Glasner: We showed that we can compete with any team
Oliver Glasner says Crystal Palace’s comprehensive display in Sunday’s 2-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur showed that the Eagles can compete with any team in the world.
Palace could scarcely have provided a more convincing performance in their last match before the FA Cup Final at Wembley, dominating from the start at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – and securing three points through Ebere Eze’s well-taken brace.
Recording 23 shots throughout – 10 of which were on target – against the Europa League finalists, Palace could have been out of sight by half-time, but nevertheless went on to record a historic first-ever league double over Tottenham with relative comfort.
“Credit to the players and how they dealt with this situation,” Glasner told Palace TV. “The energy level they showed from the beginning, it was a very good performance, especially in the first-half.
“The only thing we can be self-critical about is that we didn't decide the game until half-time, because I think it should have been at least 3-0 or 4-0. But this sometimes can happen and it's important to keep calm and wait for the next situation. This is what we did.
“After the 2-0, to be honest, I think the last 20 minutes we were a little bit sloppy in our positioning, in our passing. We gave them too many situations. It's understandable, but it just showed, and it was evidence that, if we perform on our top level, then we are very competitive against any team in the world.
“But if we reduce it by three, four, five percent, then it's an even game and anything can happen – so this is a good message to learn from today.”
Tottenham made eight changes from the side which started their Europa League semi-final win over Bodø/Glimt on Thursday evening – but Glasner outlined that Ange Postecoglou’s full squad will still have been drilled with the same methods.
“We didn't know what they would be doing in their attack,” Glasner said. “Then [Dejan] Kulusevski started as a striker, but then he was injured. But we expected the back four. Also here, we expected Archie Gray as a right full-back and not Pedro Porro.
“So at the end, it's like when we play, you can make a few changes, but the style of playing will be the same. This is what you train daily with the players, so it's just to use the space they are offering. It's just to defend very, very compact and very concentrated, very aggressive.
“When we do this, and this is what we showed, then we can really perform on a very high level, especially in the first-half, creating so many chances. Because they play a very high line, we knew when we find the runners on the opposite side, then we will have our chances and this is how we score the goals. So really, good performance.”
Palace head into the FA Cup Final unbeaten in their last five matches and having now recorded – for a second season in a row – a club-record 49 Premier League points, but this time with two matches left to play.
Glasner said: “We spoke really quite often. We didn't speak about the Final and about City, but we spoke about our preparation, and the best preparation is confidence, because we can't change our way of playing. Within four or five days, it's just impossible.
“And when you get results, when you get performances, when you always see we can score goals, we can create chances, we can have a clean sheet now again, this gives us confidence and belief for the Final.
“This is the best preparation we can have at the moment. Everything worked how we wanted it, and now it's to prepare in the best way, and this is what we will do.”
A memorable day in the sunshine yielded plenty of loud support for the Eagles’ supporters, and Glasner smiled: “The atmosphere at Wembley will be better – half the stadium will be Crystal Palace supporters, so I'm really looking forward to it!
“I really hope that all our fans had sun protection today, because they were the whole time in the sun, and it was really warm in the sun! So, yeah, it's our fans, we can always count on them.
“I think they can count on the team that they always have 100 per cent effort. Great connection, great game for them, and I think everybody who is close to Crystal Palace is now looking forward to Wembley.
“We will have the same effort, the same commitment like today – and then let's see what goes on there.”