Crystal Palace’s Oliver Glasner has purchased again ‘Glad All Over’ issue – however can it final within the 2024/25 Premier League season?

When Crystal Palace are at their greatest, Selhurst Park comes alive. The stands shake with pleasure, The Dave Clarke 5’s ‘Glad All Over’ sung like a nationwide anthem, followers pledging their allegiance to the Eagles.

And within the final quarter of the 2023/24 season, it turned an everyday prevalence – a nice break from lots of the earlier months.

Followers had, as soon as once more, turned disillusioned with the route of the membership underneath Roy Hodgson as Palace hovered perilously near a relegation battle. There was an absence of artistic spark that’s so craved at Selhurst Park, regardless of cultivating a squad of the brightest younger expertise.

Then got here Austrian Oliver Glasner as Hogson’s alternative. “He is an under-rated coach, he is a mastermind tactically and he has his own mind,” Sky Germany’s Philipp Hinze mentioned.

It took the Europa League-winning coach a short while to search out his ft, needing time to implement his personal method of working and adapt to a brand new league – one thing that’s hardly ever provided to soccer managers.

However as soon as Glasner and his participant clicked, it was electrical.

Glasner’s Palace enhance

They have been unbeaten of their final seven video games, successful six, together with towards Liverpool and Manchester United. Solely Fulham took factors from them in a 1-1 draw.

General, Glasner took cost of 13 Premier League video games with simply three losses. Even in defeats or attracts, there have been indicators of enchancment – scoring twice towards Manchester Metropolis, for instance, isn’t any imply feat.

And evaluating his 13 matches to the 25 beforehand, Glasner’s Crystal Palace scored a purpose extra, created extra huge probabilities and stored the identical variety of clear sheets.

The Eagles attacked with intent, confidence and creativity which led to their glut of objectives. Simply 4 have been conceded in that spell too, and that was even with out the injured Marc Guehi.

As you may see from the comparable heatmaps, underneath Glasner, Crystal Palace definitely performed additional ahead with a far darker shade within the opposition half.

Mateta the massive winner from Glasner’s arrival

One of many gamers who has vastly benefitted from Glasner’s arrival is Jean-Philippe Mateta.

It is laborious to consider that he has been on the membership since January 2021. Mateta was principally seen as a squad participant, often utilised when the Eagles have been in want of a purpose. Typically it labored, generally it did not.

However final season, he began in 25 Premier League video games, and the arrival of Oliver Glasner has seen Mateta stride into type.

Within the 13 video games, he scored extra league objectives (13) than he did underneath both Hodgson (5 in 35 video games) or Patrick Vieira (6 in 44). That included back-to-back doubles and a hat-trick on the ultimate day towards Aston Villa.

He is continued his type into the summer season too, taking part in for France on the 2024 Olympics and scoring 5 objectives as Thierry Henry’s aspect gained a silver medal. It demonstrates completely how sport is fuelled by confidence.

It is a sentiment Glasner agrees with too, saying in April: “When strikers score and have confidence, their decision-making is better.

“He gets chances in every game and makes excellent runs. He is investing a lot and is really hard-working. He’s running 10 times when he doesn’t get the ball, but he does it [anyway]. This helps the team create space, create opportunities.”

Heading again to Palace after such a profitable summer season needs to be music to the ears of followers and employees alike. The expertise of being coached by one of many Premier League’s best ever strikers too will certainly reap extra advantages.

How will ins and outs have an effect on the brand new season?

Palace wouldn’t have needed the season to finish. However nothing lasts ceaselessly and the query now could be can the Eagles proceed their type into the 2024/25 marketing campaign?

It was already going to be a summer season of change. Not solely is it Glasner’s first switch window to mould his workforce, a variety of his star gamers have been linked with an exit.

One has already left in Michael Olise, who joined Bayern Munich in a £50.8m deal. Glasner’s success to this point has largely hinged on the health and availability of each Olise and Eberechi Eze.

Each have had their harm points over the previous couple of years and have been absent in the direction of the top of Hodgson’s tenure, however have been the potent duo that spearheaded Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run. Their hyperlink play in behind Mateta allowed Crystal Palace to play with movement and creativity.

Now, Glasner should discover a method of changing not solely Olise, however doubtlessly Eze too. Whereas there have been few concrete hyperlinks as but, it might be no shock if the England midfielder discovered himself on the transfer for large cash this summer season.

Guehi’s eye-catching Euro 2024 marketing campaign has additionally attracted consideration from Newcastle and Liverpool. One other participant who has flourished at Crystal Palace, there isn’t a denying he could be an enormous loss, however the workforce have confirmed they will survive with out him.

Due to a knee harm, Guehi performed simply 3 times underneath Glasner, beginning solely within the last sport of the season. Daniel Munoz and Joachim Andersen are a superb centre-back pairing, earlier than including the £14m signing of Chadi Riad from Barcelona this summer season.

However Andersen too has been topic of bids from Fulham – the place he spent the 2020/21 season on mortgage – and it might be a tougher activity to lose each first-choice centre-backs in a single window.

Then, there’s Jordan Ayew. So usually a silent workhorse for his workforce, he too has been linked with a transfer away. Palace have already moved to usher in Ismaila Sarr, who will probably restrict Ayew’s taking part in time on the right-hand aspect.

Sarr is much less of a direct alternative for Olise, though that’s not to say he can not convey different qualities, however the membership are eager to usher in one other winger. A kind of might be Wilfried Zaha, who solely left Palace final summer season for Galatasaray.

Whereas it might definitely be nostalgic, Crystal Palace’s switch technique has lengthy been figuring out younger expertise and growing them into high gamers – we’ve seen it play out again and again.

One current instance is Adam Wharton, whose meteoric rise noticed him included in England’s Euro 2024 squad. He solely joined Palace from Blackburn within the January window, however his intelligence and technical potential quickly made him a must-start participant.

There have been different golf equipment within the 20-year-old this summer season, though Crystal Palace is arguably the very best place for a participant of his age to develop additional.

Glasner will hope that, regardless of the lack of some actual expertise, he nonetheless has the precise gamers in his squad to execute a sport plan that was so efficient in the direction of the top of final season.

And the window remains to be a number of weeks away from closing. To maintain maintain of a few of their key expertise could be successful, whereas there shall be different offers being labored on to spice up the squad.

However finally, it’s a window that may go an extended technique to defining Palace’s success this season.

Eagles should now push on to additional success

There’s a cautious optimism amongst followers that the ‘Glad All Over’ issue can proceed. They’ve an clever and dynamic coach on the helm, and have already made strikes to switch the gamers who’ve or shall be leaving the membership.

Glasner shall be nicely conscious of the switch cycles that come at a membership like Crystal Palace and he has already confirmed his successful credentials as a coach. Now we see whether or not he could make the identical diversifications within the Premier League, and most significantly, assist push the Eagles additional on.

Any relegation battle must be out of the query. Maybe the Eagles’ extra lifelike goals needs to be lengthy runs within the cup competitions, the place they’ve had some success in recent times.

It has been a profitable pre-season too, however the actual proof will come on Sunday as Crystal Palace open their 2024/25 Premier League marketing campaign with a go to to Brentford, stay on Sky Sports activities.