Oliver Glasner is preparing for the start of his era at Crystal Palace, though one key area requires desperate improvement.
Crystal Palace are at the dawn of a new era, with new head coach Oliver Glasner taking charge for the first time against Burnley. The Austrian manager brings hope of ambition beyond just Premier League survival for the future.
It may take some time for Glasner to get there though, with a mid-season arrival meaning the first goal is to avoid the drop. He will also be challenged to implement a style of play, with a five-at-the-back being his preferred system.
While there will likely require some patience in the weeks ahead, there is one key area that will need to be improved right away.
Oliver Glasner’s set-piece predicament
When looking at the biggest areas for improvement, one stands out when compared to individual statistics and the Premier League as a whole. That’s the attacking set-pieces for Crystal Palace through the campaign.
Set-pieces won’t dictate the long-term future under Glasner, that’ll come from his style and how well it translates to the squad at his disposal and the opposition. However, it is the place of biggest underperformance within the team so far and can often prove to be the difference in tight games.
Looking at data from Opta Analyst, the Eagles have scored just one set-piece goal in the Premier League this season. While that is the lowest in the league, the figure looks far worse when it’s considered that 6.53 xG (expected goals) have been generated from their set-pieces.
That suggests an underperformance of roughly five goals in the campaign from corners and free-kicks alone. It won’t be enough to get Palace into Europe, but it’s those fine margins that could propel them further up the table.
Crystal Palace attacking stats
The averages can balance out, of course, and perhaps the deficiencies on set-pieces have been elevated from their overperformance with finishing elsewhere. Opta stats show Crystal Palace to be in the bottom three for xG – producing just 19.1xG so far this season.
The actual goals tally stands at 24, which is roughly mid-table this season, and suggests that Palace have been taking their chances well. The new regime should work off the basis that this won’t last forever, though.
It’s clear that, in the short-term, work must be put into being more clinical from attacking set-pieces, but long-term there needs to be a shift in the attacking performance so there isn’t an overreliance on elite finishing that could disappear at a moments notice.
Good seasons are made from overperformances, while good eras are built on improving the average performance.
