Oliver Glasner praised Crystal Palace’s ‘completely deserved win’ on their UEFA Conference League debut against Dynamo Kyiv.
The Eagles were in command throughout the 90 minutes against a spirited Dynamo side in Lublin, but were forced to bide their time for a breakthrough, before high-quality finishes from Daniel Muñoz and Eddie Nketiah got our league phase off to the best possible start.
The Palace Manager said after the match: “We controlled the game or most of the time – just after the red card [for Borna Sosa], the pressure was a little bit more – but overall I think we deserved the win.
“We knew that they [Dynamo Kyiv] had played in the back five against AS Roma, for example, last year, so it was not completely surprising, yes, but it was a little bit [that they started that way tonight].
“Credit to the players, because we scored a very nice goal with Dani Munoz. This was one of our habits against a deep block, going in behind. We had two more big chances, and I think it was a completely deserved win.
“It looks like teams [in Europe] react more to the way we are playing, so in the Premier League every team plays its style, their system, once or twice it happens that the opposition changes their system, and now we’ve two opponents with Fredrikstad and Kyiv, and both teams started in a different system than we expected.
“Maybe this is a little bit different, and we will see if this continues, but it is not difficult to prepare the team, because they are so hungry to succeed, and so ambitious, and of course we want to keep them pushing, and it is really easy to keep the focus high.”
Glasner reserved words of praise for attacker Yéremy Pino, whose accurate cross led to the first goal, and whose moment of magic on the byline helped produce Palace’s second.
“He was very good,” the Manager said. “He worked so hard. In the last games, he didn't get the reward, but he's such a great guy, he always keeps going and he gets more and more used to the way we are playing.
“The second assist was too quick for my eyes! I'm already an old guy, too far away, it was too quick, so I’ll have to look back at it on TV! But it was a fantastic assist, and a very good performance.”
Will Hughes was substituted early in the second-half, and Glasner said: “He got a knock on his thigh, on his quad, a dead leg, and he was limping.
“We have a great medical department, so I hope that he will be available for Everton.”
The Manager also said of Jean-Philippe Mateta's maiden senior call-up for France: "It's fully deserved. We're very pleased. We got the information just before we left for the stadium. I’m really delighted for him.
"Now is no time to celebrate, now is the time to stay focused, but of course it's more the feeling, the satisfaction, that he worked so hard... I know he wanted this, we had a long chat in Austria at the training camp about the national team, so I'm really pleased for him that he is called up by France."
Palace must swiftly now turn their attentions back to the Premier League, and a first-ever trip to Everton’s new Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
“We don't prefer any competition,” Glasner stated. “We always want to win the next game, and I just told the players now after the game, ‘congratulations for this good start’. We have huge respect for Dynamo Kyiv, so playing away, starting with a win with three points in the Conference League is very positive.
“But now we have to switch the focus and it started really now. We start here to be ready for Everton on Sunday. Every single competition is the same, it is as important as the other one, and this is how we want to continue, game by game, and doing the best every single game.
“I’m proud that we could start the Conference League away against a very good opponent. I don't think about this [unbeaten] run, because it has already happened, so for me it is important what comes next, and next comes Everton, and their new stadium.
“We are really looking forward to this game, a great atmosphere, a great stadium, they are in very good shape. We could do everything today we planned to do: it was planned to play JP [Mateta] one half and Eddie Nketiah one half, it was planned to play Daichi [Kamada] and Yeremy about 60 minutes, and play Justin [Deveny] and Isma [Sarr] about 30, that everybody stays in shape, stays in rhythm.
“It was not planned, but I think he deserved it: it was the debut of Rio Cardines today, a young player who deserved it. The players know I don't give gifts. Minutes are not gifts, you have to deserve it, and he deserved it, so today was the right moment.
"A very positive day for us.”