The reaction round-up as Palace book play-off path

First-team

19 Dec 2025

Further reaction from Thursday night's thrilling draw with KuPS Kuopio – as a youthful Palace side hit back to seal a UEFA Conference League play-off place...

Goalscorer Justin Devenny, speaking to UEFA:

“We work on them [attacking patterns] every day so I know where I needed to be [for the goal].

“I think I got one later, which I didn't score, but again, for me it was about getting in the right positions.

“I would have liked to have scored another one, but these things happen. Again, for me, if I miss, if I score, then it's just done, and then I’m on to the next one.

“I just seen him [Tyrick Mitchell] lift his head and I had to make that run.

“I think all young lads can walk away with a head held high. I thought every single one of them was brilliant tonight.

“They were ready, they drove the standards. You saw that they played with confidence, which is what we asked for.

“As much as we might be doing it the hard way, there's two extra games for us… you can look at it any way you want. But the way I look at it is, there's two more games that we can go and win.

“Two more games that I can hopefully stamp my authority on. For everyone in the team, it's about driving that standards.

“It doesn't matter when we play, who we play. We're going to be ready and we're going to turn up.”

Wing-back Borna Sosa:

“I think it was a good performance in the end. Of course, it was not the result we wanted, but we still have a second chance to play for and if we have to do it in the harder way, we will go and do it that way.

“But I think we have a lot of positive things to grab from the game as well, especially the young lads that played for the first time for us today.

“This [having to play the play-off] is part of football sometimes. It doesn't go the way you want. So we will take the two games and win.

“We know that in England, this part of the season is the toughest one and most games are in this part of the month… December, January.

“So we're used to it and I think we have a good spirit in the team to perform in all the games as best as possible.”

Quote Icons

We will take the two games and win
—Borna Sosa

Oliver Glasner, speaking to TNT Sports:

“It was a good game, the first-half was very good. I’m very pleased with the youngsters, we lost a little bit of structure for 10 minutes.

"We wanted to win and go straight into the Round of 16. I know this can happen, we accept it.

“But again especially with the young players we can see what they need, all four Under-21 players got cramp tonight."

Former Palace skipper Joel Ward, speaking to TNT Sports:

“I think regardless of those two extra [play-off] games they have to face, Oliver Glasner will proud of the group tonight, especially the players making their debuts, and how they're managing the load.

“He'll be happy with the group’s professionalism and attitude.

“These two extra games are just another challenge, and Glasner is not one to shy away from that. They are meticulous in the way that they prepare things.”

Former England defender Joleon Lescott, speaking to TNT Sports:

“I think it's positive overall for Palace.

“When they analyse the game they will look back at what they have achieved as a whole. They are still in the competition and have opportunities to progress.

“[Oliver] Glasner will have learned that he can trust these players now. They've got Macclesfield away in the FA Cup [in the New Year], the play-offs in this competition, maybe they can play in those games and give some of the experienced players a rest?

“He learned more about personalities rather than just performances tonight.”

Oliver reflects on solid european perfomance

Related News

More News