- Crystal Palace drew 2-2 vs Everton
- Oliver Glasner pleased with performance
- Austrian highlighted rotation
Oliver Glasner was thrilled with the resilience shown from his players in yesterday’s 2-2 draw between Crystal Palace and Everton. An entertaining affair saw both sides settle on a point at Selhurst Park.
The visitors opened the scoring in the sixth minute through James Tarkowski who arrived at the back post. But Ismaila Sarr drew Palace level in the 34th minute with a superb strike to take his tally for the season to 20 goals.
Everton were back in front in the 47th minute when Beto did well to shake off Maxence Lacroix and find the net. Jean-Philippe Mateta came off the bench and scored the equaliser in the 77th minute.
‘Makes me Proud’ – Glasner on Everton Draw
Palace’s drew all but confirmed Premier League safety as they now sit on 44 points from 35 games. No team in top-flight history has been relegated with as many points.
Glasner took charge of his penultimate home game ahead of his departure in June. The Austrian spoke proudly of his team’s display (via club website):
“The game today makes me very proud, to be honest, because being twice down after a few minutes, after the start and after half-time, coming back and the way we came back… The way we played, especially the last 30 minutes, the pressure we had, it felt like Everton had just played three days ago and we looked so fresh.”
Palace came into the game just days after reaching a first-ever European final. The Eagles beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 (5-2 on aggregate) in the UEFA Conference League semi-finals.
Glasner added:
“We looked so determined and really what I like was that it’s not that we wanted to get the point– we tried to win the game and create the chances. The way we played was really amazing to watch and that makes me proud.”
Palace have three more league games before their Conference League final against Rayo Vallecano on May 27th. Next up is a trip to the Etihad to face Pep Guardiola’s title-chasing Manchester City on Wednesday (May 13th).
‘Always Fresh’ – Glasner on Rotation
Mateta started the win over Shakhtar midweek and dropped to the bench to allow Jorgen Strand Larsen to lead the line. The roles were reversed in the first leg of the Conference League semi-final as the Norweigan came off the bench to score in a 3-1 win in Krakow, Poland.
Glasner alluded to this when talking up rotation:
“We always can see that even if we don’t make many substitutions, we always have a great impact. It’s visa versa today. JP scored, and at Shakhtar, Jørgen Strand Larsen scored. Now we have the 60-30 [minutes] rotation with them. They’re always fresh and always willing to score, and all the others the same.”
Glasner surprised a few after making just two changes to the side that beat Shakhtar. Strand Larsen and Brennan Johnson replaced Mateta and Yeremy Pino.
With a Conference League final on the horizon it is expected that Glasner will heavily rotate in the final three games. The game against Everton might have been the final time the Austrian opts to go with mostly his strongest team.
