Glasner has brought back ‘Glad All Over’ factor – but can it last?

When Crystal Palace are at their best, Selhurst Park comes alive. The stands shake with joy, The Dave Clarke Five’s ‘Glad All Over’ sung like a national anthem, fans pledging their allegiance to the Eagles.

And in the last quarter of the 2023/24 season, it became a regular occurrence – a pleasant break from many of the previous months.

Fans had, once again, became disillusioned with the direction of the club under Roy Hodgson as Palace hovered perilously close to a relegation battle. There was a lack of creative spark that is so craved at Selhurst Park, despite cultivating a squad of the brightest young talent.

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

It took the Europa League-winning coach a little while to find his feet, needing time to implement his own way of working and adapt to a new league – something that is rarely offered to football managers.

But once Glasner and his player clicked, it was electric.

Glasner’s Palace boost

They were unbeaten in their last seven games, winning six, including against Liverpool and Manchester United. Only Fulham took points from them in a 1-1 draw.

Overall, Glasner took charge of 13 Premier League games with just three losses. Even in defeats or draws, there were signs of improvement – scoring twice against Manchester City, for example, is no mean feat.

And comparing his 13 matches to the 25 beforehand, Glasner’s Crystal Palace scored a goal more, created more big chances and kept the same number of clean sheets.

The Eagles attacked with intent, confidence and creativity which led to their glut of goals. Just four were conceded in that spell too, and that was even without the injured Marc Guehi.

As you can see from the comparable heatmaps, under Glasner, Crystal Palace certainly played further forward with a far darker shade in the opposition half.

Mateta the big winner from Glasner’s arrival

One of the players who has hugely benefitted from Glasner’s arrival is Jean-Philippe Mateta.

It’s hard to believe that he has been at the club since January 2021. Mateta was mostly seen as a squad player, usually utilised when the Eagles were in need of a goal. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

But last season, he started in 25 Premier League games, and the arrival of Oliver Glasner has seen Mateta stride into form.

In the 13 games, he scored more league goals (13) than he did under either Hodgson (5 in 35 games) or Patrick Vieira (6 in 44). That included back-to-back doubles and a hat-trick on the final day against Aston Villa.

He’s continued his form into the summer too, playing for France at the 2024 Olympics and scoring five goals as Thierry Henry’s side won a silver medal. It demonstrates perfectly how sport is fuelled by confidence.

It’s 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 back to Palace after such a successful summer should be music to the ears of fans and staff alike. The experience of being coached by one of the Premier League’s greatest ever strikers too will surely reap additional benefits.

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How will ins and outs affect the new season?

Palace would not have wanted the season to end. But nothing lasts forever and the question now is can the Eagles continue their form into the 2024/25 campaign?

It was already going to be a summer of change. Not only is it Glasner’s first transfer window to mould his team, a number of his star players 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 so far has largely hinged on the fitness and availability of both Olise and Eberechi Eze.

Both have had their injury issues over the last few years and were absent towards the end of Hodgson’s tenure, but were the potent duo that spearheaded Crystal Palace’s unbeaten run. Their link play in behind Mateta allowed Crystal Palace to play with flow and creativity.

Now, Glasner must find a way of replacing not only Olise, but potentially Eze too. While there have been few concrete links as yet, it would be no surprise if the England midfielder found himself on the move for big money this summer.

Guehi’s eye-catching Euro 2024 campaign has also attracted attention from Newcastle and Liverpool. Another player who has flourished at Crystal Palace, there is no denying he would be a huge loss, but the team have proven they can survive without him.

Because of a knee injury, Guehi played just three times under Glasner, starting only in the final game of the season. Daniel Munoz and Joachim Andersen are a good centre-back pairing, before adding the £14m signing of Chadi Riad from Barcelona this summer.

But Andersen too has been subject of bids from Fulham – where he spent the 2020/21 season on loan – and it would be a harder task to lose both first-choice centre-backs in one window.

Then, there’s Jordan Ayew. So often a silent workhorse for his team, he too has been linked with a move away. Palace have already moved to bring in Ismaila Sarr, who will likely limit Ayew’s playing time on the right-hand side.

Sarr is less of a direct replacement for Olise, although that is not to say he cannot bring other qualities, but the club are keen to bring in another winger. One of those could be Wilfried Zaha, who only left Palace last summer for Galatasaray.

While it would certainly be nostalgic, Crystal Palace’s transfer strategy has long been identifying young talent and developing them into top players – we have seen it play out time and again.

One recent example is Adam Wharton, whose meteoric rise saw him included in England’s Euro 2024 squad. He only joined Palace from Blackburn in the January window, but his intelligence and technical ability soon made him a must-start player.

There have been other clubs interested in the 20-year-old this summer, although Crystal Palace is arguably the best place for a player of his age to develop further.

Glasner will hope that, despite the loss of some real talent, he still has the right players in his squad to execute a game plan that was so effective towards the end of last season.

And the window is still a few weeks away from closing. To keep hold of some of their key talent would be a success, while there will be other deals being worked on to boost the squad.

But ultimately, it is a window that will go a long way to defining Palace’s success this season.

Eagles must now push on to further success

There is a cautious optimism among fans that the ‘Glad All Over’ factor can continue. They have an intelligent and dynamic coach at the helm, and have already made moves to replace the players who have or will be leaving the club.

Glasner will be well aware of the transfer cycles that come at a club like Crystal Palace and he has already proven his winning credentials as a coach. Now we see whether he can make the same adaptations in the Premier League, and most importantly, help push the Eagles further on.

Any relegation battle has to be out of the question. Perhaps the Eagles’ more realistic aims should be long runs in the cup competitions, where they have had some success in recent years.

It has been a successful pre-season too, but the real proof will come on Sunday as Crystal Palace open their 2024/25 Premier League campaign with a visit to Brentford, live on Sky Sports.