Glasner's view on Academy graduates & Conference League play-off
Oliver Glasner said of a youthful Crystal Palace side’s display against KuPS Kuopio on Thursday evening: “I'm really pleased with the performance – especially of the young players.”
The Eagles named a fully-changed XI for the visit of the Finnish champions in our final UEFA Conference League league phase game, with four Academy graduates involved from the start, three of them making their senior footballing debuts – the XI amounting to Palace’s youngest since 1982.
But despite being on top for the majority of the match, Palace were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw after two quickfire goals for the visitors shortly after the break, despite strikes from Christantus Uche and Justin Devenny and a late red card for KuPS.
The result means Palace must now play a two-legged play-off in February against either HŠK Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia and Herzegovina, or SK Sigma Olomouc from Czech Republic.
All four players showed up and played with confidence
—Oliver Glasner
Glasner said of Palace’s young players: “I think all four did really well. Dean [Benamar], excellent game, but after 60 minutes cramping, so we had to take him off. This was the only sub that was not planned, but we know he came back from an injury.
“I think George King played a very consistent game, good in the build-up, making no mistakes, solid in defence.
“For me, Kaden Rodney played very well in the six, so he was also good in the pressing, but also in possession. He switched the side a few times, playing good passes, and [Joel] Drakes-Thomas right at the end, he took responsibility, created a few chances by crosses, by finishes – he's just 16 and Dean is 17.
“He [Drakes-Thomas] deserved it. He didn't really train often with us, but then he did and I like his confidence. That's what I really love for young players. He has a nice personality and I like it if they take responsibility and if they do, just do, then you make a few mistakes, it's part of it. I like the way he played today.
“I think all four players showed up and played with confidence. Again, if we have one training session together, we can't expect that everything is perfect, but they showed that they are big talents.”
The Manager said of the result, and subsequent league phase placing of 10th: “The result is not what we wanted and I think this was a game we could have easily won.
“For 10 minutes, we lost our structure and then we were punished with two mistakes. But this can happen, especially with many young players, but I think we played a very good first-half.
“Lots of credit to every single player, especially to our Academy players. I think they showed very good performances. We could see that they are not used to playing at this level because all four were cramping, starting after 60 minutes, but I think they showed very good performances.
“It looks like in the Conference League it's very often the same story, like with the Larnaca game at home: creating chances and missing and missing, not deciding the game, and then making one mistake. Jaydee [Canvot] made one against AEK Larnaca, we got punished. Today we made two and we got punished, so three finishes [for KuPS], scoring two goals.
“That's a little bit the story, especially for our Conference League games. Let's take the tough pathway: after demotion, playing two qualification rounds in August, now we'll play two more games in February, so the fans can travel to another country.
“It's February. There will be a few players back. Today, we had a few players who said, ‘Gaffer, we have three games in five days, I can play every game for 90 minutes.’ I said, ‘calm down’. It just shows the character of this team.
“Yes, we would have preferred to win, but everything else, we calculated this risk of maybe getting a draw, but everything else worked how we planned it. We could rest a few players.
“The only thing that I don't like is Leeds now knows our starting line-up already, because we have just 11 players who did not start – so when I mentioned nobody will start in both games, that's the only thing I don't like tonight, but [Leeds manager] Daniel Farke will know it now!”