Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has spoken about an area where his side have been ‘vulnerable’ in recent weeks as they get ready to face Arsenal in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on Tuesday night. The Eagles travel to the Emirates Stadium aiming to book a place in the last four and return to winning form following successive defeats.
Palace were beaten by Leeds United at the weekend in what ranked among the more unexpected Premier League results. Even so, it has been a strong opening to the campaign for the Eagles, and reaching a cup semi-final would underline that progress.
However, to move on to the next stage, Palace will need to significantly improve their set-piece defending. Leeds took full advantage of that flaw last time out, something Glasner has openly acknowledged.
“For me, there’s always two possibilities to act when you’re weak in defending set-pieces like we were [at Leeds],” said the Austrian. “One is to have concerns and be worried about the next game. Then, my feeling, my experience, tells me we will get the next punishment.
“Or it’s ‘okay, see that there’s a challenge’. I don’t know how many setbacks I had in my life, and okay, we were knocked down in round three, but still nine rounds to go. If you’re always concerned about everything, it’s the wrong mindset.
“It’s about taking the lessons, seeing it as a challenge and say, ‘OK, we will do it better in three days.’ [There’s] no training, but we will do it better. We know we can do it better. We showed this so often. We have a chance to do it better. If we feel like victims or concerned and worried and scared, no chance.”
Arsenal’s strength is Palace’s weakness:
While Palace have been effective at attacking set-pieces themselves, sitting among the league’s top three, defending them has become a notable problem of late. Worryingly for the Eagles, no side has scored more set-piece goals than Arsenal, making this challenge an especially tough one.
“I think the game will be different to [Leeds]. Arsenal will have a few set-pieces,” Glasner added. “I know that we can defend them better, and it’s also not always talking about big problems. We have a chance to do it better.
“We have to give the players solutions. That’s the job of myself and my staff. And then we’ll give them the confidence that they can defend it and also score goals. We won against Brentford with two set-piece goals, and defended there very well. They’re a team that’s really good in set-pieces.
“It’s always a good challenge, and if we take this challenge, we can grow and learn from it. This will be our approach.”