Glasner calls for support amid 'tough times' after Crystal Palace leave it late to see off Wolves

CPFC v Wolves by Capital Football

Crystal Palace 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0

Tough times at Selhurst Park breed the occasional timely response.

Relieved Oliver Glasner hailed his resourceful Crystal Palace players after their late 1-0 win over struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Eagles chief endured a sweat for the vast majority of the triumph, until substitute Evann Guessand got them out of a jam with only a minute remaining of a tepid encounter.

In truth, the Eagles made heavy work of this until Guessand’s arrival. Up until that point it looked like basement club Wolves would smuggle a point away from south London, despite Tolu Arokodare being denied from the penalty spot by Palace keeper Dean Henderson shortly before the end of the first half.

With Wolves’ Ladislav Krejci seeing red on the hour mark too, it gifted Glasner’s team an advantage. It was one that they eventually took.

Palace remain in a sort of mid-table limbo, and all their hopes for a successful campaign now rely on the Europa Conference League. The Eagles face a home return leg against Zrinjski on Thursday, having returned with a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Bosnia.

In theory this would have been scheduled as a relatively routine encounter even for Palace with all their off-field issues with Glasner, who has already announced his departure from Palace at the end of the season.

“It’s a relief today”, said Glasner. “Everyone who watched the game could see how nervous we were and making mistakes, giving them transitions. Fortunately Dean saved the penalty.

“The second half it was all about keeping it simple. And their red card gave us more and more belief. And Evann coming on to score the decider was great and has been a big relief for all of us. Today shows we can keep a clean sheet.”

Glasner, when asked afterwards about fan banners criticising him, was resolute in his opinion that everyone connected with the club should ‘stay humble’. He has been on the end of mixed viewpoints regarding this term.

The manager added: “I have just spoken to the players and they know they have had the best two years of their life. I always believe in the team and I will always say what I think.

“It’s [the banners] the way fans can express their opinion. I can say what I think and I was applauded. There were a few boos but I don’t disrespect anyone. We are disappointed and I am most of all because I am so ambitious. I have told the players that maybe I can do more.

'Support'

“In tough times in your life you need support. This is still the second best season in the club history and when I arrived here we were fighting relegation.”

The Eagles were up against a Wolves side essentially doomed to Championship football next term. Then again, the same Wolves showed their claws and character in coming back to draw against league leaders Arsenal at a rain-lashed Molineux in midweek. In that sense, the outcome was far less certain.

Would the Londoners, meanwhile, feel any after effects of their trip to Bosnia? Not to mention a fairly wretched run of recent league outings, with only one win in five – and that FA Cup shocker against Macclesfield Town. Indeed the optics of that exit by the cup holders still swirl around Selhurst Park, with a psychological hangover very much in evidence across the following weeks.

Manager Glasner’s announcement that he is set to leave Palace seems particularly premature too. All things considered, it leaves the south Londoners, who move up one place to 13^th in the Premier League table, in a place of uncertainty. A banner with the slogan ‘Glasner Finished’ indicated the level of discontent in the stands from some, if not all at Selhurst Park. It may not be quite open civil war but it was still strange to observe within a club generally renowned for its cohesion.

Under unseasonal slants of winter sun, the hosts showed some early verve. And Yeremy Pino really should have done better than to lob the ball harmlessly wide when Wolves’ defender Yerson Mosquera was short with a back pass.

Meanwhile, Jorgen Strand-Larsen was facing his former club for the first time in a Palace jersey and, unsurprisingly, the forward was met by boos from the travelling away fans.

Rob Edwards’ outfit remained occasionally dangerous going forward, though, and showed a certain neatness in possession.

And Wolves received a break of fortune five minutes from the interval when they were awarded a penalty after a VAR check. Adam Wharton was judged to have clumsily fouled the raiding Mateus Mane when the attacker was poised to shoot.

Miss

But the visitors simply could not capitalise – and the penalty miss perhaps a microcosm of their struggles all season. Eagles’ England international Henderson got down low to impressively save Tolu Arokodare’s low struck effort from the spot.

Then a moment which livened up the afternoon to an extent. Krejci was ordered off on the hour, having been booked a few minutes earlier. Frustration had taken over the left back who booted the ball away after conceding a free kick.

With the final third remaining against ten men, it represented an ideal opportunity for the Eagles to capitalise.

Glasner sent on new Eagle Brennan Johnson for Pino in an attempt to unsettle what had been a relatively comfortable and organised Wolves rearguard. – but it was left to Guessand to lift the sagging Selhurst spirits with the climatic clincher.

Mitchell picked him out with a low cross from the left - and the striker was alert to stab the ball past Sa and into the net from eight yards.

As committed as Wolves were, their lack of potency in and around the Palace penalty area ultimately cost them. Edwards’ men had little chance to redeem themselves.

The Eagles may be grateful for the points while Glasner identified both context and bigger pictures. Yet under the bonnet of this below average fare, the wider issues remain between unhappy supporters and their outspoken head coach.

Glasner, regardless, will depart soon. However Euro glory would at least, quite rightly, elevate him back to gilded status which was bestowed on him after the unprecedented joy of last season’s FA Cup success.

Eagles: Henderson, Canvot, Richards, Riad (Guessand 71), Munoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell, Sarr, Pino (Johnson 77), Strand-Larsen