OLIVER Glasner praised “fantastic” Dean Henderson after the Crystal Palace goalkeeper pulled off two point-blank saves in the Eagles’ stunning 1-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Eberechi Eze scored the only goal of the game when he finished Tyrick Mitchell’s cut-back in the fourteenth minute.
Henderson raised a left hand to push the ball over the bar from Luis Diaz’s effort and then used his leg to deny Darwin Nunez.
Full-back Nathaniel Clyne and midfielder Jefferson Lerma were in an unfamiliar back three either side of Joachim Andersen. Clyne produced an outstanding block to keep out Diogo Jota’s attempt.
Left wing-back arguably topped that when he blocked Mohamed Salah’s effort from inside the six-yard box in injury-time.
Anderson superbly led the defence and Lerma provided excellent cover when Jurgen Klopp’s title chasers got in behind.
Henderson got his place back in the side after Sam Johnstone inured his elbow on England international duty in March.
“It is fantastic win, congratulations to the team for the performance in the first half in playing football and the confidence we had and the chances we created and how compact we were,” Glasner said.
“Congrats for the passion and the spirit in the second half, how we defend. We had a lot of pressure and a fantastic goalkeeper in Dean and an outstanding passion to defend as a team. That’s the reason we kept a clean sheet and won the game.
“It is not every time you win here and I think I will go to bed early today and get up and have my coffee.
“In the first half I really liked the confidence in possession as Liverpool put us under pressure. The first goal we had 20 passes and many players in the box, that’s what we are working on.
“In the second half we had one big chance where Alisson made a great save, but we didn’t have the situation we created in first half in possession and transition. We defended as a fantastic unit.
“We showed who we are and how we want to play. The players did that from the first whistle. Maybe in the second half it wasn’t possible as the pressure from Liverpool was so high, but we defended them.”
It was a first league win in six games since Palace beat Burnley 3-0 at Selhurst Park in Glasner’s first match in charge.
“We can say we did it our way, you can always lose here, but it’s about being able to express yourself and play with confidence,” Glasner said.
“We cleared many situations under pressure with one, two touch. We scored an amazing goal. It’s about confidence, team spirit, passion.”
Henderson joked it felt like the game lasted “about a year”.
“Obviously coming to places like this you know you’re going to be busy,” Henderson said on Palace’s website. “I’m really enjoying being back now.
“I feel good this time around. I’m delighted and to come in to keep a clean sheet – it’s a team effort, of course – but I’m delighted with that, I’m buzzing.”
Henderson added: “We rode our luck many a time. The lads all dug in, they made save after save for me as well.
“When it comes to me, I do my job and it starts from the front and I thought we pressed really well and the boys showed a lot of courage here and we deserved that performance.
“I felt like I was out there for about a year and I didn’t think it was ever going to end! But to be fair the boys just stuck in there.
“I think the lads believed we could do something here. You had that sense on the coach on the way in. The pressure’s on them, we come here and we play our stuff, we’ve got some great talent in the dressing room, we’ve got bodies coming back in and the stuff we’ve been working on with the gaffer is coming out now.
“You’ve seen that, so we’ve just got to stick to the plan, points will come – once the bodies come back we’ll be a good outfit.”
