Tribal Football

Palace boss Glasner delighted with early Nketiah, Sarr impact

Palace boss Glasner delighted with early Nketiah, Sarr impact
Palace boss Glasner delighted with early Nketiah, Sarr impactAction Plus
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has welcomed the early impact of summer signings Eddie Nketiah and Ismaila Sarr.

Former Arsenal striker Nketiah is already off the mark for Palace.

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Ahead of Saturday's visit of Manchester United, Glasner said: “I mentioned after the (QPR) game we did our homework before signing Eddie, because we were thinking he can play several positions, because he's very smart and he's not the typical mind, strong with the back to the pitch.

“He's more a technical player, finding space, sometimes being in the pocket, also dropping a little bit deeper, but always finding the moment to be in the opposite box. And he's a great finisher. He showed it with his right foot and he had a big chance with his left foot.

“But we also could see that there were some misunderstandings between him and Ebs (Eze), between him and JP (Mateta), so this will take time to get each other known, but he's on a really good pathway.

“When you see all our games, since we arrived, it's all the offensive players. I think with the system we play, how we play, we bring them into scoring positions. But then it's the finishing quality. He has great finishing quality, so I was not really surprised that he scored a goal.

“He played two games within three days and almost for the full time. He didn't do this very often at Arsenal. And he's ready, he's fit, so it also showed that even if he didn't play there, and in pre-season he wasn't always involved in the Arsenal training and pre-season games, he's very professional and he's in very good shape.

“I hope the next goal will follow tomorrow.”

On Sarr, who arrived from Olympique Marseille, he also said: “In any single game when he came in, he had a very positive and big impact, positive impact on our game, so maybe this is a little bit his disadvantage at the moment because as a manager, you always want to have somebody on the bench where you are convinced that he can have a positive influence when you take him on the pitch.

“In the offensive three, JP scored two against Leicester. Now it was Ebs and it was Eddie. And, yes, all the offensive players, they scored a goal, so then we brought him on against Leicester as a right wing-back – and then even when we changed to a back four as a right full-back, a little bit risky, but we know his strengths.

“He has a lot of power, energy. He's always making runs. He can prepare situations. He can score goals. And, yes, it gives us a good feeling, and I'm sure he will get more and more minutes.

“What I really appreciate is that he accepts his situation at the moment and is always positive and having this positive impact for the team.”