Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner makes 'survive' admission after dogged win over Burnley
Oliver Glasner was pleased with the battling manner in which his Crystal Palace side ground out an ugly win against struggling Burnley.
Daniel Munoz’s header on the stroke of half-time proved to be the difference as the Eagles emerged 1-0 winners at Turf Moor on Wednesday night.
It was an otherwise scrappy affair low on quality, but having come into the game off the back of back-to-back defeats to Strasbourg and Manchester United, Glasner was delighted to get back to winning ways.
“I think we have to split the game into two parts,” he said afterwards.
“The first 60 minutes we did really well, we controlled the game and scored a nice goal. For 60 minutes it was a good away performance and it was a deserved lead.
“The last 30 minutes was to survive. We could see it, we didn't have the legs anymore. We made two subs after 60, we tried to impact the game, but you need all 11 players.
“At that point, it’s a case of bringing the win over the goal line and that's what we did.
“That makes me really proud of the team, of their resilience, of their commitment, of their togetherness and then fighting for each other in getting this win.
“That's why I'm really pleased with this win here at Burnley and I think that sums it up. Good skills have to be able to grind out the win, and not capitulate at the end under the pressure.”
In the midst of a busy run of games domestically and in Europe, Glasner knew it was a case of doing what was required to get the three points.
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“It was very tough for the players because it was the third game in six days,” he added.
“Three times we had the lead at half-time and the last two games we lost 2-1 and that's somewhere in the back of the mind of the players.
“They're expecting that after 50 minutes, Burnley will come, they're playing at home, they're at the bottom of the table, they want to come back.
“Then staying that resilient is not easy, and again, that's why I'm really pleased with what I've seen today on the pitch.
“We needed a big save, we needed Chris [Richards] once with a great clearance on the goal line, but also when you want to win an away game in the Premier League, I think you need a great goalkeeper.
“We know that we have a great goalkeeper [in Dean Henderson], and you need maybe once to hit the bar. I don't know how often we've hit the woodwork this year, so we have to accept it at the moment.
“Burnley is a good team, they have a very good manager and they try everything to turn this around. Yes, it was not so fluid, especially the last 60 minutes.
“I think we started a bit slow into the game, but then we did really well. Again, scoring a very nice goal, controlling the game, and at the end we had to defend. We know that we can defend well, so we really don't concede a lot, and that helps us of course.”
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