Crystal Palace boss on 'completely unfair' criticism, Leeds United difficulty and Farke touchline chat
The Austrian manager watched his side fail to register a single shot on target at home to 10-man Leeds United.
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner refused to comment on the refereeing performance in their 0-0 draw with Leeds United but felt his side were 'nervous' against 10 men.
The Eagles were fortunate to go into the break level after Leeds were awarded a penalty and Dominic Calvert-Lewin drilled it wide of goal. Just before the interval the hosts were handed a significant advantage when referee Thomas Bramall, who had clearly forgotten that he had already booked Gabriel Gudmundsson, showed the Swede a debateable second yellow. In the second half Palace dominated possession but reached full-time without mustering a single shot on target and their Expected Goals tally was still lower than Leeds'.
Glasner, who refused to break from his tradition of offering no comment on the referee's decisions, admitted there was disappointment over his side's performance in the second half.
"Yes, we all feel like this," he said. "We were not completely satisfied with today's result and performance in the second half. First half, overall it was not the prettiest football game in the world, a lot of duels, second balls, set-plays. I was really pleased with how we coped with their physicality, it was much better than at Leeds. In the second half we had a lot of possession but we're working on moving the ball quicker, to create. It feels a little bit nervous, we need to score, we need to win because we're a man up, but we were taking bad decisions and losing our structure, crossing when not in the right positions. This is a step we have to work on."
Glasner credited Leeds' defensive organisation, height and physicality for making life so difficult for Palace, who he says lack the kind of attacking players who can beat defenders to create magic. In a spiky exchange with London media members, Glasner pointed to his side's offensive output in his first season in charge and refused to be drawn into a discussion of the January transfer window. But he did reveal what he and his opposite number Daniel Farke talked about as they made their way off at the interval.
"I will never speak about the referee," he said. "Daniel and me we talked about how it was not a great game to watch in the first half. Sometimes you have to accept, windy day, they need every point, we played on Thursday. I think we all have to accept this was our 46th game now, we've played a full Championship season by now. Sometimes it's getting the result. We want to do better. Many people forget, when we're praised for our last year, we played Brentford and Everton at home and lost 2-1, set-play games, very similar games.
“Crystal Palace, we have to accept who we are, where we are and we know we can be very competitive. This is what we're showing again, we're in a very good position in the Premier League. We are playing European football. We know we have some topics to improve but I don't like it if everyone is so critical, like Palace is always competing for the Premier League title and playing great football and not doing it anymore. It's completely unfair, especially for the players."