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Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has been speaking ahead of his side's Premier League encounter with Liverpool. The Eagles can match a club-record 18-match unbeaten streak in all competitions if they avoid defeat against Arne Slot's side at Selhurst Park.
Here is the full transcript from Glasner's press conference as the Premier League's last two remaining unbeaten sides prepare to square off for the second time this term following the August Community Shield meeting at Wembley.
Is Ismaila Sarr ready to make his return tomorrow?
Yes, he is. He had a full training week, and the same with Adam [Wharton] and Eddie [Nketiah]. So, yeah, many players available, or more or less all players. It's just Caleb Kporha, who can't train at the moment, and of course, Chadi Riad and Cheick Doucoure. Also, Chadi looks like he will return around the next international break, so it's good.
And in terms of Ismail, because he's had a full week on the training pitch, is he in line to potentially start tomorrow as well?
We always nominate a squad where we think everybody is ready to start. I don't know if you can play 90 or 100 minutes. I don't know how intense the game will be, but yes, he's ready.
There were some concerns when Yeremy Pino went off on Saturday, but he's been back in training this week and is he ready to go again?
Oh, yes. I forgot him because he just had to rest on Tuesday, he had a bone bruise. It was a knock, knee-on-knee and it's very painful. But since Wednesday, he's in training and did the rest of the week and feels fine, so he's also available.
This is the second of three matches against Liverpool in the first three months of the season. I guess your recent record against the Premier League champions must give you big confidence heading into the game tomorrow?
Well, you go back two months and it's the fourth game because the last game of last season was at Anfield as well. So, yes, maybe we get them a fifth time in the FA Cup. And I don't know if something more is possible, but we experienced a similar thing with Aston Villa last year.
And again, we're always looking forward to playing the champion and we want to compete. We want these challenges against the best teams. Liverpool was the best team last year because they won the league. But I think we showed that we are competitive in the Community Shield also at the end of last season and this is what we want to show again tomorrow, that we are competitive, then let's see how football, how the game is going.
Everybody knows how close Marc came to joining Liverpool on deadline day. How do you expect him to handle the situation tomorrow?
I have no concerns at all. I'm completely convinced, and I mention this quite often, as long as Marc is playing for Crystal Palace, he will be playing with 100 per cent. This is what I expect tomorrow. I'm really convinced that he will show this again.
He's an amazing player, he's in amazing shape. So I expect a great game from him. Again, it's gone. The window is closed, fortunately, so he's completely focused on Crystal Palace, on his performance and our performance and like always, it's good to have him as a captain.
Will the club try to ensure he stays beyond January and beyond next summer? Or is there an acceptance that because of the situation he's in, because of how good he is as a player, or the situation he'd be in himself next summer, that it's going to be difficult?
I'm not talking about transfer discussions. We had this for three or four months, and it really made me tired. I don't want to talk about it. I know in January it will be again for one month. Even when I think about it, it makes me tired. So let's talk about this great game, the FA Cup winners against the Premier League. That's more important than all the other stuff.
Tomorrow you have the chance to equal the club's longest unbeaten run, which will be 18 matches, if you are able to do that. That's a run that stretches back to 1969. Whilst it's not a trophy, it's not the FA Cup, would it be special to create another bit of history whilst you are here?
I don't care about it. Last year we had the worst start in Premier League history, and at the end we had a point record. I don't care about records, of course. It's always better having positive records than the other way.
But, of course, when I talk to players, it's not for us. The approach is not to stay unbeaten, the approach is to win the game. If it's a draw at the end, we have to accept it, but the approach is not to say, OK, we always want the best, and the best is winning the game. We will give our best to achieve it, but of course there is an opposition who tries to avoid this, and that's why football is so interesting.
What do you think has been key to this one, because it is an impressive run?
We spoke quite often about it, I think our foundation is our defensive consistency, so we are really doing well as a team, not just the back three, or the keeper. We know if we need the keeper, we have the keeper. If we know we need the back three, we have the back three available, but it's also our wing-backs, our midfielders, our tens, our strikers, JP, how hard they are working to do their job in our defence.
On the other side, we always show that we are able to create chances and score goals from possession, like it was at West Ham, from set-plays as well. at West Ham, transition like it was in Villa, so we know we are able to create chances and score goals, and when you have this proven over many months, this gives confidence to the team.
Even if maybe, like it was at West Ham, after the equaliser for 15 minutes we were struggling a little bit, it was not our best performance, but we always know that we are able to get the turnaround and be back in the game again, and be able to play forward and create chances, and this is what helps us to stay patient in the game, to stick to our plan, to stick to our principles.
I think all this, it's not just pressing one button or two, it's a development over months, and now we all get the reward. But on the other side, it doesn't mean, because things happened in the past, that this will always be in the future, and that's why we always have to try to improve. It's the best thing to stay at least on the same level, but we always want to achieve and reach the next level.
Arne Slot was asking in his press conference what Palace's biggest threat is, and he replied with discipline, and he mentioned your defence. What do you think their biggest threat will be and is?
Yes, it's such a team with so many great players and a fantastic coach, so we have a huge respect for Arne Slot, coming into the first season of the Premier League and winning the title.
f course, we want to come through the pocket with Isak, with Szoboszlai with McAllister, all these players, understanding the space, and if you don't give them the pocket, they have great one-on-one players on the wing, with Salah, with Gakpo, and also they are doing so well in set-plays, with Van Dijk, who scored the game-winner against Atletico at the end, and also a clear structure.
So I think it's not just saying it's this or that, on the other side. It's what they proved, especially in this season, it's a little bit similar to where we are, they always believe until the final whistle that they can win the game, I think they have five or six late goals where they could get the win. So I think it's the quality, the structure, and of course their attacking split.
You mentioned Alexander Isak, who is set to start because of Ekitike's red card the other day, what kind of a threat do you think he poses versus someone like Ekitike?
They have a similar profile, huge pace, great runners, great feeling when to run into the space, and goal scorers, and post-court against Southampton. And Alexander Isak showed it in the last year, especially the last year against Newcastle. So, just a good striker, he knows where to move, and a great finisher, and what JP is doing well as well.
Crystal Palace haven't won successive games against Liverpool since 2015, of course you got the better of them in the Community Shield, so what do you think you can take away from that game going into tomorrow's match?
I think both teams play similarly, because Arne Slot has his way of playing and we have our way of playing, so we watch this game back and are pretty sure they did the same. To find weaknesses in our defence, and to find weaknesses.
We know exactly where their threat is, how they want to play, how they are attacking, but it's not just to defend, we're always looking for our chances, where are the weaknesses of the opposition.
We scored two goals against them, and this is now to show the players again where we think we can have our chances to create chances and score goals. On the other side, of course, we need the foundation again that we can control their attacking line, so it will be a great challenge.
Just finally for me, I just wanted to ask about Romain Esse, is he content to be back for the match against the squad tomorrow?
No, he won't be tomorrow, we spoke to him and he did very well. I mentioned it after the midway game, we said, OK, let's press the reset button. it looks like we have to change something, and he played 45 minutes for the U21s, he played really well there, he scored a nice goal, and now all the players are back, and now he will play with the U21s at Man Utd tomorrow.
Maybe the 90 minutes really suits our schedule, and then he will return on Sunday to get his confidence back. He did really well this week, he was very positive, it looked like a lot of weight dropped from his shoulders, and this is what we hoped with this.
It was no punishment playing him there, I told him if I want to punish him I don't let him play, but it's really to help him and support him to get back confidence, because we all know that if you don't have confidence in the way you are playing, you can't perform at your top level, and this is what we are trying to help. He really takes it very positively, and I'm pretty sure he will be an option quickly.
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