the same ball where we conceded a goal in the second-half, and he just cleared it because he's really great in these situations. We don't have so many headers like this.
“On the other side, this won't change until Wednesday. This won't change until Macclesfield [next week], and it's my job to find better solutions.”
Glasner said that Lerma feels fine, after a clash of heads with Malick Thiaw in the first-half saw the Colombian substituted, but Clyne had suffered pain in his hip, requiring him to be substituted early in the second-half.
The Manager also said of Brennan Johnson, who made his Palace debut from the off at St. James’ Park: “I was pleased with his debut. He showed what he would bring to the team.
“Of course, I could see in a few situations that his understanding with his teammates was not here after one day of training, when he's trained with [just] half of the group, but he will definitely help us in the games.
“I was pleased with his debut and performance today.”