Oliver Glasner’s position as Crystal Palace manager is under mounting pressure after his side equalled the club’s worst start to a Premier League season, with the Austrian’s fate expected to be determined by results before the next international break.
The 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Monday means Palace have failed to win any of their first eight games of a top-flight campaign for the first time since 1992-93.
Glasner’s team are also the Premier League’s lowest scorers with five goals and sit in 18th place having matched their points tally at this stage of the season from 2017, when they lost their first seven matches under Frank de Boer and Roy Hodgson.
The Palace chairman, Steve Parish, was at the City Ground to witness an abject performance in which Dean Henderson fumbled a shot from Chris Wood to concede the winning goal. While it is understood that Glasner is likely to be given an opportunity to turn things around having made an instant impact when he replaced Hodgson in February, there is a recognition that things must improve quickly after such a disastrous start that has already left them five points behind Everton in 16th.
Palace – who are one of a record four teams in the league still not to have won a game at this stage of the season – host Tottenham on Sunday before travelling to face Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup in midweek. That is followed by an away game at bottom-side Wolves before Fulham visit Selhurst Park on 9 November in fixtures that could prove crucial to Glasner’s future.
The former Brighton manager Graham Potter – who held talks with Palace earlier this year about replacing Hodgson – David Moyes and Gareth Southgate could be targets if Glasner is sacked, with all three at present out of work.
There are believed to be concerns among the Palace hierarchy about Glasner’s inflexibility over his favoured 3-4-2-1 system, while the new signing Daichi Kamada – who is the club’s highest earner following his arrival on a free transfer and previously thrived under Glasner when at Eintracht Frankfurt – has failed to fill the void left by Michael Olise. Palace have won only once in the league under Glasner without the France forward, who joined Bayern Munich in the summer and the manager admitted that his players are lacking confidence.
“We’re always thinking about solutions,” Glasner said after the Forest game. “Maybe it is to change the shape – we need more players on the pitch who can score goals.
“It’s tough at the moment, to be honest. But nobody is blaming anybody. Very often we are in the final third and making the wrong decisions. This is due to a lack of confidence. We are humans. It’s time for hugging the players, not for kicking them.”
Adam Wharton was an unused substitute against Forest having started Palace’s last 22 matches. Glasner admitted that they must decide whether the England midfielder needs surgery on a persistent groin injury that has hampered the 20-year-old’s performances this season.
“It is a decision we will take together,” Glasner said. “We are talking with him and, if we have to do it, [of] finding the right moment. Or, [on] the other side, his body will tell us. If the pain gets worse, then we have to do it. At the moment, it’s OK.
“We need him, he knows this, and he is here for the team. We hope it gets better, but to be honest, it doesn’t look like that.”
