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Oliver Glasner comes across as one of the Premier League’s more measured managers, although sometimes he can’t help himself. When Daniel Muñoz scored Crystal Palace’s second goal at Craven Cottage on Saturday, the Austrian was one of the first to join the celebrations after sprinting down the touchline and was handed a yellow card for his efforts. It was the second time Glasner has been cautioned for the same offence after the Colombia defender’s late equaliser against Newcastle in November sparked similar scenes.
“I try to be quite controlled but to be honest I don’t always find the midway point,” said Glasner, who marked the first anniversary of his appointment with a fourth straight Premier League away victory. “I like these emotions and I think it’s one of the main reasons that I like being a manager because you get all these emotions sometimes within a game. You can go from marriage to divorce three times in the same game … I hope that I will never have that in life – I’m married only once and I’m pretty sure and happy that it will last for my whole life!”
The past 12 months have also been a rollercoaster of emotions for Glasner since he replaced Roy Hodgson. Palace began this campaign without winning any of their opening eight matches having rounded off last season in spectacular style with six wins (and 21 goals) in seven matches to secure only their second top-10 finish in the Premier League. But after the shaky start, Muñoz – bought for only €8m (£6.6m) from Genk a few weeks before Glasner arrived – and the summer signings Maxence Lacroix, who played under Glasner at Wolfsburg, and Ismaïla Sarr are thriving in a well-drilled 3-4-2-1 system.
Only four teams have taken more points from the past 17 games than Palace’s 30 and Glasner’s side have eased into the more comfortable surroundings of mid-table. No wonder Glasner, whose 44% win percentage is the highest of any Palace manager leading the team solely in the top flight, talks about the strength of spirit and character that has developed among his squad.
“How you feel this emotional connection … first of all you have to feel welcome otherwise you are never open for such a relationship,” he said. “From day No 1 I felt welcome within the club and with our supporters. At the end of the season it’s easy to have an emotional relationship – winning every game, it’s flowers in 1969 at Woodstock. Everything is happy, nice and great. But the real importance is when you go through tough times. And we had tough times at the beginning [of this season] but we could always feel the connection with our fans. This is what really helps because you know even if I or we are struggling, we can count on them. This feeling just encouraged all these emotions and I really feel welcome, which is the best thing we all can have.”
In Jean-Philippe Mateta, he has a striker in deadly form as Palace prepare to host Aston Villa on Tuesday night before a much-anticipated showdown with their local rivals Millwall in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday. The Frenchman has scored 25 goals in 39 matches under Glasner, including five in Palace’s past four away league games. The team have not conceded an away goal since losing at Arsenal in the middle of December – a run of six matches in all competitions.
It has been a different story at home, where Palace have recorded only two Premier League wins: against Tottenham to record a first victory of the season in October and against the bottom side Southampton at the end of December. They managed eight last season and picked up 28 points in total, including a record-matching 5-0 thrashing of Villa on the final day.
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“The players always have confidence at home, but it’s more the pressure they feel, that we have to win at home,” Glasner said. “I remember when I arrived one year ago it was always conceding late goals, [people saying] that the team was not fit. But I said then it was up to us to change it, we have to work on it and that’s what we did. I think the more you focus on the result, the more you lose your focus on what you need to get a good result. It’s up to us to change it.”
He added: “Our approach and preparation has been the same but I know the players want to celebrate with our fans at Selhurst. Sometimes the more you want something, the further it goes away. You have to let good things come and you can’t grab at them.”
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