Oliver Glasner made a big claim in his post-match press conference after Crystal Palace’s 2-1 defeat to Everton.
The search for Palace’s first Premier League win of the season goes on. Despite Marc Guehi’s early opener, a Dwight McNeil brace sank the Eagles at Goodison Park.
It was another frustrating display from the visitors as despite all of their possession, they failed to create any clear-cut chances after going behind.
However, after the game, Glasner insisted that Palace did one thing despite stats suggesting otherwise.
Oliver Glasner believes Crystal Palace ‘controlled’ Everton for at least 70 minutes
After the defeat, Glasner spoke to BBC Sport, reflecting on another Premier League defeat.
Here, the Crystal Palace manager stated that he believed that his side ‘controlled’ large periods of the game.
He said: “Big disappointment, especially because I think we lost the game with mistakes.
“Over 70-75 minutes we controlled the game but you must be focused all game. It is a big strength of Everton’s in set-plays. They do it well and we defended it most of the time really well. It was always the second phase. It is important to always keep your focus high.
“We tried everything, we changed the system, brought on all our offensive players. They defended with 10 players around their box so we didn’t have a lot of space so it was difficult. Today we couldn’t score the equaliser. If you concede two goals it’s not so easy to get a point or to win.”
Crystal Palace had no control in the second half against Everton
While Palace did have a good period in the first half and rightly went into half-time in front, they came out a different side in the following 45 minutes.
After McNeil’s second, Glasner’s side did not even muster a shot on target, with Palace’s attack being described as ‘toothless’ by Clinton Morrison.
Glasner is simply deluded if he believes his side controlled the game for that long. In fact, as soon as Everton went in front, the hosts were in were in complete control of the game.
Palace had no answer to the Toffees’ tight backline and simply could not break them down.
Even with their backs up against the wall, Everton were still creating chances and could have arguably had a third late on.
With the international break around the corner, Glasner must use this time to fix Palace’s problems or the club will face a long season fighting relegation.
