Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner has insisted that they are better prepared for this season and sounds more upbeat about transfers and his squad than a week ago.
[Sky Austria have an exclusive interview](https://www.skysportaustria.at/mediathek/besser-vorbereitet-als-letztes-jahr-glasner-vor-neuer-saison-zuversichtlich/) with the Crystal Palace manager this week, with the focus this time on his squad’s preparation for the new season.
The Eagles will be kicking off their campaign earlier this year as they’re set to take on Liverpool in the Community Shield following their FA Cup success earlier this year.
That means they face a smaller summer of preparation than they would perhaps like, never mind a tough start to the season against the team most expect to be title winners once again.
Crystal Palace will be hoping for a better start to this season than last season, in which they went eight games without a win at the start of the Premier League before a 1-0 win over Tottenham on 27th October.
They lost five of those games and sat in 18th position in the table, dropping to 19th by the end of game week 12, when they drew with Aston Villa, before then rising up the table after that and finishing 11th and winning the FA Cup.
Glasner appears confident there won’t be a repeat of that for Crystal Palace this season, showing more optimism than at the end of last month when he was clear [they hadn’t done enough in the transfer market.](http://sportwitness.co.uk/i-was-promised-glasner-tells-austrian-media-about-serious-crystal-palace-transfer-concerns/)
_“Of course, I’m very confident on the other hand,”_ he said.
_“Unfortunately, the transfer window is still open for almost four weeks. So, anything can happen at any time._
_“So far, the players have been totally focused, although there’s obviously been a lot of noise surrounding a few players, but they’re handling it really well, are 100% committed, and are giving it their all in training. They identify 100% with the team, and our idea of football, as you can see, and that’s why we’re going in with a very good feeling._
_“We’re off to a tough start, of course, with the Community Shield against Liverpool, who have also invested a few Euros. Then we’ll be right back in the Premier League against the Club World Champions Chelsea. They’ve also invested a few Euros again._
_“So, yes, it’s off to a great start, tough, but we’re looking forward to it. We simply feel better prepared than last year. We also had preseason which is now a week shorter than expected due to the Community Shield, but it’s obviously a fantastic experience to play against the champions as the reigning FA Cup winners in front of a sold-out crowd at Wembley._
_“There are worse season openers than this, and that’s why we’re really looking forward to it.”_