Oliver Glasner went into his post-match press conference intent on offering praise.
The first name the Crystal Palace manager mentioned was Joachim Andersen, who was excellent in central defence and also assisted the game’s opening goal. Then he talked about Daniel Munoz, who provided touchline width to allow Palace’s attackers to drift inside and create from central areas. After that, he touched on how excellent Nathaniel Clyne was in the unfamiliar position of centre-back for the second week running.
“I’m not happy talking about one, two or three players here,” said Glasner. “This is the job of the offensive players; they should score goals. They see now that when they work together, in offence and defence, they create chances. When you are connected, you can play together. That’s our headline.”
After beating visitors West Ham 5-2 on Sunday, he’s right, of course; Palace were excellent in almost every phase of the game.
If the Selhurst Park faithful were not entirely convinced by their new manager ahead of the weekend, this is the kind of display, from back to front, that sends waves of confidence through every facet of a club. To praise the entire team’s performance, application and attitude is what Glasner should be doing after a display like that.
But let’s say the quiet part out loud: the afternoon belonged to Palace’s outstanding front three of Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze and Jean-Philippe Mateta. They were responsible for four of the five goals as Palace strolled to a comfortable home victory, all but securing their Premier League status for another season — with five games left, they are now 10 points ahead of fourth-bottom Nottingham Forest, who only have 12 points left to play for — just a week after beating Liverpool at Anfield.
Olise and Eze treated the win like a leisurely springtime stroll on a Sunday afternoon.
While the manic, high-octane football buzzed around them, Palace’s wide duo muted the volume and played the game to their tune. They have looked set for football’s high table since they first glided along the turf at Selhurst, and this level of performance has turned from hope to expectation.
Eberechi Eze, right, and Michael Olise (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
In recent weeks, however, centre-forward Mateta has established himself as the third prong of this Palace attack. His consistent goalscoring output is making him just as valuable as his attacking running mates.
And the Palace fans did not have to wait long on Sunday lunchtime to see the most in-form attack in the Premier League start to cook.
After receiving an Adam Wharton pass on the edge of the West Ham box, Eze took a sharp touch inside to take the ball away from his marker. With Lucas Paqueta closing in, Eze laid it off to his superstar-in-the-making running mate, Olise, who touched it back. Eze smoothly took the ball into his stride on the half-turn, but Vladimir Coufal blocked his attempted pass. Fortunately, it rebounded to Will Hughes, who knocked it into the box for Andersen. Then, from the upper-right corner of the area, the Dane curled a pass for Olise to head in.
If the first goal was about Eze and Olise’s combination play, Mateta was arguably the most important for the second.
After Chris Richards’ halfway-line interception made its way into Olise’s path, he was presented with two options: a pass to Eze on the left wing or to Mateta, who was making a darting run behind West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna. He slipped in Mateta, whose driven effort was stopped by Lukasz Fabianski. However, the rebound from that right-footed save bounced straight into the path of Eze, who slammed a shot into the net from close range.
An Emerson own goal made it three then, for the fourth of the afternoon — ultimately the goal that put Palace out of sight — the attackers were at their absolute best. Following another interception near halfway, the home side set off in attack again.
Instead of Olise, Eze received the ball on the half-turn with Olise and Mateta on the defensive last line. On this occasion, Olise made the diagonal darting run behind the defence, and Mateta took position towards the far post — a clear attacking pattern to capitalise on the wide forwards’ transitional quality which has developed under Glasner. Eze then slipped in Olise, whose first-time cross dropped into the path of Mateta to tap in from close range. With 31 minutes played, it was 4-0.
Eze put the exclamation mark on a devastating performance in the 64th minute, winding and weaving his way from halfway into the box before slipping a pass through the legs of a helpless Kurt Zouma towards Mateta. The striker stayed composed and placed a shot past Fabianski into the near post — his second goal of the afternoon and sixth in eight league games.
Keeping hold of Mateta’s partners beyond the summer transfer window will take much work. Finding like-for-like and immediate replacements for two of the most exhilarating attackers in the Premier League will be near-impossible.
Sure, the job of the offensive players is to score goals, but Palace’s struggles to do just that around the start of the calendar year prove it’s easier said than done. While Glasner is right to praise the team overall, he has Olise, Eze, and Mateta to thank for this new-found cutting edge in attack.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo: Jean-Philippe Mateta; Henry Browne via Getty Images)
