- Media pressure on Palace is becoming insulting
- Arsenal’s title charge is of no concern to Palace
- A huge final to focus on
The main talking point of the majority of Oliver Glasner’s recent press conferences has been surrounding team selection, with the Eagles facing both Manchester City and Arsenal in their final three league games of the season.
With the title race looking likely to go to the final day, depending on what happens in each of City and Arsenal’s games this midweek, Palace will ultimately play a key role in where the title ends up.
Arsenal face Burnley at the Emirates tonight [Monday 18th] and City play Bournemouth at the Vitality on Tuesday [19th].
If both win, Sunday’s clash at Selhurst Park will be decisive in the crowning of this season’s Champions, but is a decisive role the one Palace wish to play?
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Media pressure on Glasner
It feels as though there has been significant pressure on Oliver Glasner to get a win on the final day against Arsenal and potentially prevent them from winning the league.
Almost every interview has included numerous questions about his supposed approach to the game, whether or not he’ll go full strength and almost felt like he is under more pressure to win from the media than he is from Palace fans.
In recent weeks there has clearly been pre-planned substitutions, managed minutes and an evident level of care taken over play fitness.
In Sunday’s match against Brentford, both Maxence Lacroix and Chadi Riad were withdrawn with injuries. Chris Richards was also injured, twisting his ankle, but played on through the pain after replacing Lacroix in the 60th minute.
Once again in the post match interviews, the focus was purely on how those injuries may impact the game against Arsenal, and not about how it could halter Palace’s preparation for a European final.
This time, speaking to BBC Match of the Day, here’s what Glasner had to say.
“I will play the strongest team against Arsenal”, Glasner began. “We do it for us, we don’t do it for City and we don’t do it for anyone else.”
This has been the same line pedalled by the Austrian coach ever since the media attempted to force his hand, with Glasner even joking that neither Manchester City or Arsenal appeared on his payslip.
“We do it for Crystal Palace and we do it for our fans. It’s the last game at Selhurst, they deserve to see a top performance. This is what we want to show against Arsenal and of course we will manage the minutes a little bit.”
What should Glasner do?
In simple terms, Oliver Glasner should do what suits him and Crystal Palace, as he has reiterated on numerous occasions now.
The media will of course be focused on the title race, but it is certainly reflective of their approach to the game when there has been next to no thought given to Palace’s position, with a final on the horizon.
Why would Oliver Glasner, manager of Crystal Palace, who has no history with either Arsenal or City, be bothered which way the pendulum swings in yet another title race involving the Manchester Club?
And yet, the only questions he has been asked by the supposedly ‘neutral’ reporters focus on this game and its importance – to Arsenal.
Glasner should continue to do what he has done all season. Manage the team and aim for a win.
In recent weeks a new approach of managing minutes and pre-planning substitutions has emerged, and so he should also stick to that.
Palace should only ever prioritise themselves.
Risking injury in an attempt to appease the wider footballing world would be nonsensical ahead of the club’s biggest game in its history.
Whatever happens at Selhurst Park on Sunday will happen, but it will only be a precursor to Wednesday the 27th of May, when Palace travel to Leipzig to face Rayo Vellacano.
