Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has been chatting with the media earlier than Thursday’s Convention League play-off second leg in opposition to Zrinjski Mostar at Selhurst Park (20:00 GMT).
The tie is locked at 1-1 after the primary leg in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
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Listed here are the important thing traces from his information convention:
Glasner mentioned there’s “nonetheless a small query mark” over the health of Maxence Lacroix after he was withdrawn within the first leg and missed Sunday’s win over “He educated within the session [on Wednesday]. In a couple of conditions he might really feel a bit little bit of weariness, however he seems OK. We now have little greater than 30 hours [until kick-off], with therapy and the whole lot.”
On Eddie Nketiah’s health: “Eddie had a setback and it’ll take him now a couple of extra weeks. We are actually on the finish of February. We count on him again in coaching – I feel it will likely be the top of March, however as a result of we do not have video games, it seems like it will likely be April.”
Glasner added: “All others are fantastic – so no one returns, but additionally no one [new] is injured.”
Requested if he’ll prioritise Europe, the Austrian mentioned: “We’ve not performed this final yr with the FA Cup. Everyone was stunned once we performed our greatest group three days earlier than the semi-final [last season] – we performed on the Emirates and we performed the perfect group – as a result of, for me, the perfect preparation is confidence and a very good efficiency.”
Questions proceed to encompass Glasner’s future and whether or not he might depart the membership earlier than the top of this season. Requested if defeat by Zrinjski might make Thursday his final match, he mentioned: “I do not know what occurs. I do know we’ll attempt to win the sport tomorrow – that is what we are able to do. However, on the opposite aspect, take into consideration the Premier League. We’re three factors behind eighth place, and it seems like eighth place qualifies for Europe, with the 5 Champions League locations once more subsequent yr. So why throw the Premier League away? It is not sensible.”
On upcoming time to relaxation and reset: “Proper now it is all the time that we have now a good interval, however then we have now quite a lot of time to relaxation. For instance, proper now, we have now a minimum of a couple of weeks on the finish of March as a result of the recreation was moved earlier than the worldwide break, then it is the worldwide break, after which there’s an FA Cup spherical, so meaning if we’re nonetheless in Europe, we have now three weeks, and the whole lot between three and 4 weeks can occur that we do not have a aggressive recreation.”
He doesn’t see rotation as a necessity: “It is all the time tight after which we have now time to relaxation, after which I do not see any drawback. It was extra in autumn, once we performed persistently for 10 or 12 weeks each third day, we needed to rotate a bit bit extra. However now, the gamers are match and that is why we’ll play all the time the perfect group in each competitions.”
Glasner performed down the Eagles silverware ambitions: “I do not wish to discuss now about successful a trophy as a result of we’re within the final 32 and it’s so far-off. We enter each single competitors to win it. I feel for 120 years, Crystal Palace entered each cup competitors to win it. This group of gamers has performed it as soon as, final yr. Only one group can carry the trophy on the finish.”
[BBC]