A Crystal Palace star has been lavished with praise as the most underappreciated player at Selhurst Park, coming as new manager Oliver Glasner gets off to a winning start.
Glasner up and running as Palace beat Burnley
The Austrian was confirmed as Roy Hodgson's official replacement last week, with Palace hitting the ground running as their head coach made a victorious Premier League debut.
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The Eagles beat Burnley 3-0 to lift them further outside the drop zone, while putting a reinforced cushion between them and the drop zone. Second-half goals from Chris Richards, Jordan Ayew and Jean-Philippe Mateta got the Glasner era up and running in terrific style, with the 49-year-old praising his players thereafter.
“This [patience] was what we were speaking about at half-time,” said Glasner on Palace's victory over Burnley.
"We played a brilliant first-half, also before the red card, so we were very dominant. We created chances and I think at half-time it was 6-0 [in terms of] shots for us. In defence we did brilliantly and then we said, ‘OK, stay patient, always keep the balance in the game, we will create our chances’ – and congratulations to the players.
Tottenham
March 2nd
Luton Town
March 9th
Newcastle
March 16th
Nottingham Forest
March 30th
Bournemouth
April 2nd
“They did it really fantastic, so they deserve all the credit today and congratulations. How we forced the red card was brilliant. We attacked very high, and in this situation with a kind of spirit, intensity, Jefferson Lerma took the ball away, so it was really nice to see. We had a great spirit from the beginning."
While Glasner will have plenty of Palace headaches on the horizon, like murmurs over the futures of star players like Marc Guehi, there is definitely reason to be optimistic over the Europa League winning head coach and his potential at Selhurst Park.
“He’s very structured, very well organised, meticulous, observes the opposition very closely and prepares the team very well for them,” said former Bayern Munich boss Niko Kovac to the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung (via Bundesliga).
“He doesn’t just let Eintracht run their boots off. He adjusts tactics, tries to simulate the opponent during the week in training. Oliver has transferred his ideas of football well to his team because he works methodically, because there’s no chopping and changing.”
Pundit praises "underappreciated" Jordan Ayew
There were many players to thank for Glasner's debut Palace win the dugout, and one of them was goalscorer Ayew, who has now attracted lofty praise from pundit Robbie Mustoe, who explained on the 2 Robbies Podcast: (via We Are Palace):
“Jordan Ayew by the way should get some sort of underappreciated award or something because he is underappreciated, he’s an important player for them."
The Ghanaian has bagged four goals and six assists in 24 league appearances this season, and he could play a big role for Glasner in Palace's quest to avoid relegation.