JEAN-Philippe Mateta revealed he plays with the “fans in mind” as he feels a responsibility to give them bang for their hard-earned buck – and hopes to hear many more “booms” from Eagles supporters.
Mateta has scored five Premier League goals this season, three of them in his last six games to help keep Palace away from the relegation fight.
Not long after joining permanently from Mainz in 2022, Mateta asked fans to shout “boom” when he kicked the corner flag after scoring.
Palace supporters obliged and Mateta appreciates the “big noise”.
“I like to play with the fans in mind, because the fans come for us,” Mateta said on Palace’s website. “I want to play with them.
‘I like to clap my hands and to see them clap their hands to win the game.
“You can’t quite speak to them, but I like to feel something with them. A relationship with the fans. They don’t come to see us just to be serious, and for us to be serious and do the job solemnly. They pay. They put some money down to come, and they are much happier when we do it for them.
“I like to build a relationship with the fans, and that is why I ask them to say ‘boom’ when I score.”
He is not going to change his celebration.
“No, I’ve been doing this since I was young. I will always keep it, particularly in Selhurst, because it has started to be very loud now. They make a big noise. When I hear the ‘boom’, it’s always good for me.”
Mateta added: “I can still get better, but goals give me more confidence in the team. I feel like I am playing more, and that means more goals are hopefully going to come.
“For a striker, it’s always good to play. It is hard to play one game and stay on the bench for one game and then play another game. It is very hard. But now I start to have the rhythm, and I feel like that starts to give me confidence. The coaches have given me a responsibility, and now I have to show them I am ready for it.”
Oliver Glasner took over as Palace manager after the departure of Roy Hodgson in February. Palace have won one, lost one and drawn one of his three games in charge, Mateta scoring two goals.
Mateta explained the difference playing under the former Wolfsburg and Eintracht Fraknfurt boss.
He said: “Now we have changed coach, the new coach has a different type of football. It is more about running. He has asked for more intensity in the team and in training. In the game, we want more intensity and more pressure. Everybody has to run.
“We want more attacking pace, more speed, to be more quick. You have to play forward more quickly, and for this we have to train hard all week.
“If I can have more goals with this type of way we play, then it is good for me and good for the team.
“In Mainz it was also a lot of running, but in the Premier League they have everything. There is more tactics, more pace, everyone is more strong. Every game is also completely different. You could play against Burnley or Chelsea or Brentford and it is always not the same.”
