Crystal Palace: No surprise in latest defeat as Oliver Glasner's patience wears thin | OneFootball

Eagles are really struggling in front of goal

Crystal Palace have been the Premier League’s surprise package over the last 18 months, but there was nothing surprising about the way in which they fell to their first home defeat in 12 games against Manchester United.

Palace have now picked up just one point from the four league games played after midweek European games.

Oliver Glasner spoke with a sense of resignation after the full-time whistle. He knew his side, who have already played 21 games in all competitions this season, would tire. He knew, after a summer of indecision in the transfer market, he did not have the answers to turn the tide from the bench.

“And again, I think it's also now time to mention it, that's clearly our fault,” Glasner said in his post-match press conference.

“We missed [the chance] to strengthen the depth of the squad in the summer, and we knew the schedule, we knew that Ismaila [Sarr] would go to the AFCON.”

Glasner’s patience is running thin. A Europa League winner from his time at Eintracht Frankfurt, the Austrian is a deeply competitive manager, with designs on removing the mid-table mediocrity tag Palace have been so desperate to shed.

His commitment to the club and the core of players that helped him guide the club to a historic FA Cup victory and a maiden European campaign is unwavering.

However, after a frustrating summer transfer window, in which Palace sold talismanic attacking midfielder Eberechi Eze just over a week out from the deadline, while bringing in only five first-team signings, Glasner is on the offensive.

His contract is up next summer, and he won’t be short of offers should he decide to leave south London.

He has offered the club an ultimatum. Match his ambition or squander the momentum they have built since he took charge in February 2024.

It is a bold move, but Glasner is calculated. He does not underestimate the job he is doing in patching together a threadbare squad game after game.

Pre-planned substitutions, among other tweaks, provide the illusion of freshness. They are Glasner’s clever response to a lack of options, and for the most part, it has worked.

Palace are seventh in the Premier League, in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, and still in contention to qualify automatically for the knockout stages of the Conference League.

It is a stopgap solution, though, and Glasner knows it.

“Yes, we got mentally a little bit fatigued,” the Palace boss admitted on Sunday afternoon.

Successive defeats to Strasbourg and United, in which Palace have squandered half-time leads, have highlighted Palace’s rapidly depleting energy levels, and with eight games to come over December, the challenge of keeping everyone fit and firing will only get harder in the next month.

The Eagles have the chance to correct the errors they made in the summer, and Glasner will settle for no less than the club’s complete backing when the transfer window opens next month.

Let’s invest instead of save

Oliver Glasner

A defender in his playing days, the Austrian can anticipate danger like few others.

He foresaw Palace’s issues this season, and he can see where the south Londoners are headed without the right investment.

Glasner has offered the club a lifeline: “let's invest instead of save” came the rallying cry from an impassioned press conference.

It seems obvious, but Palace simply can not afford to ignore the most successful manager in the club’s history.