Oliver Glasner was vocal about his discontent with the current situation at Crystal Palace yesterday. The manager confirmed on Friday that he would be leaving Selhurst Park at the end of the season, shortly before revealing that Marc Guehi was also on his way out.
However, following his team’s 2-1 loss to Sunderland, Glasner went one step further in voicing his concern, suggesting the board has “abandoned” the squad.
He said: “Your heart gets torn out twice in a season, one day before a game. It’s tough to survive. That’s how it feels like right now.
“We played quite well and I think my players left their hearts on the pitch but I couldn’t support them from the bench,” said Glasner who failed to make a single substitution as his side were sunk by goals from Enzo Le Fée and Brian Brobbey after Yéremy Pino had given them the lead against the run of play.
“We feel that we’re being abandoned. There’s no support. Everybody’s disappointed. We’ve been playing with 12 to 13 players for weeks now. On the bench I had just kids. They had never played in a stadium with an atmosphere like this.
“Why I’m saying this is not to protect myself but to protect them. They need protecting. I made no substitutions because it would have been unfair. I see them in training every day. That’s where we are. The [senior] players need support.”
He added: “We’ve known we’re in this situation for weeks, for months now. What are we doing? We’re selling our captain [Guéhi] one day before a game. One day before a game, the first time I heard about it was 10.30am yesterday. All the set pieces, everything was prepared for Guéhi playing.
“Then, we had to change everything. Nobody told us. So then I have to stand in front of the group and tell them, ‘oh, the captain doesn’t play tomorrow.’
“I think the players did well in the circumstances. I’m so direct today because I feel I have to protect them.”
