14 hours ago
Oliver Glasner, a 10-match unbeaten run, and why Crystal Palace must back their manager
Whatever happens with Oliver Glasner when his contract expires in the summer, he is established as Crystal Palace's most successful manager.
While May's FA Cup win over Manchester City and August's Community Shield conquering of Liverpool will be first up on the highlights reel —both trophies claimed with the same starting XI — less heralded is the run of form Palace are currently enjoying.
Advertisement
The goalless draw with Chelsea in their opening Premier League game of the season on Sunday made it 10 games unbeaten in all competitions either side of the summer break. That number is impressive in its own right, but take into account the calibre of opposition — and their importance — and it becomes even more striking.
Those victories over Manchester City and Liverpool were in high-stakes games in a particularly high-pressure environment to which Palace had yet to become accustomed. They were also against the Premier League champions of 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Go back a little further and take into account a 1-1 draw on the final day of last season's Premier League season at Anfield, a 2-2 draw at Arsenal and a 2-0 away win over Tottenham Hotspur — albeit a team whose priorities were elsewhere at the time — and the run is put into perspective. Glasner has used only 19 different starting players across that sequence, and only 16 if one ignores the Wolverhampton Wanderers fixture, the last home game of last term and just three days after the cup final.
It is a perfect tonic to combat the record eight-match league run without a victory at the start of last season. They enter this campaign in similar form to the manner in which they concluded Glasner's first few months in charge, when they won six of their final seven games. A point on the opening weekend at Stamford Bridge courtesy of a defensively astute performance bodes well, even with the possible departures of Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze on the horizon.
They have adapted from how they once played. The departure of Michael Olise last summer to Bayern Munich influenced that, too. While there is ample attacking threat, and breaking rapidly in transition remains integral to the gameplan, they are slightly less powerful and rampant in their attacking play.
It has perhaps become more efficient; even more tactically astute. That is a mark of Glasner's ability to change things up effectively where necessary, even if he keeps to his tried and tested way of playing at the core of the side's approach.
Advertisement
Should Palace avoid defeat in both legs of their UEFA Conference League play-off against Norwegian club Fredrikstad, and again on Sunday when they host Nottingham Forest, then they will equal their club record of 13 games unbeaten in all competitions while a top-flight side.
The record has stood for almost 35 years, with Steve Coppell's charges — featuring the likes of Ian Wright, Mark Bright, Geoff Thomas, Nigel Martyn and Eric Young — enjoying 10 league games without defeat alongside three League Cup games between August and October at the start of the 1990-91 season. They finished that campaign third in the First Division.
Glasner's team will have played one more cup game in their own run, but the difficulty of fixtures has been greater.
These are heady days for Palace, but there is grumbling — understandably — that even more still could be achieved if the manager was sufficiently backed.
Ambition is in Glasner's nature; he demands the best from everyone in every way and refuses to settle for anything less. Palace have an outstanding starting XI and a manager who has proven not only to be adept at bringing the best out of his team in his system, but also relatively adaptable within that system. With appropriate additions to replace any departures and strengthen the backup options, this Palace side surely could compete for a place in Europe via their league position.
This feels like a club at a crossroads and the fear will be that success is not built upon. After Palace secured their highest-ever league finish in 1991, Coppell was granted leeway to add two defenders — a 21-year-old Chris Coleman and Lee Sinnott, 26, from Swansea City and Bradford City respectively, both of the third tier — to his ranks. So began a period of decline that saw the team relegated in 1993.
This time the worry is that, if Glasner does not feel he is being sufficiently backed, he might well depart next summer when his contract expires — if not before. It would be a travesty to throw away the chance to push on.
As always, some people will argue that demanding more is unreasonable, that Palace are already punching above their weight. Those arguments are valid in some respects, but if aspiring to be better is frowned upon and played down with excuses or reasons why that is difficult — it is not impossible — then Palace don't deserve a manager of Glasner's calibre or players with Eze and Guehi's ability. If that attitude becomes pervasive, Palace will struggle to improve on their current situation.
Advertisement
After the FA Cup final, chairman Steve Parish spoke of the need to match their manager's ambition. In his press conference before the Chelsea game, Glasner dismissed questions about whether those ambitions had been met, suggesting it wasn't important. That it wasn't about him.
There are constraints within which Palace must work — having lost almost £200million over the past five years there is not huge scope for hefty outlays in the transfer market — but they have shown in the past the ability to make shrewd purchases. It is how they came to be in a situation where several of their players have become so coveted in the first place.
Glasner has transformed Palace. He must be adequately supported as far as the club's situation allows, otherwise there is surely a good chance he will not stay beyond his current contract.
To pass up the opportunity to build on their unprecedented success would be a huge source of regret.
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms
Find the hidden link between sports terms
Play today's puzzle
