Glasner on points targets, team focus & Manchester City

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Oliver Glasner says his Crystal Palace players will be giving everything in their final three Premier League matches of the season to reach at least 50 Premier League points.

The Eagles confirmed their Premier League status with a fully deserved point in an entertaining 2-2 draw with Everton at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon, and now have three league games with which to finish as high as possible in the table.

That busy run-in starts with a trip to title challengers Manchester City on Wednesday evening, with Glasner discussing the importance of a positive performance at the Etihad in the build-up to Palace’s first-ever European final in Leipzig in two weeks’ time.

Read on below for the key quotes from the Manager’s pre-match press conference…

Pre-match Press Conference | Manchester City (A)

Quote Icons

We are playing to improve, we are playing to raise our standards
—Oliver Glasner

On having guaranteed Premier League status next season…

Now it's mathematically done and that is as always the foundation, staying in the league. But nothing changes to be honest, because while we are in the final weeks, we still want to improve our game, we want to do better, we want to show the best of how we can play.

This is the standard we created here at the training ground: we are not just playing for results, we are playing to improve, we are playing to raise our standards, we are playing to see the best of every player and to see the best of the Crystal Palace team.

I think that's more important than just the points.

On Palace’s focus in the final three Premier League matches…

We’ve started now watching Rayo Vallecano. I will also go to Valencia and see them live on Thursday, but in day-to-day work, zero [effect] to be honest.

The total focus was on our team. Our goal was recovery. It will be our 57th game of the season, and it's just now having a quick turnaround, because it's the third game within six days, and of course preparing for Man City, and showing the players today how they play – such attacking football, it's incredible. But on the other side also, showing them where we can find our chances and to score against them.

We had a very tough defeat at home [in December] when we lost 3-0. We were much better than the result showed, and now we want to do better, we want to be more efficient, we believe a couple of chances, but of course the big challenge is to control their attack, because Doku is in incredible shape right now, scoring, getting assists… Haaland, we don't need to talk about him, Semenyo, Cherki, there are so many attacking players, Mahmoud.

This is what we will have to control first, but then we believe we will find our spaces to score.

On targets for the remaining games…

Palace set a new club record for Premier League points in a season in 24/25, with 53 – a total they could mathematically still match this season if they secure three wins from their remaining three games…

It would be nice if we had, at least for the second consecutive time, a five in front of the points, because this would mean at least the second best season, and playing 50 per cent more games.

44 points, this is more or less the average in the last seven or eight years of the Crystal Palace points, but playing 50 per cent more games. Playing now, having a European Final ahead, so again, this group of players deserve any credit.

How hard they are working, how committed they are, and how they deal with some setbacks, which we definitely had during the season, and being now at the end of the season in this fantastic situation, being able to play or equal the club’s best Premier League season, or let's say playing the second best season ever regarding the points, playing a European final, they deserve everything.

I don’t think [about the title race]. If we get a point, we can't equal our points records, so that's what we are looking at. But this point can help us get the five in front [of our points tally], so this is our approach.

I'm always very honest with the players. As I said, we have now two-and-a-half weeks to go for our big game. The biggest game we have to play right now will be the final. And what are we doing with the three Premier League games in between?

I just told them my experience is that it's not possible to switch off now for two weeks and then switch on two days before the final. It's just not possible.

Everyone, especially the players, invested so much to get this turnaround after really tough weeks and months in December and January, and we would be really stupid if we throw this away by just now dropping our focus and being laid back and all this stuff.

That’s why we go to City and it’s the same. I said exactly the same to the players today: if you don't want to win tomorrow, let me know, because then we will stay in London and enjoy the lovely sunny weather. It makes no sense making a very long day trip, but they all said: ‘no, we want to go there, show our best performance and, of course, we want to win.’

We know how challenging this will be, because City, they didn't lose for 13 games now in the Premier League. I don't know how long they are unbeaten at home, so it is very challenging, but that's the only reason we go to Manchester tomorrow.

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I’m always telling the players your performance gets you into the team or gets you out of the team
—Oliver Glasner

On whether any players could play their way into his starting XI…

Yes, it can always be [the case].

It's really funny, but also a true story: when we played the FA Cup semi-final against Villa, we played three days before at the Emirates and I made just one change and I started Daichi Kamada, and at the time it was more Will Hughes or Jeff Lerma who started next to Adam Wharton – but I felt giving them a little bit of rest, they're not so young anymore!

And all of a sudden, Daichi Kamada was the best player against Arsenal. We drew 2-2 there. And then I changed my mind because I already had in my mind starting Will or Jeff against Aston Villa.

And then on Friday, I said: ‘no, it's unfair.’ I’m always telling the players your performance gets you into the team or gets you out of the team. It's just the performance, nothing else. And if a player was the best in the game before, he deserves to start again.

Daichi Kamada started. And from this moment, he was in the team and doing incredibly well. And every player has the chance in every game, to be honest now, because we don't really train a lot – it's difficult to show up in training, but in games – and we also know that we can't end the season successfully and especially win the final. It's not possible to win it with 11 players, so everything can happen.

It could be in extra-time. I had this – extra-time and penalty shootout – so then usually you have maybe six substitutions. That means you need at least 16 outfield who play.

And now it’s getting everybody into a situation where he can be his best version at the Final. Of course, that means giving a few players maybe a few more minutes to show up or to get back into a rhythm. But on the other side, to keep the players in a rhythm who are doing really well, for example, like Ismaïla [Sarr] and at the back Maxence [Lacroix], who’s played , I don't know, played 52 games already.

This is how we want to deal with these three Premier League games: always nominating the best available players for these games, but also, of course, managing the minutes better, not just for these games, but also for the other games. For example, I made two substitutions against Everton, but now I really plan to have always five substitutions, earlier substitutions, so that we can split the minutes among the players.

On managing against Pep Guardiola…

I'm always enjoying playing games against great teams and against great managers. You can always learn a lot from it. But on the other side, it's not just playing against them, it's also winning against them. Fortunately, we could do it in a very important game!

It was the only win, to be honest, and I was quite open to all the players: we have to do better in our defence. We always have a lot of chances against them. The only game we won, I think, we had the least chances in all the games – this was the FA Cup final. We were very efficient and they were completely the opposite.

In the other games, I remember when we were 2-0 up there, scoring a 3-0, it was disallowed due to offsid, and then we lost 5-2. We conceded three in the last game. We’ve conceded 5 there. We drew 2-2 once. We had a 4-2, so we always conceded too many goals.

I think the reason is because we played too open and if they get space, and if their attacking players get space, you can't defend them. No defender in the world can defend Jeremy Doku, Semenyo in a 1v1 being exposed. It's not possible.

But together, if we support each other, if we keep the distances short between us, then it's possible to defend against these world-class players. And also then, and this is how City are playing, they're having many players in their attack, and you could see some clips where they had seven players in the box.

That means you have three players outside the box, and this is a chance as well, but we have to control their world-class attack first and then we'll get our chances.

Match Details

Manchester City v Crystal Palace

Wednesday, 13th May
20:00 BST
Premier League
Etihad Stadium
Live audio commentary on Palace TV+

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