CRYSTAL Palace Oliver Glasner said Romain Esse must improve if he wants to play more regularly for the Eagles.
The 20-year-old winger started against his former club Millwall in the Carabao Cup Third Round on Tuesday, September 16, but was replaced at half-time after a poor opening 45 minutes, with Lions centre-back Caleb Taylor often getting the best of him.
Esse came through Millwall’s academy and became the Lions’ club-record sale back in January when he completed his move to Palace. After scoring on his debut, Esse found chances in the first team hard to come by, making nine appearances in his first season at the club, just one of which was a start.
He had only played 25 minutes of football this campaign prior to being named in Glasner’s starting eleven. The Eagles went on to progress to the Fourth Round by beating Millwall 4-2 on penalties, after the match finished 1-1.
The Austrian head coach made it clear he was not impressed with Esse’s showing against the Lions.
“I don’t want to talk about a single player, but if you sub someone at half-time, you are not pleased with his performance,” Glasner said.
“It’s simple, football is not so difficult. When you get a chance, you have to perform and show you can help the team win the game.
“If I have a feeling a player can help the team win a game, he gets many minutes. If I get the feeling a player doesn’t help a team win the game, he doesn’t get many minutes.”
Asked if it will be tough for him to get minutes as it stands, Glasner said: “It’s up to him. As always, it’s up to the player.
“He’s a nice guy, I like him as a person. But I’m not being paid to be a nice person, I’m being paid to win games. If anybody shows that he can help to win games, he will play many minutes. It’s up to the player to improve.
“I don’t want to talk about Romain the whole time, it’s not fair. I will talk to him in person. It’s up to him, so let’s see.”