6 days Ago By Michael Hincks
A handful of Premier League clubs have chosen to stick, it would appear, with the option to twist during this international break yet to be taken. The fact Crystal Palace , Southampton , West Ham and Wolves have not acted halfway into this fortnight suggests their managers will live to fight at least another gameweek. For Oliver Glasner, that means a trip to Aston Villa is in the offing on Saturday as he bids to lift his struggling Palace side out of the relegation zone, having taken just seven points from their opening 11 games.
In Villa they face a side on a four-game losing run, Palace kick-starting that streak with a 2-1 victory at Villa Park in the Carabao Cup on 30 October. Read Next We all owe Leicester and Ipswich an apology Palace therefore have a quarter-final to look forward to at Arsenal on 18 December, but Glasner has five league games to navigate before he can start thinking about that cup tie. It feels a long way away for Glasner in particular, with the Austrian quickly needing to right some wrongs if he is to avoid the sack.
Defensively they have been sound enough, their 15 league goals conceded a better record than the other bottom seven clubs – as well as Villa and Brentford – but only Southampton (seven) have scored fewer than Palace’s eight. Jean-Philippe Mateta leads the way on three goals, while Marc Guehi has two and both Trevoh Chalobah and Eberechi Eze have one, making for a paltry haul compared to even just the very end of their 2023-24 campaign , when they scored 12 goals in three victories that spoke of a promising first full season to come under Glasner. That has not come to fruition, with the loss of Michael Olise to Bayern Munich a significant blow , and that absence of creativity – as well as Palace’s dire start overall – was alluded to when Glasner visited King’s College London earlier this month.
Speaking about leadership to students at the Business School, Glasner spoke about how he deals with difficult spells – making it a timely discussion. “When you have tough times, it’s important to do something good for yourself,” Glasner said. “It’s the same as having problems, what many are doing is going into their room, close the door, blinds down.
Read Next West Ham? Wolves? Where next for Ruud van Nistelrooy after Man Utd exit “But you have to do the opposite. Sometimes I say to the players: we have nice weather, take your girlfriends, take your friends, go out, drink a coffee in the afternoon so you get into a good mood again. “This is also what I try, so it’s not just working, more effort, more effort.
” Glasner also gave a window into his own lifestyle, explaining how he has left the football bubble in search of answers. “Creativity needs space, and when you want to find ideas, you need space for it,” he added. “When you’re always sitting in your office, it doesn’t work anymore.
“I say: ‘OK, let’s go home, let’s play padel tennis or an hour on the driving range playing golf’, because then you’re not thinking about it and it’s easier to find the solution, to find the right words. “It’s not always that easy, of course, but for me it’s the best way to get this turnaround from being in a tough, bad situation to get out of it.” Hinting at his own escapes in a search for space and a possible eureka moment, Glasner has likely been hitting the padel courts or taking it out on the driver during this international break.
There on the range he may have figured out a plan, perhaps settling on what his forward line should be, having seemingly been confused by Eddie Nketiah’s presence since the striker joined from Arsenal. Read Next West Ham and Lopetegui was a failed marriage doomed from the start Nketiah is not solely to blame for Palace’s shortcomings up front, but no player has had more shots in the Premier League without scoring than the 25-year-old’s 17. He has started alongside Mateta in the league four times, but it seems Glasner must settle on a one-or-the-other strategy in order to improve and also get the best out of Eze, who by his own previous standards is underperforming.
Glasner will know he must find a solution at a time when there is precious room for error, especially as Palace have the toughest run-in before Christmas of any Premier League side, per Opta’s power rankings . After Villa away, Palace welcome Newcastle to Selhurst Park, and in December they host Manchester City in between trips to Ipswich and Brighton. Those are the five games before the cup clash with Arsenal, and you would imagine that any decision on Glasner’s future is taken based not only on their own results but on how clubs around them are faring too.
Evidently, one win in 11 has not been enough to pull the trigger, with Palace eager to give Glasner time following his first transfer window, but such patience is unlikely to last into the New Year. At this rate, Glasner getting to 2025 in charge of Palace feels like 50-50. Anything less than three points from their next three games could spell the end, and that is perhaps being generous.
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