- Glasner makes priotities clear
- Palace limp to Bournemouth loss
- Manager’s thoughts on loss
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has shared his thoughts on his side’s 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth. A heavily rotated side struggled to compete with the side chasing down European football. Despite the scoreline, only one of the Cherries’ three goals were scored from open play.
Bournemouth took the lead when Jefferson Lerma, who played there for five years, swung a lazy leg at a dropping ball in the box, accidentally converting beyond Henderson. The Palace ‘keeper then dropped a simple catch and was deemed to have fouled Marco Senesi, despite there being clear evidence that no contact was made. Penalty, goal, Kroupi scoring his third of the season against Palace.
A mass of changes at half time saw improvement for Palace, but despite coming close to scoring, it was Bournemouth who found the net next, Rayan rounding off a convincing win for Andoni Iraola’s side.
Glasner excuses performance
In his post-match press conference, a calm Oliver Glasner explained what went wrong for his side. “I think today the tank was empty,” he began. “[the] players tried and again I think the second half was much better, but in the first it was just too much, we couldn’t get the turnaround from Thursday evening.”
Palace have struggled all season in Premier League games following European fixtures, especially when the Eagles are having to travel to the continent to play those games.
“We made so many easy mistakes. It’s not about blaming anybody because we can see it throughout [the teams playing in] Europe.”
Whilst Palace’s performance lacked control and intensity, it’s fair to say that Bournemouth were good value for their win. Iraola’s side didn’t particularly play outstandingly, but they didn’t have to.
Priorities now decided
Despite the claims from both Chris Richards and Glasner in recent weeks that the focus was to achieve success in both the Premier League and in Europe, it is fair to say that that mindset has certainly changed.
After a 3-1 win in the first leg over Shakhtar Donetsk, Palace are now in a position of power going into Thursday’s game, and have a huge chance to qualify for the final.
“The focus and concentration was not on the Premier League level,” Glasner confirmed. “Now it’s about recovering and preparing for Thursday, because this is the biggest match in the club’s history and we want to be ready.”
After the loss at Bournemouth, the likelihood of Palace qualifying for Europe via the league table is essentially non-existent, now eight points behind Brentford in 7th, Palace languishing in 15th position.
In another season there may be anxiety about the relegation zone, but with West Ham and Spurs well adrift, Palace can afford to sacrifice the Premier League in order to go all in on the Europa Conference League and aim to lift another trophy.
