Crystal Palace currently sit fifth in the Premier League, having only lost twice this season.
Despite losing one of their best players, Eberechi Eze this summer, as well as having a strange end to the transfer window with the Marc Guehi saga, Oliver Glasner has kept the ship settled. The Austrian has steered his Eagles into a great position to start the new campaign.
Crystal Palace are averaging the third-lowest possession numbers this season with just 42.6% per game. But they have simultaneously produced the fourth-highest Expected Goals tally at 20.56.
In this article, we’ll cover
Oliver Glasner’s 3-4-3 foundations
Many thought Palace would struggle this season after an excellent 2024-25 campaign, winning the FA Cup and finishing 12th in the Premier League.
However, Glasner has managed to navigate the losses of big players over the years. His trusty 3-4-2-1 system has provided the tactical foundation.
Within this system, Palace are able to seamlessly transition between their defensive and offensive shape, protecting space off the ball while still posing plenty of threat when they regain possession themselves.
Glasner is able to platform Palace’s best assets within this system to get the best out of them. He utilises the defensive qualities of his backline and pace in attack to hurt teams on the break.
Their defensive solidity has been a huge factor over the past few seasons to their success. The Eagles have kept 17 clean sheets in the Premier League since the start of last season.
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Active midblock
Out of possession, Glasner’s 3-4-2-1 becomes more of a 5-2-3. It can transition between a more aggressive midblock and a more passive 5-4-1 shape.
Where most teams look to build up with three across the backline, two in the pivot and five across the front, Palace feel they can go man-for-man in these scenarios. It ensures there is always pressure on the receiver.
A key aspect of this includes the wide centre-backs being confident to back up the press if front press is broken. They apply pressure to the interior receivers to ensure they cannot turn on the ball.
The profiling of the Palace defensive unit is key here. Both Chris Richards and Marc Guehi are comfortable stepping out into these midfield zones to apply pressure.
Meanwhile, the middle centre-back (Maxence Lacroix) is the perfect profile to cover the space behind the jumping wide centre-backs. The Frenchman uses his recovery speed to defend the channel if teams look to play direct in behind in these moments.
Verticality
Crystal Palace put an emphasis on being direct and vertical both in their build up and when they regain possession.
Glasner’s side are averaging 72.3 long passes attempted per game this season. The Eagles also average the fastest direct speed at 2.19 and second-fewest 10+ pass sequences with 6.58 per game.
Having the likes of Wharton and Guehi in the first phase of build up allow Palace to take risks when punching it through the lines. The duo average 6.2 and 5.7 progressive passes per 90 minutes respectively.
Glasner then has the strengths of his 3-4-2-1 system coming to the forefront. The wing-backs are allowed to bomb on providing the width, the inside forwards offer to receive between the lines and Jean-Philippe Mateta acting as an outlet through the middle.
Yeremy Pino has managed to replace the brilliance of Eze between the lines, receiving 8.3 progressive passes per 90, while Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz rank second and third in this metric with 5.6 and 5.1 per 90.
As previously mentioned, Glasner’s side are able to thrive in transition with their direct attacking approach due to their ability to soak up pressure within a mid block or even a low block, giving them the space to hit on the break.
Chance creation
Being able to hit teams in transition is a good plan to have. But Palace also have patterns of play they clearly work on in order to generate high xG chances.
The volume of their attacking actions aren’t extremely high, largely due to the lower numbers of possession they average. But, despite only averaging 10 crosses per match, this is a clear way the Eagles look to create in the final third.
Glasner often looks to have his flying wing-backs arriving in the final third in prime position to deliver crosses into the box. The opposite sided wing-back can then attack the back post.
Mateta’s box presence plays a big part in this. The Frenchman often attracts the attention of multiple defenders inside the box, allowing the back post to be exploited from crosses.
Set-pieces are another big part of Palace’s attacking arsenal. The Eagles have generated 6.83 xG from set-pieces in their 12 league games so far this season. Only Arsenal have generated more (7.88 xG).
The foundation Glasner has built at Palace based upon their defensive solidity and quality to hurt teams in transition is working a treat for the Eagles. But the big question for Glasner as he continues to be linked with some big jobs away from Palace, is how would he cope transitioning to a more ball dominant system?
