BY ALEX PEWTER
Oliver Glasner joked that Daniel Munoz should have had a hat-trick against Newcastle with the number of chances he had during Crystal Palace’s late 1-1 draw on Saturday.
Having missed a clear-cut shot to take the lead during the first half from an Ismaila Sarr cross, Munoz needed two more opportunities to score his maiden goal for the Eagles since signing from Genk last January.
A towering header at the back post from a Marc Guehi cross in stoppage time found its way past Nick Pope at the near post in the 94th minute to send Selhurst Park into raptures.
Glasner: “I said to Danny: ‘Usually you would take the goal home after scoring a hat-trick.’
“When I see us defending the set play and how we played from the edge of the box, creating these chances, it is just fantastic and shows how we performed in many situations.
“The second one was also a great opportunity. Credit to Dan Burn for the save on the line. He scored at the end. And this is where he shows his character.”
In addition to Munoz’s goal, he had three shots and five touches in the Newcastle area – and only Jefferson Lerma contributed more to the defensive aspect of the game.
His 14 contributions, which included winning five of a match-leading nine tackles, showed that the visit did target Palace’s two-way player, but to little success.
As Glasner was keen to highlight, Munoz’s performances in this tactical setup are debatably more impressive given his workload during and following the recent international break.
“He’s unbelievable,” he said.
“And I’ll tell you what, when he came back on Thursday afternoon from Colombia after the international break, and then Friday we go to Aston Villa”.
“One training session with us 45 minutes after playing twice, 90 minutes for Colombia and all the travelling and time difference. And he was sprinting 600m at Villa.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD
Related stories