OLIVER Glasner said Crystal Palace’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Selhurst Park showed where his side needed to improve – before he reflected on the best calendar year in the club’s history.
Alfie Gray scored the only goal for Thomas Frank’s Spurs in the 42nd minute after the Eagles had failed to clear a corner.
Palace had more than 60 per cent possession and fifteen attempts at goal, though only two on target.
Spurs hit the target with four of their eight efforts and Richarlison had two goals ruled out by the Video Assistant Referee for offside. Tottenham’s Wilson Odobert also hit the post.
Jean-Philippe Mateta, Justin Devenny and Maxence Lacroix had excellent chances for the hosts.
“It’s a performance of both teams where I think you shouldn’t lose the game,” Glasner said. “We created enough to score goals, but we missed all our chances of getting punished by a corner, by a set-play.
“It showed exactly what we have to improve.
“We could see today, and some of you are watching Crystal Palace longer than me, but I can’t remember a Palace side dominate the Tottenham side like we did today.
“That makes it frustrating for all our players, because they are feeling the same. I don’t blame anybody for missing the chances, but we have to accept right now that we have a little bit of a lack of finishing quality in the team.
“But I could see, the way we play, with the structure and the chances we create, the [attacking] patterns worked. It’s now really about supporting the players to get this confidence back, that they are able to score more goals.”
Glasner led Palace to their first two major trophies in 2025, the FA Cup and the Community Shield, both at Wembley. They also went on a nineteen-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
Glasner said: ”2025, in the calendar year table, 37 games played in the Premier League and we are sixth in the table.
“Besides this, we are in the knock-out stage of a European competition.
“Besides this, we won the Community Shield and, of course, we won the FA Cup.
“So I think it’s by far the most successful calendar year in Crystal Palace history. This group of players delivered and achieved it.
“Today it doesn’t feel like this, but again, I see all the effort. I see the way we’re playing. Last year we won 1-0 here against Tottenham, but I think today we were much more dominant than we were in that game one year ago.
“It’s been an incredible year over all. So all the credit to the players for their effort, their togetherness and their quality. 2025 was an incredible year for Crystal Palace.
“All the credit to the players with their effort, with their work ethic, with their togetherness and their quality. Today it doesn’t feel like this, but [they deserve] a well done.”
Midfielder Will Hughes made his 150th appearance for Palace. He agreed with his boss’s assessment as he identified where the side fell short.
“I’d probably say being ruthless in front of goal. We had our chances throughout the game,” Hughes said.
“But we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.
“I think the manner of the defeat, we can be proud of the performance as a whole, compared to the Leeds game last week where, as the manager said after, we deserved to lose.
“But ultimately performance alone doesn’t get you the points and that’s why we are frustrated tonight.”
Hughes didn’t want to use tiredness as an excuse. Palace played eight games in December in three different competitions.
Hughes said: “It’s definitely lazy to say that. Because it’s nothing to do with energy or fatigue.
“It’s just we’re going through one of those stages now, all teams will go through it, where they’re creating chances and don’t put the ball in the back of the net.
“Unfortunately, we’re going through it at the moment.
“We’re creating the chances, that’s the most important thing, the next thing is putting the ball in the back of the net, and results will change – we’ve seen that previously.”
Palace take on Fulham at Selhurst Park on New Year’s day (5.30pm).
