Crystal Palace are back in Premier League action on Saturday (1st November, 15:00 GMT), hosting Brentford at Selhurst Park.
Ahead of the Eagles' clash with the Bees, Manager Oliver Glasner spoke to the media about a range of topics, including his side's upcoming fixture schedule; the concept of 'Glasnerball'; Daichi Kamada and Yéremy Pino; and how his teams find their identity...
Read on below for the key quotes!
I couldn't have played this ball. I wasn't good enough!
—Oliver Glasner
I couldn't have played this ball. I wasn't good enough! I couldn't play Daichi [Kamada]’s ball in, and what the front three did. I couldn't do it.
Of course, this is how we want to play. But you can't always do it because there's an opposition. But because we won the ball back in their half… we lost it, and then we had a great rest defence and made pressure winning the ball and also not playing back and just staying in possession.
Daichi Kamada always had the view or looked that he can play to our attacking players, and they were connected, and then, honestly, what I loved is this creativity, because we're talking about freedom in this area. Ismaila plays with one touch behind his foot.
Eddie is in movement. He doesn't even touch a ball, but his run creates the space for Ismaila. And then Yéremy takes a good decision, and the finish… yes, it was a great, great goal. But we had a few others where we didn't score.
We said it's what I really liked in this game. We showed the players today, also in preparation for Brentford.
It’s always talking about our game. We can't change the style we are playing within two days. We don't want to change the way we are playing. But also we have to respect Brentford's way of playing, and maybe they don't give us these areas.
Then we have to use other areas. The first goal was a little bit similar. We came more from the side, from wide areas. But we had good numbers, good movements in the box, and that's what we're always trying.
Whatever the opposition is doing, we know what to do. We know where we can find space and, of course, take advantage of it.
Yes, it's how I know him and how I knew him. He's a great guy. He's a little bit quiet. He's not the loudest speaker in the dressing room. But he's so professional and he's always available.
He struggled at the beginning with the physicality of the Premier League like many, many others. I had a talk with the Chairman and he said he's been involved in the Premier League for more than a decade and much longer than I have and he said we usually say: ‘okay, it takes one year to adapt to the Premier League’, and now we expect him to adapt within one week or two weeks! We have to stay patient and always support the players.
This is the way we are working with our players, to support them as long as we see 100% effort in every single training, every single day to get all the support. And then, at the end, it's up to them.
But for us, we always knew and we always believed in Daichi that he has the quality to be a dominant Premier League player, and he shows it.
I think out of possession they have no freedom, so really zero freedom! Then it's all about patterns and that everybody can rely on each other.
But in possession, yes, we want it. When you are a Premier League player, when you are an international player, like all our attackers or many in any club, we also have to trust them that they can take right decisions on the pitch. We just want to show them spaces, areas, where they can show their quality.
With Yéremy, again, if we always put him into the last line, where he has the centre-back in his back, he loses his strengths because he's not the most physical player.
But with his intelligence and with his movement between the lines.. and also then, it was like Liverpool mirrored us. Then when he always stays in the same position, it's quite easy to get marked. And then we say, ‘OK, you are free. You don't always have to hold this position. But don't play like a centre-back or don't play like a full-back. So in these areas, you have freedom.
‘Between the lines, you can overload one side, you can be wide. If they close the middle, go wide, create an overload in wide areas. If there are gaps, like there was in the second goal, for example, then move more inside.’
And that's the freedom we give them. But of course, we don't want him to drop behind our centre-backs because we need these players in these areas where they can score goals.
I think also we could see that he was sometimes struggling with the physicality of the Premier League. But it's the same, like with Daichi. We support him because when you see how hard he was working at Liverpool, out of possession, how often he doubled up, how often he ran back and did his job in an excellent way, then we support him, so that's why I think at the end he got the benefit with an assist and a goal.
We expect a good challenge for us and a very intense game, like always
—Oliver Glasner
Of course, I watched their last game against Liverpool because these were our next two opponents.
And I was impressed, honestly, with how they played, the energy they had, how quick they played in behind. The new pace they have, especially with Schade and Outtara.
Igor, the striker, after suffering an ACL injury when they signed him, shows that he's a goal scorer. He scored about 30 goals in Belgium as well. Damsgaard behind is very intelligent.
Great players always find the right moment to pass. All the others, it's a clear structure. Very, very physical. Also, now when they play Ajer as a left-back, that means many tall players, and then getting the game into the final third, of course, long throw-ins, set plays.
I'm quite impressed. Also, they have a good mix between pressing you high, very often in a man-to-man shape, and then dropping into a deep block and being very, very compact.
On the other side, it's a Premier League game. We expect a good challenge for us and a very intense game, like always.
But today, we were [training] 35 minutes on the pitch, but the players really looked great. And so we're with confidence and looking forward to this game.
I just can tell the players what I'm believing in. I think every manager has what he's believing in, on the pitch, outside the pitch, in the locker room, how you want your environment.
And then I have to be authentic. I can't copy anybody else, and that's when I talk about identity. It's not just how we play on the pitch, it's our work ethic, how we deal with each other, how we support each other.
Here is a great group. When new players are arriving, for example, then JP [Mateta] sometimes takes them for dinner. These are all soft skills, but it helps you to feel well, to feel integrated. All this is, for me, identity.
I just think every successful company in the world has a corporate identity. And if you don't have it, maybe you can be successful, but I don't know how long, and especially, do you get the maximum success?
That's why I personally think it's important to have an identity, but that never means that, say, Oliver Glasner's identity is right and somebody else's identity is wrong. I just can be and tell the players and talk about my values and I don't expect anything I wouldn't live on my own and I wouldn't stand for.
That's why I think we have a great environment here, but therefore you need great players, great characters, great persons, and that's what we have.
Crystal Palace v Brentford
