Oliver Glasner highlighted the need to be efficient with chances when Crystal Palace face Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon (14:00 BST) – our first home Premier League match of 2025/26.
Little over 14 hours since defeating Fredrikstad in a historic European night in SE25, the Manager once again faced the world's media to preview our immediate return to action against Forest.
Speaking to the press, Glasner highlighted his team's positive start to the season in terms of results and attitude; how the group's belief has grown over recent months; and exactly what Palace will need to achieve to come away with three points on Sunday.
Read on below for the key quotes!
I always say it's not important having five passes in your own box. It's important having goals in the opposite box.
This is what we could have done better yesterday. We had plenty of chances. We didn't take them because otherwise we would have had a better result.
But on the other side, it's creating five or six clear chances against such a deep block. This is not so easy. I think we really improved our final third game.
Again, a step into the right direction. It also makes no sense now talking every day in public about players and everything. The plan is here and now we have to execute the plan.
“Now we are facing Nottingham Forest on the pitch, and this is what we want to do.
“We could see they played a great season last year, finishing in seventh position with Nuno doing a great job with his players. Also, they kept everyone. Of course, it was quite noisy with Morgan Gibbs-White, but he stayed there, and then they added many players especially in the last week.
“We’re facing a very good squad. They are very ambitious when you're seventh and adding all these players, and this is what we have to face, and we will.
“But we will be competitive, I'm pretty sure. We play at home against Selhurst, so we know we can count on the support of our fans.
“It’s important to focus on supporting the team because the team needs their support, and then this helps us most to get a win, instead of, let's say, shouting against Nottingham Forest.
“So my advice is support the team, as you're always doing every single game at home and away. This is what we need. This is what the team needs, and then we have the best chance to get the win.”
The players are really so committed to the way we are playing, to this group, and this is a time to enjoy
—Oliver Glasner
This is a time the players are doing so well. The players are really so committed to the way we are playing, to this group, and this is a time to enjoy.
Starting into the season, winning Community Shield, getting a draw at Chelsea, and starting with a win in the European competition – so we should celebrate.
But there's no time to celebrate at the moment. So we will go through these three more games we have now, and then the best thing we can do is being in a good mood and staying positive.
The players are fatigued [after last night’s game], but are positive and are laughing, and this is what we need.
I know now you have an injection to lose weight, but there's no injection for belief! We don't have it. Maybe in a few years, but not now!
Belief has to grow over weeks and months. Of course, you need to succeed in this period. We can tell the players whatever we want but if we lose every single game, they won't ever believe in what we're telling them and in what we're doing.
It's just what shows the development. It's everything. I think it's tactical tweaks. Players are fit. They are available. They see, yes, I can play three games a week, no problem. They feel good. They know what to do on the pitch. They know how to deal with situations because they experience it. I think this is awesome.
We are now together for 13, 14 months. They know each other. They know exactly what to do on the pitch, in and out of possession. We always try to improve and progress. And then, when you see, ‘hey, the things are working’, for me individually, for us as a group, then you start to believe in it.
And the more success you have, the more the belief increases. Then, also you have some setbacks. I remember losing 5-2 and 5-0 within three days at City and at Newcastle, so then it's important how you deal with this situation, not to question everything we did. It’s not just giving us some nice feedback. Failure is very important feedback to find the right tweaks again.
And I think this is how we work together. And this – four losses in 25 games – just extends the results. We're never thinking about it. We're always going into the game, wanting to play, sticking to the plan, wanting to be together – and then we will accept the result.
Nottingham Forest defeated Brentford 3-1 in their opening Premier League match last weekend.
Yeah, good performance. Efficient. Honestly, nothing new. I think they just played one new player, who is Dan Ndoye, on the right, instead of [Anthony] Elanga – but more or less, all the other players played like last year, a nd now they brought in several new players.
I don't know, but if you win 3-1, I don't expect that they will change many players. They have a lot of pace, especially from the side with Ndoye, with [Callum] Hudson-Odoi, but also with their fullbacks, Ola Aina and Nico Williams.
They have a very good midfield. With [Ibrahim] Sangaré, the more defensive one. With Elliot Anderson, this box-to-box player. And with Morgan Gibbs-White, the creative ten.
Two centre-backs playing together for a longer time now, for more than one year, Murillo and Nikola Milenković, and a great keeper with Mats Selz.
They’re a very good team, clear structure, how Nuno is playing, very compact, always waiting for transitions. They’re very good in set-plays. On the other side, we could see last year. Away they scored the first goal, and they won. At home we scored the first goal, and I think we could have won, but 1-1 after one set-play, we gave them the second shot and we were punished.
I expect a similar game: very intense, many duels, and not so many chances because both teams are really defending well, and then it's about being efficient and taking the few chances we will get.
Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest
