Football Fan View | Palace fan analyses recent defeats and looks ahead

Over four days, Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace endured two 1-0 defeats.

These were identical scorelines that masked contrasting performances. 

Palace fan Darren talks us through fan perception of those results and looks ahead to Liverpool in the EFL Cup. 

Curiously, the team appeared more comfortable on the road against the Premier League leaders than at home against visitors from Cyprus.

Breaking down low blocks and asserting dominance when in possession remains a persistent challenge for Palace, as it was on Thursday. Glasner has seldom encountered such situations outside the early rounds of cup competitions.

As a side built to thrive on transition, Palace’s usual 3-4-2-1 formation is competitive in most Premier League encounters, and even against teams of a similar style there are often opportunities to exploit counter-attacks.

The question for supporters is whether occasional frustration against teams such as AEK Larnaca should be a concern, or if it is a problem likely to ease as the club progresses to the knockout stages of the Conference League, where matches are expected to be more balanced.

A new dimension to Palace’s fixture calendar 

Thursday fixtures offer a new dimension to Palace’s calendar, potentially serving as a palate cleanser with a victory between demanding league games. Yet the opening home defeat in that competition may have amplified the disappointment of the loss to Arsenal.

This remains a season of discovery for Palace, a campaign that demands they perform as favourites in one competition while maintaining an underdog spirit in the other.

Fortunately, there is still time for the team to adapt to this dual challenge.

A perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways

Liverpool away in the EFL Cup represents an almost perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways. Win that and suddenly we're only two rounds from another trip to Wembley. Slot's side will be low on confidence so there's a definite opportunity to progress.

Disclaimer | The points are made here are that of the author, not thos of London Super News.