By Paul Green at Selhurst Park
OLIVER Glasner admits Crystal Palace’s failure to strengthen in the summer might be catching up with them as the Eagles went down 2-1 to Manchester United at Selhurst Park on Sunday.
The FA Cup winners were much the better side in the opening period but only had Jean-Philippe Mateta’s retaken 36th-minute penalty to show for their dominance.
But the home side emerged much more lacklustre after the break, possibly due to their exertions in the previous Thursday evening’s 2-1 Europa Conference League defeat at Strasbourg.
They went down to the same scoreline once again after second-half goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount wrapped up all three points for the Red Devils.
Palace will lose one of their key players, Ismaila Sarr, to Africa Cup of Nations duty this month, when the Selhurst Park side player eight games in 26 days. They have also had injuries, including to club skipper Marc Guess recently.
And the SE25 manager acknowledged in his post-match press conference that the lack of signings during the last window was now coming back to bite his side.
Glasner said: “That’s the issue. We’ve never talked about it to be honest but today it feels like it’s time because I want to protect the players.
“The energy level was not that high at the end. They looked a bit fatigued.
“I want to protect them because I know how hard they’re working every day and it was our 22nd game and [United’s] fourteenth game [of the season].
“I could see they were physically better, we got mentally a little bit fatigued. That’s what we are facing. It’s now time to mention it, it’s clearly our fault.
“We missed the opportunity to strengthen the depth of the squad in summer. We knew the schedule, we knew Ismaila Sarr would go to AFCON. Nothing was surprising.”
There is no let-up in sight for Glasner’s squad, with two more Conference League fixtures and an EFL Cup quarter-final at Arsenal, the latter just two days before Christmas.
The Eagles chief said: “When you play European football for the first time in your history, let’s invest instead of save. We saved and this is what we’re facing.
“This group of players are giving everything. There is no blame for the players because they are leaving their hearts on the pitch.
“Even today in the end in stoppage-time they tried and tried to get the equaliser but there are moments when the legs don’t do what your head wants them do.”
Glasner added: “We all would have wished for a little more backing.
“We are still in a very good position in all competitions, so that’s the positive side. Learning sometimes hurts, we have to go through it. We will learn from it and stick together.”
Palace play Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday (7.30pm).
