Oliver Glasner says Crystal Palace's biggest challenge on Wednesday will be to replicate their recent level of performance against a high-quality opponent like Newcastle.
With Palace arguably producing their best football of the season in Sunday's 5-2 win over West Ham, Glasner has called on his players to continue enjoying their football, as they so clearly did in the impressive victory.
Read on below for his full pre-match thoughts...
For Glasner's pre-match team news updates on Adam Wharton and Rob Holding, please click here.
We analysed the game on Monday and showed the players some clips, what we did really well, but also making them aware that we have to be focused and concentrated all of the time.
I think we defended very well, but we gave them, especially in the first-half, the goal and also the chance before, too easily, because maybe we didn't have the focus on their set-plays, we felt too safe after having a 4-0 lead, but it's important.
We could see in the evening when Man United were 3-0 up [against Coventry] until the 70th minute, and then it was extra-time, so it's always be focused and concentrated, and this was also a message.
Of course we played really well, we showed many, many, positive things, and that's what we want to do again, so we want to repeat it against Newcastle tomorrow evening.
It was a nice situation in an all-or-nothing game – you can go all-in and then sometimes it happens that you have an equaliser in the 95th minute – but it's also what happened in the Premier League. I think it was Bournemouth at home against Luton, they were 3-0 down at half-time and won 4-3.
So always play your game, because it makes it much more fun playing like we did for most of the minutes against West Ham, when we controlled the ball, when we had possession, when we moved the ball quick, when we defended very aggressively, and made a lot of pressure. It makes much more fun than running after the ball and always running behind the opponent.
This should be the goal: that we control the game when we are in possession, and that we control the game when we are out of possession, and this is always a focus of very hard work.
We showed the players, because if you want to repeat something, it's always good that you know what you have to do, and this is the process we are in, but I have a very good feeling.
We had a very short but really good training session today, and the players look to be ready, quick legs. I had fun, enjoyed the training and this is what we want to see tomorrow.
It's always the same: try to get pressure on the ball, don't give them the time, don't give them the opportunity to make the runs in behind.
[Alexander] Isak is always on the jump for running in behind. Anthony Gordon, Harvey Barnes and then midfield, Sean Longstaff, make a lot of runs and are very dangerous, but to control it, we know what they want to do, and it's again up to us to be ready, to be focused so that we are not surprised by what they do, so that we can anticipate what they are doing.
But it's as important what we are doing in our position, that we move the ball quick, that we create chances, that we force them to defend very well.
Also as a team, that means when they have all the players back, it gives us a chance to create, but also be always in a good balance, that we shouldn't give them transitions, because they have really quick players, so it will be a very demanding game, but it's a good challenge and we are looking forward to it.
They’re fighting for the European places in the league, so they need to be in the top six in the Premier League.
Of course they suffered from injuries, and they played for the first time for many years in the Champions League, so you have this rhythm every three days.
Also these highlight games, and it's new for many players for them, and it's not physically, I think, it's also mentally – they have these highlight games. I experienced it with my team. It’s not that easy.
When we speak about Liverpool, Man City, they have players who’ve played the Champions League every three days for ten years, so they are used to it, but for many Newcastle players it was new, and to find the balance.
In the Premier League, every game is tough to win, and then they suffer from injuries, and maybe that's the result. But again, they are top six in the Premier League, so I think they’ve played a good season.
Usually I'm a friend of VAR, because I think we have more right decisions.
I'm a big friend of transparency, so I think what we all want is that we get clear decisions on the pitch, but if we have the opportunity to use the VAR, let's use it. It's a technical improvement we all decided to get, so if we have the opportunity let’s use it.
Of course, it shouldn't be every five minutes, but there are just a few situations where it can intervene, with the penalty, with the red card, when you score a goal, or offside, so it's just four cases where the VAR is allowed to intervene.
I'm a friend of it, but I don't want to judge what happened at Everton, because we had our game against West Ham, so this is our topic.
Yes, because we always saw the quality of the players, we always saw – [albeit] not before we arrived – the character of the players.
As soon as we arrived from the first day, we could see their good working mentality, their attitude. Many injured players are back. I don't think that they are at their top level. It can't work – so if you're out for two, three, four months, you can't be at your top level after two weeks – but it's important to have the players back.
The spirit we created in the whole club. I can feel, together with our fans, a lot of positivity and a lot of good spirit, looking forward to the games, looking forward also to work hard.
And not just the players, I can see it in the whole staff, I can feel it in the whole club. It's very ambitious and working hard to be successful, and I think it's very important to have an ambitious environment where everybody gives their best to be successful.
It's not the time now to talk about next season. We have still five games to play, so we want to get as many points as possible, and to improve our way of playing, to get it clearer and clearer for the players, to get used to playing at that high level.
Also physically, the players against West Ham were with more than 60% possession, we were running more, we were sprinting more, we had higher intensity in the game, so we are on a really good pathway, but next season starts in four months, so let's ensure we have many sunny days until then.
