How Glasner led Palace through darkness to light of FA Cup glory

The moment Crystal Palace emerged from a crisis that threatened to overtake manager Oliver Glasner, and it was their greatest day and the highlight of their FA Cup victory over Manchester City.

In the Wembley sunshine, Palace celebrated their first major success in their history with a victory over Tottenham in their ninth game on October 27, making their worst start to a season since 1992-1993.

This was the only justification for chairman Steve Parish and the Selhurst Park hierarchy to keep their nerve as the 50-year-old Austrian gathered around the chant “Glad All Over” as Glasner and his triumphant Palace side celebrated in front of their ecstatic support.

After saying during those troubled times in October, “It’s time to hug my players, not kick them,” it was also vindication of Glasner’s own approach.

At Wembley, Palace paraded the FA Cup, the crowning glory of Glasner’s recovery, in brilliant execution by his players, and there was plenty of hugs going on.

When history was made, Glasner reacted calmly and measuredly as he marched over to Pep Guardiola, a lost city rival.

When Jurgen Klopp won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022, Glasner’s intensity and positive attitude drew comparisons to those qualities.

When Glasner and Palace struggled to win the first game of the season, it was effective.

When Palace’s first eight games of the season ended with just three points, Glasner never lost faith in himself. He never lost faith in Palace’s players, which is even more impressive.

After finishing the previous campaign with 19 points out of a possible 21, he thought Palace’s slow start was due to real causes.

After Palace lost arguably their most gifted forward to Bayern Munich in a £50m deal, this meticulous and strict person was overseeing a major change. Joachim Andersen, a key defender, left for £30 million with Fulham.

Eddie Nketiah joined Arsenal for £30 million, but he had not practiced, and his squad’s other key components were lacking.

At Euro 2024, Eberechi Eze, Adam Wharton, Marc Guehi, and goalkeeper Dean Henderson were with England, and Jean-Philippe Mateta was an Olympic finalist for France. Colombia and Jefferson Lerma attended the Copa America with Daniel Munoz and Jefferson Lerma.

Glasner was confident that Palace would be a force once they were back up, but he also had to take into account four deadline-day signings, including Matt Turner from Nottingham Forest, Maxence Lacroix from Wolfsburg, and Trevoh Chalobah, who is currently on loan from Chelsea.

Parish insists that because of his efforts and upbeat personality on the training ground, Glasner’s position was never in doubt. The payback for that display of faith comes today, when a new chapter of Palace’s history is written.

Eze, Ismaila Sarr, and Mateta, the attacking trio, are spearhead and focal point, while the others are stumbling and in danger.

In other areas, Palace have strengths, with Pedro Porro and Sergio Munoz scoring the most assists of any Premier League defender in 2024-25, with six goals and seven assists, the highest total of any defender for any Premier League team this year.

Even though Palace lost influential captain Guehi after 61 minutes at Wembley following a head injury, the Eagles’ back three of Chris Richards, Lacroix, and Guehi have been solid.

And Palace also has an X-factor, which is crucial on big events when margins are good.

Throughout the FA Cup campaign, Glasner’s big players, who he believed would recover from that early-season slump, have delivered and defeated City once more.

Eze’s sharp 16th-minute strike ended a classic Palace counter-attack with a deft finish past City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.

The decisive moment was set for Palace’s first shot and first touch inside the penalty box, but with such a sparse and ruthless stance came.

The talented forward helped Palace advance to the quarter-finals of Fulham, the quarter-final, and the semi-final at Wembley for Aston Villa.

Henderson has also decorated Palace’s success, first as a villain against Villa and then as both a hero and villain.

Henderson only made a mistake when he stumbling over a long ball from Erling Haaland and getting too close to Josko Gvardiol’s goal when the video assistant referee determined the city’s striker had been moving away from goal and had been given a clear chance to score.

Henderson was flawless in both this incident, saving from Jeremy Doku, Gvardiol, and Jeremy Doku in the opening half, before City’s late substitute Claudio Echeverri.

While the keeper may have to go through some lengths to justify the chants “England’s number one” from Palace fans, England head coach Thomas Tuchel, who is a fan of Henderson, was watching, there is no doubt he has strengthened his claims.

Palace has no issues with this. Everyone who was involved in this was filled with joy, especially the supporters who were so passionately and loudly supporting the Eagles and were desperate to end the heartache of their FA Cup final defeats against Manchester United in 1990 and 2016!

Before Palace made this FA Cup run, Glasner’s three previous Wembley appearances included a Taylor Swift concert and a visit to England twice.

After a comprehensive 3-0 win over Villa in the semi-final, he has now made his own Wembley memories, with Palace fans chanting their entire victory playlist as soon as referee Stuart Attwell signaled the end of 10 tortuous extra-time.

Before the FA Cup final, Glasner warned against talking about history until the hen had laid the egg.

When laid, the egg was golden.