Glasner on ambition, the Palace Academy & his coaching staff

First-team

23 Feb 2024

Oliver Glasner fielded questions from over a packed-out press room at the Crystal Palace Training Ground, ahead of his first press conference as a Premier League manager.

And even when the cameras were turned off at the end of his ‘live’ press conference to preview the visit of Burnley on Saturday – Glasner’s first game in charge of the Eagles – the questions continued to flow for the Austrian, who answered each them all diligently and thoughtfully.

Here are just a handful of his answers from the embargoed section…

On his ambitions for the club…

“I'm convinced that we can win many games this year in the Premier League. We have the organisation on the one side, and we have the players on the other side, so that we can be successful together. If I wouldn't have had this conviction, again, I wouldn't be here.

“In many talks with the Chairman and the Sporting Director, and in many games I watched, I got this conviction and then I said, ‘OK, it's great.’

“I was looking for a project to what we can improve. I'm so ambitious and I know myself quite well, so if I have this situation where I think we cannot improve anymore, I get impatient.

“When I was the manager at LASK, we got promoted and it was the first season in the Bundesliga. We were fourth and qualified for the Europa League. And everybody told us: ‘wow, cool, if we could repeat it next year…’

“I said ‘why repeat? We want to be better.’ ‘But yeah, the second year after promotion is much more difficult,’ they said. Why? I said: ‘no, we want to improve.’ Then we finished second and qualified for the Champions League.

“This is my thinking. I don't want to say just keep the level. I always try to improve.

“I think we have a great environment here at Palace, that this organisation, this club, is not at the end of its development. And so, this all together – great players, great owners, great chairman, and I think a great project – I said, ‘wow, yeah, it could be good.’

“And the fans, we have great fans. I have been at Selhurst Park already months ago, and there was a great atmosphere there. And our fans, the Crystal Palace fans, should be how they are, with all their power, with all their strengths.

“For me, the most important thing is success. Success to win games. And for success, we all have to work together.

“It's the most important thing. I'm convinced that on the pitch, the players, if they work together, we have the biggest chance for success. It's the same in the club.

“If we all work together, we all go the same way, we have the biggest chance to succeed. And if I feel we don't go the same way altogether, I think we don't have the biggest chance to succeed, and then we’d have to find a solution this way or that way.”

On leaders within Palace’s squad…

“With the players here, we have many players who are in the Premier League for several years: Jordan Ayew, for example, and JP Mateta.

“They know the Premier League better than I do, so I spoke with them and said: ‘trust in your qualities, I want you to lead the team on the pitch.’ Not just them, we have several: Joel Ward, the captain, and many players.

“And, of course, we also have new players like Adam Wharton and Daniel Muñoz, who have a great spirit, who also had a good impact in the last games. And this we want to fit together, to combine, to get the best of it.”

On adapting to high intensity football…

“I think it's important that intensity doesn't mean that we press them 90 minutes in their own box. You can play very intense with a lower block also.

“For example, when you win the ball and you try to, in your transition game, play vertical passes, to sprint into the space, this can be very intense, because when you play with a lower block, you have 50 metres to sprint, and this is very, very tough.

“But I think it's not possible to play that intense tomorrow [against Burnley], because the players are not used to playing like this, and I don't demand it from them – so again, this will be step by step. But yes, we want to, because this is what I like.

“I think it's what the fans like. The fans like to have this attacking here, attacking there. And yeah, we try to implement this.”

On the Crystal Palace Academy…

“It’s a new Academy – a very, very nice Academy. Of course, I think every club has the vision to bring players out of the Academy and then have them in your club. I was told that here in south London there are great talents and I could see some of them right now.

“This is also part of the club philosophy, because otherwise you shouldn't build such an Academy. As often as it's possible for me to watch an Under-21 or an Under-18 [match], I will watch the game.

“First of all, I like to see our talents and second, I like to watch football games. I hope that we have those players who we can have in our squad and they can play for the first-team.”

On what Glasner is most excited about after joining…

“Managing the first game at Selhurst. The first game [at a club] when you are a manager is always very exciting.

“I know in two years it will be the same feeling but not that emotional. It's always a little bit of excitement, but tomorrow you don’t know what will happen. Many question marks in your mind, but again, the situations are great.

“Great also for me, to challenge me, to develop myself. I'm excited for the game. I'm excited for Selhurst Park. I'm excited for our fans. I appreciate the whole situation.”

On his coaching staff…

It was announced earlier this week that Michael Angerschmid, Ronald Brunmayr and Emanuel Pogatetz would join Paddy McCarthy as assistant coaches, whilst Michael Berktold joined as fitness and conditioning coach, alongside Dean Kiely as goalkeeper coach.

“First, it's very important for all of us that Paddy stayed in the team because he knows the players better than we all do. He has also great experience here with Crystal Palace. He's worked before in the Academy and he's a great guy. It's important that he is in our team.

“The guys who came from Austria… Emmanuel Pogatetz, I was looking for an assistant who has experience with the Premier League. He played here for six or seven years.

“Also the player’s thinking is important, because you have the players in Austria with a different mentality than the players in Germany and then the players here in England. I already saw some specific topics, but he also has this experience. He's a coach and he's also a very great and direct guy.

“And the other three, we have one fitness coach [Michael Berktold]. I worked with him for almost six years in Linz [LASK] and then in Wolfsburg. He left Wolfsburg because of his family situation – it was COVID at that time and he asked me ‘I would like to go back to my family in this difficult situation’. Then he left us, but we were always in touch.

“He said it's also important when we want to increase the intensity of playing, that we increase the intensity of training. But we have to monitor it, because we cannot afford more injuries than we have. So I wanted to have a guy who is experienced with the way of training I'm used to doing.

“Michael and Ronald, they were with me in Frankfurt also. They're responsible for set pieces, set plays.

“Ronald was a former striker. He won the Golden Boot once in Austria, so he will work with our strikers on how they can move in the box, how they can improve their finishing.

“And there's also Dean, the goalkeeper coach who is here. He's also good for us. He tells us a lot of what’s happened until now.

“We all were convinced that we needed the experience of the guys who were already here, and we needed the experience of the guys who’ve worked with me together, and that we have the best situation to connect this.

“We don't have the time to say: ‘oh, we have six weeks’ pre-season, let's see how it works.’ Now, it's started.”

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