CRYSTAL Palace boss Oliver Glasner had some stern words for Romain Esse after hooking the attacking midfielder at half-time against his former club Millwall.
Palace went through to the fourth round of the EFL Cup after a 4-2 win on penalties following a 1-1 draw in normal time at Selhurst Park.
Esse – who joined the Eagles in a £14million deal from the Lions last January – was long gone by the time debutant home goalkeeper Walter Benitez saved penalties from Tristan Crama and Aidomo Emakhu.
It is the second time Glasner has taken off Esse early, after substituting him in the 89th minute of a 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield on the last day of last season, ten minutes after bringing him on.
“I don’t want to talk about a single player, but if you sub someone at half-time you are not pleased with his performance,” Glasner said.
“It’s simple, football is not so difficult. When you get a chance, you have to perform and show you can help the team win the game.
“If I have a feeling a player can help the team win a game, he gets many minutes. If I get the feeling a player doesn’t help a team win the game, he doesn’t get many minutes.”
Glasner was asked if Esse would get more chances over the coming weeks. He replied: “It’s up to him. As always, it’s up to the player.
“He’s a nice guy, I like him as a person. But I’m not being paid to be a nice person, I’m being paid to win games. It’s up to the player to improve.
“I don’t want to talk about Romain the whole time, it’s not fair. I will talk to him in person. It’s up to him, so let’s see.”
Palace went ahead through Chris Richards in the 72nd minute before Ryan Leonard headed home Jack Howland’s corner a minute into stoppage-time.
Before the whistle to end the game, Jean-Philippe Mateta missed a sitter.
Glasner said: “I haven’t seen the stats but our front three (Mateta, Esse and Yeremy Pino) lost 80 per cent of the duels, especially in the first half.
“We lost so many balls and we lost so many duels. We were too long on the ball and we took a few wrong decisions. We missed a few chances. And so the game was how it was.”
