“You don’t talk about the egg before the hen has laid it.”
Football managers are forever finding creative ways to divert questions and manage expectations – and Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner delivered this unusual answer when asked about the prospect of winning the club’s first ever major trophy.
The 50-year-old Austrian, whose side face Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup final (16:30 BST), has led his side to the brink of history.
Palace will qualify for Europe should they win at Wembley, and they need just one point from their final two games to set the club’s best Premier League tally.
It’s easy to forget they did not win a league match until 27 October – their ninth game of the season – as pressure built around the club.
But Palace’s record since beating Tottenham Hotspur that day is the sixth-best in the division, behind only Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest.
Such is their great form that boss Glasner has been linked with moves to RB Leipzig and Spurs, who have been beaten twice by Palace this season.
The Austrian has turned the south London side into a force to be reckoned with since replacing Roy Hodgson in February 2024 – and boasts the highest points-per-game record (1.49) of any Palace boss in the Premier League era.
When Glasner arrived, his energy and enthusiasm had a big impact at Selhurst Park, providing a huge boost to the players.
Palace ended last season with six wins from seven, but momentum was lost during a busy summer as star player Michael Olise joined Bayern Munich, seven players reached finals of major tournaments and four new signings arrived on transfer deadline day at the end of August.
That meant the core of Glasner’s team did not have a pre-season – far from ideal given the Eagles’ leader demands top fitness levels from his squad to implement the high energy tactics he likes.
Now that they have settled and sharpened, Palace are a wholly different proposition.
“I’m very pleased,” Glasner told BBC Sport. “Not just with the improvements, but I think with the environment we have created here at the training ground and also in the club.
“We are very ambitious, everyone is working very hard to progress, and this is the main reason why we are where we are now at the end of the season.
“We are really settled in mid-table and looking at the teams in front of us more than looking at the teams who are behind us.
“We are also playing the FA Cup final and very pleased with what has happened in the last 15-16 months.”
