Glasner – the new Palace boss with an ‘intensity akin to Klopp’
Crystal Palace are a club in a Premier League relegation fight.
Step forward Oliver Glasner. In the space of a few hours on Monday, the former Eintracht Frankfurt boss was appointed Palace manager after predecessor Roy Hodgson finally confirmed his own departure .
The 49-year-old Austrian – who was at Goodison Park to watch his new side earn a valuable point – has been described as having a “genuine talent for revitalising struggling sides”, and is going to have to do just that.
But what is his background, and why have Palace brought him in?
‘A genuine talent for revitalising sides’
German football expert Constantin Eckner: Oliver Glasner has shown genuine talent for revitalising struggling sides, as he did at Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, who were both in the doldrums before Glasner arrived.
That being said, in both cases he took over the team before the beginning of the season, not some time in the middle of it while the transfer window is closed, as he is now doing.
His tactical approach can roughly be described as underdog football, in that his sides usually are most effective when they can hit opponents on the break rather than playing a proactive possession-based style. Given Crystal Palace’s current squad and the way the team have played this season, his brand of football could fit quite well in the first couple of months.
Whether he will be able to connect with the locker room as quickly and effectively as he did at previous clubs, where he knew about the culture, given that he is from Austria and has only coached in his home country and Germany, remains to be seen.
Glasner has been adamant about the fact that any successful manager needs to create a bond with his players. He did that extraordinarily well during Frankfurt’s 2021-22 campaign which ended with the Eagles winning the Europa League in the final against Rangers after knocking out Real Betis, Barcelona and West Ham.
While Glasner had been known as a calm and even restrained manager, he seemed to come out of his shell during that Europa League run, often supporting his players through gestures and instructions with a kind of intensity akin to Jurgen Klopp.
However, things took a bad turn during the 2022-23 season when Frankfurt were once again underwhelming in the Bundesliga and not as successful on the international stage.
Glasner became increasingly irritated in press conferences where he would lash out at critics. He also made headlines by claiming veteran defender Makoto Hasebe had played so hard he had blood in his urine after games, which club sources later disputed. This turned out to be the breaking point in the relationship between Glasner and Frankfurt’s management who decided to let the coach go.
Despite his surprising success with Frankfurt in the Europa League, he has to prove he can stay level-headed when he has to deal with losses and questions about his management ability.
‘Palace want to build on talent’
BBC Sport’s Crystal Palace writer Alex Howell: Before Hodgson returned to Crystal Palace last season the club had gone for a younger manager in Patrick Vieira, and this is what they have done this time too as they look to build on the talent in their young squad.
Glasner was linked with teams such as Chelsea and Tottenham and his stock in management is high after winning the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt.
The 49-year-old had also been in talks with Lyon previously, a club also owned by Palace co-owner John Textor, but it is felt that Palace are a better fit for him and it is hoped his style of attacking football will bring the best out of the Eagles players.
Glasner seems to prefer a 3-4-2-1 formation and this undoubtedly will take some adjusting to for the Palace squad.
The main challenge Glasner will face is that four of the team’s best players are currently injured and with two huge home games coming up against Burnley and Luton, it will be interesting to see how he copes without Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Cheick Doucoure.
The main goal in the 13 games he has left of this Premier League season is to make sure the club stays away from the relegation zone.
A club legend and European success
Glasner spent almost his entire playing career with Austrian side SV Ried, making more than 500 appearances between 1992 and 2011 before he was forced to retire after developing a brain haemorrhage.
After successful surgery and a period of recovery, Glasner began his coaching career in 2012 and has earned a favourable and fast-growing reputation around Europe.
Following talks with Ralf Rangnick, who would become something of a mentor to the young coach, Glasner was appointed as assistant to Roger Schmidt, the current Benfica manager, at Red Bull Salzburg.
When Schmidt moved on to Bayer Leverkusen in 2014, Glasner returned to SV Ried to take up the manager’s position, but moved to LASK after just one season at the helm.
In four years at LASK, Glasner took the club from the second tier to a second-place finish in the top flight and a spot in the Champions League third qualifying round.
His achievements did not go unnoticed and he was appointed Wolfsburg manager in the summer of 2019.
Champions League qualification was achieved in his second season but Glasner was on the move again, feeling the club did not match his ambition in the transfer market.
He joined the Frankfurt side he had just beaten to a top-four finish, but endured a difficult start and the team were languishing in the bottom half midway through the season.
A 2-1 win at Bayern Munich showed what Glasner’s side were capable of, and while an 11th-placed finish in the Bundesliga was unremarkable, their exploits in Europe were anything but, as they beat Barcelona, West Ham and Rangers to deliver the club’s first European trophy for 42 years.
His second season did not have the same fairy-tale ending. Having been knocked out in the Champions League last 16 and finishing seventh in the Bundesliga, Frankfurt lost to RB Leipzig in the German Cup final .
That proved to be Glasner’s last game in charge as similar concerns over the club’s ambition resulted in him stepping down last summer.
