Crystal Palace suffered a narrow home defeat against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, rumors about the end of coach Oliver Glasner at the Eagles persist.
The 0:1 (0:1) against Tottenham Hotspur was a bitter setback for the Crystal Palace team in the fight for the international places in the Premier League. Archie Gray (42nd) scored the goal of the day for the recently struggling Spurs, who have moved up into midfield in the table with this away win.
Coach Glasner saying goodbye?
But at least as important as the sobering result against Spurs is the future of the team, and not just for the fans Selhurst Park extremely popular trainer Oliver Glasner. Rumors persist that the coach has decided not to extend his expiring contract next summer.
The Austrian, who once coached VfL Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, is still cautious. “Believe me, I’m not thinking about my future at all at the moment. That’s not important now”said Glasner recently. A denial sounds different, however.
In addition, there are said to have already been discussions with the Dutch and Austrian associations about a possible commitment as national coach. Some Premier League clubs are also said to be interested in the 51-year-old.
Surprising leadership
A personnel discussion that apparently also has an impact on his players. In any case, Glasner’s team found it difficult from the start to create a scoring opportunity against the Spurs, who were defending with great commitment. There was a lot of possession of the ball, but no noteworthy shot on goal in the first half despite the intensive efforts.
Tottenham clearly had fun making life difficult for the hosts – and in turn struck completely unexpectedly. Shortly before the end of the first half, Gray made it 1-0 with a header from close range after the ball was twice in the penalty area following a corner Eagles had jumped back and forth at dizzy heights and the hosts couldn’t get to the ball.
19-year-old Archie Gray celebrates his goal
Hardly any ideas, lack of precision
Right at the start of the second half, the Eagles increased the pressure, but coach Thomas Frank’s team remained stable defensively for a long time. After 55 minutes, however, Justin Devenny missed a great chance to equalize, his shot from six meters away flying over the crossbar.
After that, Crystal Palace kept running, but on the one hand they lacked the ideas to crack Spurs’ defensive bulwark. On the other hand, there was a lack of accuracy, for example with ex-Wolfsburg player Maxence Lacroix (69th), who put a header from five meters next to the goal. Wilson Odobert (88th) had the early decision for the Spurs, but his shot only hit the post of the Eagles goal.
It was an evening in which the Glasner team could have continued playing for some time without even scoring once.