Crystal Palace sink 10-man Burnley to give Oliver Glasner winning start

Crystal Palace stood in the darkness, staring at the horizon. Would there ever be a glimmer of light? Would black ever ease to grey? When dawn did at last arrive, it blazed suddenly into a glorious morning. There may have been a slightly unreal sense about it but it was hugely welcome after the persistent drizzle of the past few months.

The truth, though, is that Palace will face few sides who collapse quite as abjectly as Burnley did and that, for a long time, the sunshine was unconvincing. Without Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise, this simply isn’t a creative squad, but they had more than enough to overcome a limp Burnley who are now eight points from safety and surely doomed. Palace, eight points clear of the relegation zone and with two of the sides below them facing potential points deductions, should be safe.

When he was asked about his philosophy, Oliver Glasner had replied that he wanted to score goals, because fans enjoyed that. And his side did, eventually, although the minutes between Josh Brownhill’s red card and Chris Richards’s opener were evidence of the limitations of this squad. Jordan Ayew’s fourth goal of the season and a penalty from Jean-Philippe Mateta made the game safe.

Sam Allardyce, Frank de Boer, Roy Hodgson, Patrick Vieira, Roy Hodgson, Oliver Glasner … the pattern has been clear for Palace as they’ve alternated between the stolidly English and the excitingly continental. But this plunge into the bold waters of foreign sophistication may be less of a gamble than the previous two dips. De Boer had succeeded in the idiosyncratic environment of Ajax before failing at Inter, while Vieira’s time at Nice was mixed. Glasner, though, has had far more consistent success at Lask, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt, elevating mid-table clubs to challenge at the fringes of the elite – which, frankly, sounds just the thing for fanbase chafing at the ennui of merely existing in the Premier League.

As his name was announced to a welcoming bellow before kick-off, Glasner casually sidefooted a water-bottle across his technical area so it came to a stop, deadweight, against a cluster of energy drinks. That turned out to be the most precise pass of a patchy first 30 minutes played almost entirely in the Burnley half.

Other than a close-range header from Odsonne Édouard that James Trafford kept out with a sharp reflex save, Palace had created very few clear-cut chances. But against Burnley this season all you have to do is wait. Ten minutes before the break, Trafford’s ill-conceived pass was intercepted by Jefferson Lerma, who was then hauled down by a panicking Brownhill. The red card was far too obvious for anybody to protest; Brownhill lingered by the side of the pitch just in case VAR could conjure a reason to spare him but Vincent Kompany is no more David Copperfield than Glasner and the decision was upheld.

Glasner insisted he had no input into the team selection for Monday’s 1-1 draw at Everton, which makes it remarkable that Palace adopted the very 3-4-2-1 shape he preferred for much of his time at Eintracht, the first time Palace had deployed a back three in the league since August 2022. It was a 3-4-2-1 again and what was notable was how Lerma and Ayew thrived in it, relishing the freedom to interchange.

Ayew, having been a player who seemed incapable of making the most of his talent, forever making poor decisions, has matured to become one of Palace’s most consistent performers over the past couple of seasons. It was his delivery that found Richards unmarked at the back post to break the deadlock, and then he arrived at the back post to knock in Matheus França’s cross. França, signed for £16m from Flamengo in the summer, has barely played since, but it was his run that led to a harsh penalty decision against Vitinho and Palace’s third.

There is a lot of room yet for improvement, and nobody should be judged after a game against a 10-man side that looks certain to be relegated, but equally nobody would reject a 3-0 win in their opening game. The Glasner era is up and running.