Oliver Glasner: Crystal Palace's slow start, the absence of Michael Olise and the failure of summer signings | Football News

Oliver Glasner could do nothing wrong. It was remarkable how he had managed to take Crystal Palace from a team that was looking over their shoulder to the highest points total in the Premier League in less than three months.

The new coach's resurgence helped produce six wins out of seven at the end of the season, but it was thanks to a man who had led Eintracht Frankfurt to the Europa League title two years earlier and Lyon a rejection last summer had granted.

Glasner's arrival at Selhurst Park had been a coup and, combined with that form, inevitably sparked a summer of optimism at the club. The 5-0 defeat to Aston Villa in the last game was the perfect farewell as Jean-Philippe Mateta scored his 13th goal in as many games since Glasner took over.

It couldn't stay that good, but there was certainly no idea how bad it would get.

Glasner has already started to temper expectations. “The first goal was always not to get relegated,” he said last month.

“The last seven games of last season were great, the first 31 weren't.” But now that fans have seen what Palace and he can do when at their best, it's hard to forget.

Seven games into the new season and Palace have still only matched the five goals they scored on the final day of the season. If they fail to keep beating Nottingham Forest Monday Night FootballThis makes this the longest winless start to a season in 31 years.

A sense of concern has returned among a fan base more accustomed to false premonitions, with a thread on the club's official forum titled “How worried are you about our poor start?” It runs to more than 32 pages.

Glasner is the fourth favorite and the first Premier League coach to be sacked this season, but there is little sense that the Austrian is facing much scrutiny from the boardroom or the stands – yet. Why?

The new boss's first transfer window provided more questions than answers. January's additions of Adam Wharton and Daniel Munoz had boosted his start, but the loss of Michael Olise and, to a lesser extent, Jordan Ayew left him facing an uphill battle.

The pair contributed 13 assists last season – almost a quarter of Palace's total assists.

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None of Palace's six new signings have really settled in so far and, unsurprisingly, the club have suffered most in the final third.

Ayew was already in the phase-out phase at the time of his departure, but Olise's sensational start in the Bundesliga, where only Harry Kane scored more goals than Bayern Munich's new winger, rubbed salt into the wound of what was already an obvious defeat. Replacing one of Europe's best performing wingers is a big task for a club like Palace.

Olise's strong relationship with Eberechi Eze was particularly missed. Last season they started five games together under Glasner, scoring nine goals – and Palace won each time.

In the six games in which one or both did not feature under Glasner, Palace failed to beat Luton, Forest, Bournemouth and Fulham, all teams who finished under them in 2023/24.

Replacing the spark was always a big challenge. The addition of two talented players, Eddie Nketiah and Ismaila Sarr, but no equivalent replacement for Olise, who was arguably their most important player.

Sarr and Nketiah are yet to score in the league and started together for the first time in the final game before the international break, when the failing Mateta was eventually benched and Nketiah moved from the right to his more natural number 9 role.

Together they scored the opening goal in the first minute, which was prevented due to a narrow offside position, but otherwise showed little hope of finding the missing spark.

In order to click, some adjustment is required from both the players and their manager. Neither player is Olise, either in style or star quality – and Nketiah's talents are completely wasted.

Eze also suffered without Olise. The fatigue of a shortened summer hasn't helped, even if England only had a few minutes at the European Championships.

He has scored just one goal this season and missed Palace's best chance against Liverpool. What seems clear to the naked eye is backed up by statistics.

He still creates chances, but they are of far lower quality than when Glasner arrived. He hardly hits his man half as often. The frequency with which he brings the ball into the final third has dropped even further.

Another new signing, Daichi Kamada, arrived in Frankfurt with high expectations given his past at Glasner, but was another disappointment. He was anonymous on his debut against Brentford and has barely recovered since.

Kamada's difficulties in adapting were compounded by being thrust into an unfamiliar role in defensive midfield. “It's really unfair to say that one man is responsible for this,” Glasner said of the Japan international, given the hurtful criticism he has received.

But the manager himself must take some of the responsibility for Kamada's slow start. Last week he played and scored for Japan in Saudi Arabia, operating in his preferred No. 10 position. Time will tell if Glasner takes notice.

The list of affected people could be continued. Wharton, another player who spent much of his summer in England training for Euro 2024, no longer looked like the same player and suffered a blow.

Marc Guehi would also have liked more peace, especially after a transfer saga with Newcastle that spanned the entire transfer window.

Trevoh Chalobah, brought in on deadline day to replace the influential Joachim Andersen, was just fit enough to start his first game against Liverpool after being dropped from Chelsea in pre-season.

Munoz, who thrived as a creative full-back under Glasner last season, looks tired in a demanding role with no natural replacement in the squad – an issue the coach will need to address given he was injured against Liverpool.

The only criticism of the manager focused on his tactics, which remained largely unchanged despite the different personnel structure. Individual form and especially fitness issues did not lend themselves to Glasner's philosophy of high intensity and pressing.

Palace were sluggish in the starting blocks and struggled to establish themselves early in games. With one exception, a 2-1 loss to Everton, they scored their only first-half goal of the entire season before collapsing nine minutes after the restart.

Time will probably be healing for Glasner and for Palace. But he will have to adapt his style to a different player profile than last season, many of whom are still going strong.

And with tough tests against Forest and Tottenham ahead of a trip to Wolves on November 2, the man who could do no wrong could be under real pressure if things don't improve by the trip to Molineux.

Analysis: No reason to panic about the new arrivals in January

Michael Bridge from Sky Sports News:

“I don't think there's any reason to panic. They were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty against Liverpool and of course there is nothing worse than a defeat before a two-week international break.”

“For me, the crucial moment came on the opening weekend. If Eze's free kick (a disallowed shot against Brentford) counted, will Palace win the game and Eze start the season brilliantly? The new signings also need time to settle in.” This hasn’t happened with Sarr and Kamada yet.

“Palace received good money for Andersen but they also said goodbye to a good, solid Premier League defender. It's still early for Maxence Lacroix, but there are good signs after the last few games. Adam Wharton is not completely fit. Glasner.” also has to decide who his main striker is.

“Michael Olise is dead and will be one of the biggest names in world football in a few years, but to say Palace miss him and he is the reason for the poor start is lazy. Olise had a lot of injury problems at Palace and they figured out a way to win without him.

“The manager will no doubt want one or two new signings in January. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were looking for another left-back.”

“Monday’s game at Nottingham Forest will be a tough test and it will be interesting to see any changes under Glasner after he was able to work with the majority of his squad over the international break.”