Oliver Glaser insists it is ‘clear’ Crystal Palace need to invest in January

LONDON — Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has said “it’s pretty clear” that his side need reinforcements in the January transfer window after a grueling winter period that has seen them struggle with fixture congestion.

Palace’s latest defeat came at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, their third in a row.

A common theme of their poor run has been an inability to take attacking chances and it was evident again as they were on top of large parts of the defeat to Spurs but were unable to make it count.

And Glasner has now made it clear that Palace will need additions to address their attacking struggles, with the absence of Ismaïlla Sarr who is at AFCON another blow to an already stretched squad.

“Again, I think, to be honest, if you watch our game today, it’s pretty clear what we need and that it’s a decision of Crystal Palace [transfers],” Glasner told a news conference. “If you’re constantly underperforming in scoring goals … Yeah.

“I can do, what we can do is encourage the players, supporting them, be positive.

“I will never blame [Nathaniel] Clyne [for not scoring] when he gets a free header at the far post, it’s just not his nature, so he gets there because he gets all the effort he tries it, but it’s not maybe his biggest strength scoring goals but yes we need it from this position.

“Sometimes when you [look at] the statistics, the one with the most assists is Marc Guéhi, a centre-back, second most is [Maxence] Lacroix, a centre-back, so this is just what we have to improve.”

Glasner also spoke about his own frustration at the Spurs defeat after his side “dominated” a game that they lost courtesy of their sixth Premier League goal in a row conceded from a set-piece.

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“Both teams, I think, shouldn’t lose the game, creating enough to score goals but we missed all of our chances and were punished by a set-play showing exactly what we need to improve,” he said.

“I can’t remember and you [journalists] are watching Crystal Palace longer than me, but I can’t remember that a Crystal Palace side dominated a Tottenham side like they did today.

“But then leaving the pitch with a defeat makes it frustrating for all of our players because they are feeling the same and I don’t blame anyone for missing the chances but we have to accept right now we lack a little bit of finishing quality in the team.”