Oliver Glasner hailed a “brilliant” first win as Crystal Palace manager, singling out the impressive display of substitute Matheus Franca.
Glasner had to wait until midway through the second half for his Palace side to take the lead at Selhurst Park, but an eventual 3-0 win over ten-man Burnley was the perfect start to his reign.
Summer signing Franca, who struggled for game time under Glasner’s predecessor Roy Hodgson, assisted Palace’s second goal and won a penalty, which Jean-Philippe Mateta scored to make it 3-0.
“Congratulations to the players”, said Glasner. “What they did today from the first second when they entered the pitch, everybody could feel the energy.
“It was important to stay patient today, because we had a fantastic first half. It was important to always keep the balance and then we will create our opportunities to score. We had a great impact from the substitutes. I also think it was a deserved win.”
Glasner said of Franca: “He had a big impact. He showed confidence. I spoke with him this week that he’s excellent in one-on-one situations but he maybe didn’t take the one-on-one situations as often as he could. But he got an assist [and won a penalty]. This is his quality, this is nothing I did with him. It’s his credit.
“Our analysts did a brilliant job preparing the players [on how Burnley play]. We stayed patient today. Again, brilliant. For me, the best thing from this game today was the balance we had.
“Before the game in the locker room it was ‘wow’, what kind of spirt and power the players showed. And at the end of the game it was ‘wow’ again. In such an environment, you are able to show your best performance. I don’t think it was our best performance, but it was okay for the start.”
Asked whether he is confident Palace will climb further clear of the relegation zone in coming weeks, Glasner said: “I don’t watch the table every week. For me, it’s much more important the way we played today.
“It was six-to-no shots at half-time, 15-to-two at the end. It’s important to stay humble now. We know it was a very good performance, but I also saw many things we could improve.”
