Oliver Glasner’s in-depth analysis before taking the Crystal Palace job is part of the reason things are now going so well for him at Selhurst Park.
That’s at least according to Suddeutsche Zeitung, who cover Glasner and Crystal Palace today as they continue to impress under the Austrian manager.
Glasner took charge of Crystal Palace earlier this year to replace Roy Hodgson, with his arrival moved forwards as the club had planned to bring him in the summer.
After something of a slow start, he and his side are enjoying a strong run of late, recently beating Liverpool at Anfield to put a dent in their title hopes before then hammering West Ham at the weekend, scoring four in the first half for the first time in the club’s history.
That moved them up to 15th and was undoubtedly their best performance of the season, and Suddeutsche Zeitung say it’s all part of Glasner’s planning.
They explain that the club are ‘unrecognisable’ from the side that was struggling under Hodgson and the ascending trajectory is ‘based on Glasner’s analysis of the club’.
He’d been in intensive contact with them since November and was ‘most thorough’ in his planning, so much so that he was ready to step up and replace Hodgson early when that chance became evident.
According to the newspaper the first step Glasner took was to establish a 3-4-3 formation, which he has ‘struck gold’ with early on.
That step has not only stabilised the defence but also released the highly talented attacking line of Eze, Olise and Mateta. That was seen in the win over West Ham in particular.
His second big step was establishing how he’d act, deciding to present himself with an ‘authoritative demeanour with well found communication’. He’s even taken the latter to his approach with the media, something which has quickly earned him popularity and support.
He’s more than enjoying life at Crystal Palace and they are loving life under him, with this recent run coming from the analysis he undertook before he became manager, and paying dividends early.