Ahead of the match, Oliver Glasner discussed how he hopes to combat Newcastle United's offensive threats; the performances of 21-year-old midfielder Justin Devenny, who notched his first Palace goal at Villa Park; and his analysis of his side's displays so far this season...
The key quotes from Glasner's pre-Newcastle press conference
Crystal Palace host Newcastle United at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon, looking to build on a solid performance against Aston Villa last weekend.
“We can see what sometimes happens in games”
Newcastle United fell to a 2-0 home defeat against West Ham United on Monday night.
I watched the game. It was Monday night football and I think we can see what happens sometimes in games because I think they were clearly the better team, especially in the first-half, and then they were one goal down by a set-play. I think it was the first time, or it looked like it was the first time, West Ham entered their box, and they scored.
Then they were still very dominant, very aggressive playing forward.
I think it was, I don't know exactly, but 13 to two or three shots at half-time, so they were the much better team. And then it was one transition and they conceded the second goal and all of a sudden, they lost a little bit of their belief and West Ham got their confidence again… but for me, especially in the first-half, they were clearly the better team. Some situation decide about the game, about the momentum, about how the games are going.
But this is a team with a lot of aggressivity, with a lot of playing very direct forward, bringing the balls into the box quite early, having many players in the box and playing a clear structure. They switched into a 4-4-2, but I think Eddie Howe mentioned it after the game that it didn't work maybe as he was expecting, so we expect them in a 4-3-3, like they're always playing, always having five players, many times six players, in attack.
[They make] a lot of runs in behind, a lot of pace from the wing dribblers, [Anthony] Gordon, [Harvey] Barnes, [Alexander] Isak, then the eights with Joelinton, [Sean] Longstaff, [Sandro] Tonali. Their fullbacks make runs: [Lewis] Hall and [Tino] Livramento are always threatening the defensive line. So we expect a high intensity game, but on the other side, we also could see that with all the power they play forward, this gives you space, and this space we want to use to score goals.
“Performances have got better”
It’s just one defeat in five games, but it's also just two wins in five games. You can turn it however you want.
We know we are not happy with being 19th in the table. This is the truth. Having eight points after 12 games, it’s not that we can say: ‘It’s fine, it’s a good position.’ I think, yes, the performances are getting better and better, but the output is still not good enough.
If we score two goals at [Aston] Villa, if we score two goals at Wolves, at least in one of those games, we should have taken the win, but we conceded too many goals. We conceded three times in a row two goals, so this is what we have to improve.
But on the other side, yes, we can see that with the players getting back, we have more opportunities and how we want to play gets clearer and clearer for most of the guys. Many players are in a better physical shape than when they started – I mentioned it quite often, with pre-season and the late arrival.
So we have many signs giving us confidence, but on the other side, we have to accept and respect especially the situation in the table, and that is not good.
“It’s important for us to analyse”
It’s important for us to analyse the games without emotions and this is sometimes a little bit difficult after the games, but in any single game, even when we lost them, we were competitive.
[Like] when I talked about Newcastle-West Ham, we had situations to decide the game. I remember Wolves, after [going] 1-0 [up][, we had two big chances. We didn't score and it would have been maybe the same like West Ham did at Newcastle, scoring the second goal and getting the confidence and getting the win, but we didn't. And on the other side, then we conceded the goals too easily.
But we had many positive signals in those games and we were working, we were showing the players and yes, it’s step-by-step, but not so that we say: ‘no, everything is great.’ At Villa, we could have had many more situations to threaten them. We gave the ball away too easily in possession after winning the ball, very often after one, two passes, the ball was gone.
But I was proud because the circumstances, missing many star players and then coming with this team, with quite small numbers of players going to Villa and then playing with that confidence playing forward, scoring two goals there, this is what I was proud of.
“Justin gets all the credit”
I’m quite happy with him, but he gets all the credit because he's hard-working. He has the talent, and we encourage him to show it.
We give him into the structure and he played his second game in his second position, in a different position, because we were convinced that he can do this. What I really am pleased with is that he plays with confidence, not shy, showing himself, showing why he deserves to start.
This is all the credit to him. We just encouraged him. We talked to him. We integrated him into our training, but he has many skills, but on the other side, he’s at the beginning and now it's keep working. He's really working hard every day. As I mentioned, wih three games in seven days, he will get his minutes as well.
Of course we are all pleased here at Palace, and proud that we have now had three debuts in the Premier League with players from our academy. But again, it’s not my job to give the Academy players minutes and lose every game. My job is to win games with the team for Crystal Palace, and this is what we should do more, like we did in the last weeks.
I don’t care about how old someone is, or how long he is here. It is: ‘what do I see on the training pitch?’ And if a player gives us the confidence that he can help the team, he plays. This is what Justin did.
It's not a gift. He deserved it. So for me, it's just important who can help the team to win a game. And this is what he showed: that he's able to help the team, not just by scoring a goal and also how hard he was working.
We can’t say we have an attacking player and it's enough if he scores a goal. He has to work very hard in defending, and he was working very hard and then he got a little bit tired and we took him off the pitch. This is what’s decisive for us is just one answer to the question: can he help the team winning the game?
“Newcastle have a lot of pace”
They have a lot of pace. As I mentioned, it was Gordon, Isak, Barnes, it was [Joe] Willock from midfield, and also Longstaff and Joelinton. But they have have two patterns.
Sometimes they press you very high, looks like a man-to-man, and we also watched… there was one situation at Fulham where they lost 2-1, but they were 2-1 down and Schär won the ball in the opposite box. He followed his man up to the edge of the box in front of the Fulham goal, and he won the ball, and he just missed the goal, so sometimes they press very high, and sometimes they defend in a deep block and are always waiting for winning the ball and then using their pace.
But this was a little similar situation that we had at Villa. Sometimes they press you high, sometimes they play with a deep block and then waiting with [Morgan] Rogers, with Ollie Watkins and with [Leon] Bailey to threaten you. And to be honest, we struggled a little bit with these situations.
This is also what we showed the players: to be aware, because Isak has great movements. After winning the ball, he's always waiting for the runs in behind, and sometimes he runs in front of you. Sometimes he drops on your back and is waiting for this. He's just a fantastic player, a clever player with a lot of pace.
So our centre-halves have to be very focused and always concentrated. But the other side, it's just don’t give them the ball too easily. Be prepared, being in the best shape behind the ball, then it shouldn't be a big problem.
But this is what I mentioned: sometimes we give the ball away too easily and then we can get a problem.
“I love what Eddie Howe is doing there”
Great manager. I don't know any manager in the Premier League who didn't do a fantastic job. I think he’s showed this Newcastle the clear structure with how they play.
For me, the biggest credit I can give to a manager is when you see a clear structure with how they want to play. He demands a lot of runs in behind and playing very, very direct, very aggressive, and I love the way they are playing. I love what he's doing there.
“I’m very happy for him”
Ismaïla Sarr scored his first Premier League goal for Palace against Aston Villa last weekend, with Glasner saying in his embargoed press conference:
I'm very happy for him, especially because he had many situations to score a goal. I remember against Man United, or at Wolves.
For strikers, for attackers it's important to have confidence that you can score goals, and he was waiting for this goal and how he scored it, and how he assisted the second one, gave him confidence.
We could see it immediately the whole week, so he scored many goals this week, and it gave him confidence, so it's good to have a player with confidence, who believes in himself that he can score goals and help the team.
Match Details
- Palace v Newcastle
- Premier League
- Saturday, 30th November, 15:00 GMT
- Selhurst Park
- Live audio commentary on Palace TV+