Crystal Palace have been one of this season’s most unexpected success stories. After winning the FA Cup in the summer and securing European football in 2025/26, many expected them to dip in terms of form – however, this has not been the case.
Much of their success can be attributed to head coach Oliver Glasner. His intelligent, modern style of play has revolutionised the Eagles – they find themselves 8th in the Premier League table and 10th in the Europa Conference League table.
Today, we’ll be giving a run down of Glasner’s past, present and potential future. Additionally, we’ll also give you a brief breakdown of his tactical approach and management style.
Oliver Glasner’s previous roles
Glasner had four head coach roles before he made the jump to Palace. In chronological order, he has managed SV Ried, LASK, Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt prior to 2024.
Of all the clubs he has managed (including Palace), he arguably achieved his greatest level of success at Frankfurt. He led them to the Europa League title in 2022, defeating Rangers in the final.
Additionally, Glasner also won the Austrian Second League during his stint with LASK and won two Austrian Cups with SV Ried during his playing years.
Management style
Glasner’s style is very much a high-pressing, counter-attacking approach at its core. In their last ten outings, his team have enjoyed majority of possession in just two of them, against a hapless Wolves outfit and KuPS in the Europa Conference League.
Palace’s press is very difficult to deal with. It is not a constant press – rather, it is opportunistic. They tend to trigger a press when the oppostion move the ball backwards or take a poor touch. This sort of economical pressing allows Palace to keep their opponents busy, whilst also being frugal in terms of stamina depletion.
Generally, he likes his forwards to be fast, strong and adept at holding the ball up to aid in counter-attacks. Likewise, Glasner also wants his forwards to be able to find space in behind – as such, he has two excellent players for this job in Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah.
Glasner’s players must be both hard-working and talented on the ball – he asks a lot of them, but shrewd recruitment has allowed him to put his style into play with minimal teething troubles.
What does the future hold for Crystal Palace and Oliver Glasner?
Of course, Glasner may not be at Crystal Palace for much longer. When managers find success at smaller clubs, naturally, the division’s big hitters will become interested.
Tottenham Hotspur are in the midst of some truly rancid form – Thomas Frank’s job is currently hanging in the balance. Likewise, Arne Slot and Ruben Amorim have also been the recipients of criticism this season at Liverpool and Manchester United, respectively.
Is Glasner ready for a job at a big club? His style of play is effective, but not always entertaining – this sort of thing is often shunned at the biggest clubs in the game. Additionally, he has yet to take on a job of such a lofty ilk.
Nevertheless, his record at Palace speaks for itself. He has overachieved at Selhurst Park – but we have yet to see where the 51-year-old’s ambitions lie.