‘If I ever say this, I will retire!’: Glasner rallies troops pre-Man City

First-team

5 Feb 2024

Oliver Glasner reminded his Crystal Palace players that they go into every game demanding to take three points no matter the opposition, ahead of the visit of champions Manchester City to Selhurst Park.

Speaking during the embargoed section of his pre-match press conference, the manager rejected the idea of setting a points tally for the season, as he updated on Michael Olise, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Matheus França and more.

To hear more from the manager, click here for the key quotes from his main press conference, and here for his team news updates.

On setting targets…

“Five points from seven games? When I say this, I retire! When we have seven games, I want 21 points. Of course we go for winning games.

“If we don’t want to win tomorrow, it’s better I stay with my family, enjoying the nice weather in London. It should be 21 degrees tomorrow, going outside, hop-on, hop-off, it’s brilliant.

“If you say it's okay when you lose tomorrow, I do this. We are competitors. We want to win the game and we do everything to win the game. If I don't have this passion to win every single game, I retire.

“I don't like to say: ‘Ah, it's Man City’. We have respect, they play excellent. I was impressed by their performance against Aston Villa. I'm really impressed of Pep Guardiola, what he did over the last seven, eight years in Man City and also before. I could see him working in Munich and before.

“But that doesn't mean that we run in with the white flag tomorrow and say: ‘Wow, congratulations for the 3-0’ before the game. I never will do this. I can't do this.

“We go tomorrow to win the game. We know it will be hard working for us. A lot of running, a lot of focus, a lot of concentration. But believing in our situations, believing in our moments. This is what I want to feel.

“Then we say, maybe at the end we congratulate them. But then they deserve it, but never before the game.”

On Olise role…

“I don't want that we have a team where we depend on one player, because it always gives you a bad feeling if he's not on the pitch.

“He's an important player with a lot of qualities, but it's also very important that he fits into the team, he connects with all the other players, because we cannot say: ‘OK, Michael, do whatever you want’

“So it's always a teamwork, and now it's just one week with us, the only real practice as a team was today. [We want] he understands what we want, how we want to play, and where he can bring in his qualities for the team.

“It's not that dribbling over five players and losing the ball, it's how we can score goals, how we defend as a team.

“Of course, we want to use his strengths, his qualities for our game, but it's also important that Michael works with the team in every phase of the game.

“You can see it, you don't have to watch many games, you see immediately his qualities, but also it's important is that he's had 11 games until now, and we are in April, so we need him also fit for a longer period.

“I think it's a big responsibility of us and him to stay fit, you can't perform on your best level when you are three quarters of a year you are injured. It's not possible in no sports.

“So I think that he can improve and he can show his quality for the whole season. It's also a big responsibility for us to keep him fit, to keep him in shape, and this is what we are working on.”

On beating title-contenders…

“It's not too easy to compare your former clubs, but maybe it's a little bit when we played with Frankfurt against Barcelona, because Barcelona played with Xavi in a similar style.

“Of course, Xavi worked many years very successfully with Pep Guardiola as a player, so maybe it was similar. We were the underdog, but we could win the duel all the way to play two games.

“But what happened two years ago, with another team and to another team has no influence on tomorrow.

Match action: Manchester City 2-2 Crystal Palace

“Crystal Palace showed it in the first game at Man City that they are able to get the point, and we also told the players and showed them that they are able to score goals at Man City.

“To have this confidence, this belief, this is the first [thing]. You have to believe in it. If you don't believe in it you can never reach it, so this was the message.”

On stopping Haaland…

“It's not possible to defend him in one-v-one situations, because he's strong, he's fast, and we have to avoid as many free passes to him where he can have these runs, because when he's once in running, with his power, with his speed, it's difficult to defend him.

“But yes, we think we have a plan of how we can avoid as many situations as possible. But they will have their moments, because they have their moments against every team.

“I think also Villa had a good plan, but they had their moments, and we will need a fantastic keeper with Dean [Henderson] maybe to have two or three big saves, we will need this.

“We have to perform on our best level, then it's possible to get a point or even to win against Man City, and this is the focus.

“That's why I always say we focus on us, because I know if we don't perform on our best level, we can't win.”

On injured players…

“[Matheus França] started running and then being back on the grass, but I can't tell you when he will be back. We work with him, he works, but we don't know it exactly.

“[Jes Rak-Sakyi] also is similar because he was injured at the same time as Michael. We can’t put two players on the bench with 15 to 20 minutes to play, so we decided that Michael will be the one for these 15 to 20 minutes and Jes is still working on his condition and his shape, because they are in the same situation.

“[Jairo Riedewald] should join us in training next week, so then he can be an option at Liverpool.”

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