When Crystal Palace beat Liverpool last month, it was regarded – quite legitimately – as a massive failure from Jurgen Klopp’s men. Would-be title-contenders had no business losing at home to a side that had taken just three wins and 15 points from their previous 20 games.
When Crystal Palace followed that up by thrashing West Ham United 5-2, it was regarded as the latest embarrassment in a dreadful second half of the season for the Hammers. David Moyes’ side had sat pretty in the top six at the turn of the new year before dropping off a cliff post-Hogmanay – a downturn that has now effectively cost the Scot his job.
When Crystal Palace then beat Newcastle United 2-0 three days later, it was another indication that Eddie Howe’s side are still not the finished product. Each couple of steps forward Newcastle took – including a 4-0 win over Tottenham the previous week – invariably followed be an embarrassing step back.
And now Crystal Palace have beaten Manchester United 4-0, it is all about Erik ten Hag. ‘The Dutchman clearly isn’t coaching them and needs to be sacked’. ‘Manchester United’s under-23s shouldn’t be losing to Palace, let alone the first team’.
All of which is very true. But what seems to have gone largely unasked is: are Crystal Palace actually just...good now?
Had it not been for the strong narratives that have underlaid each of their opponents’ seasons, and if we were not at a stage of the season where league titles, European places and relegation battles were being decided every week – none of which are of any concern to Palace – perhaps they would not have been footnoted in the way they have.
But they have, in fact, been good. Really really good.
It took them some time to get there after Oliver Glasner arrived. As Sam Cunningham noted in a superbly in-depth piece on the Austrian's methods for i, there were new ideas for the Palace squad to get to grips with after the departure of steady-away, somewhat stodgy Roy Hodgson.
A trip to Marbella for warm-weather training gave Glasner the opportunity to put his players through their paces more thoroughly to get them used to their more high-pressing style. The squad are now expected to work six days a week, even if one of those sessions is less about fitness work and more about dissecting the successes and failures of the game they played the day before.
The results are plain to see. According to FBRef data, since Glasner’s came to the club, Palace are doing a lot more of their defending in the middle of the pitch, rather than at either end of the field. Tackling is only up by 3% overall, but tackles won are up 10%, and tackles in the middle third of the pitch are up 29%.
To emphasise that: prior to Glasner’s arrival, they reached double figures for tackles attempted in the middle third of the field just three times in 24 league games. They have now done it in all of their past four outings, including a whopping 21 in that victory over West Ham. Opposition passes are being blocked or intercepted 25% more often.
Intriguingly, for a high-pressing side, they are also attempting far fewer tackles in the final third, perhaps suggestive of a team that is picking its moments intelligently, rather than blindly chasing the ball wherever it goes.
The effect on their patterns of play have been dramatic. They averaged 1.11 expected goals per game before Glasner’s arrival, conceding 1.48 expected goals per game. Now, those numbers are close to having switched over: 1.43 xG for, 1.18 against.
Of course, it’s not all about tactics. Palace’s two biggest stars, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise, have almost alternated their injury problems for much of the season, to the point that they’ve only actually started seven games together all season. Five of those seven have been wins, including three out of three under Glasner – massive for a side that has won just 11 games all season even after their recent upturn in form.
January recruitment has also helped Glasner along, with Adam Wharton and Daniel Munoz both impressing since arriving at the club from Blackburn Rovers and Genk respectively.
Nonetheless, it is rare for a new gaffer with such profoundly different principles to his predecessor to come in and have such a distinct impact on results and performances as quickly as this – even accounting for his initial transitional period of just one win in his first six games in charge.
There will be setbacks, because that is football: Palace were only able to draw with Fulham in the midst of this wonderful run of form.
But you can only wonder what they might look like after Glasner gets the benefit of a full pre-season in charge, but if they carry on as they have under his management, they will be an awful lot harder to ignore.
More Crystal Palace stories
Crystal Palace are of course represented in our Premier League team of the week, while Oliver Glasner has explained how the idea for Michael Olise's goal against Manchester United came from a shower at Craven Cottage.
