How Glasner's Palace blend ruthless pressing, direct transitions and overlapping width - and how it translates to FM24
When Oliver Glasner joined Crystal Palace in early 2024, taking the reins from the sacked Roy Hodgson, Crystal Palace were lying perilously close to the relegation zone in the Premier League and required a big fight-back to separate themselves from the floundering pack. Palace underwent fine form at the end of the 23/24 season, securing safety and another season in the Premier League – said season would begin terribly, with many fans and pundits questioning whether Oliver Glasner was good enough to keep Palace up across a 38-game season.
The Austrian and his brilliant team drowned said doubts as they, once again, entered supreme form, culminating in an FA Cup triumph against Manchester City – the club’s first ever piece of major silverware! Now, just 7 games into the 25/26 season and, despite losing their star player Ebere Eze, Palace are thriving under Glasner as they sit 6th in the league, following impressive results against Aston Villa and Liverpool.
In this article, I’ll be providing my brief analysis of their system under Glasner, before demonstrating my recreation of their tactics on Football Manager 2024, and finally showcasing the insane results said tactic achieved in testing! Firstly, let’s analyse what makes Glasner’s Palace so, so good.
Frustratingly Stubborn Defensive Set-Up
Crystal Palace, under Oliver Glasner, have been, for the most part, impeccable defensively, and that is largely down to being incredibly well coached on the defensive side of the game. Initially, Palace press high in a zonal-man marking system, with the aim of forcing the opposition into wide areas, where their wing-backs can instantly engage the opposition full-backs – an example of this can be seen below:
Below, you can see a diagram that displays what each player tends to do – the centre-backs mark their opposite attackers, the wing-backs press the opposition full-backs, and the front three will situationally press the opposition’s centre-backs with a lateral idea in mind of preserving central protection:
[Green = marking/running to mark; Red = pressing/ready to press; Orange = preserving the centre]
As Palace drop deeper, the general consensus of the idea remains – central players cut off the centre of the pitch, forcing the opposition into wide areas where the wing-backs will step up and the centre-backs will shift across, as seen in the example below:
[Blue = pass direction]
As Palace drop deeper into their own half, they fall into a 5-4-1 – although, there is simply no way to recreate this in FM24 without the initial pressing structure breaking.
Beautiful Chaos
When Palace have possession, they are incredibly direct and will attack as quick as possible – this strategy has paid dividends so far this season, as Crystal Palace created SEVEN big chances against champions Liverpool in their recent 2-1 win against the Reds, according to SofaScore. When they get the ball into the opposition’s half, Palace will move wide and will look to work cut-back situations or feed the overlapping Muñoz – a strategy that’s been very successful for the Eagles, as Muñoz has 17 goal contributions since the start of last season.
Let’s Break Down the Tactic
In Possession:
When Palace have the ball, they mostly disregard build-up in order to get the ball up the pitch as quickly as possible, through quick, direct passes – in addition to this, they regularly pass the ball in-behind the opposition’s defence. Finally, Palace will often delay their attacks slightly to allow Muñoz time to overlap on the right side.
In Transition:
Palace are quite flexible in transition, allowing the game’s state and opposition’s positioning to dictate a lot of their transition-based decisions. When they regain possession, however, they almost always launch counter-attacks.
Out of Possession:
When Palace don’t have possession, they’ll initially press higher in a zonal-man fashion, with the aim of forcing the opposition wider. If unsuccessful in their pressing, they will drop deeper into a compact mid-block, wherefrom they are aggressive in duels and tackles.
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Player Roles
Sweeper Keeper – Support:
In this system, Henderson, in possession, can sometimes move slightly higher to offer himself as a back-up passing option if Palace opt for deep build-up. When Palace don’t have the ball, he can move off his line to sweep and claim crosses. Therefore, I felt this role was ideal. No added instructions.
(DCR) Ball-Playing Defender – Defend:
In Glasner’s 3-4-3 system at Palace, the ‘wider’ centre-backs move quite wide to offer backwards passing options to the wing-backs – additionally, when they have the ball, they will regularly progress play from deep with progressive passes. When Palace don’t have the ball, both ‘wider’ centre-backs will zonally mark the opposition players operating in the half-spaces ahead of them and will be particularly aggressive in tackles. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect, with the added instructions:
[Mark Specific Position: AMCL]
(DC) Ball-Playing Defender – Defend:
To allow the wider centre-backs to progress higher and wider both in and out of possession, Lacroix will be less aggressive in his positioning and duels. Much like the ‘wider’ centre-backs, Lacroix can progress play from deep with progressive passes. Therefore, I felt this role was best-suited. No added instructions.
(DCL) Ball-Playing Defender – Defend:
In this position, Guehi does much the same job as his counterpart, Richards, on the right. However, the only slight discrepancy between the two is Guehi’s personal tendency to carry the ball forward, as reflected in the role’s instructions below:
(Mark Specific Position: AMCR)
Wing-Back – Attack:
In this system, Muñoz holds the team’s width on the right side – when he receives the ball, it’s often in enough space to drive and shoot on goal, however, often he will cross the ball into the box. When Palace don’t have the ball, both wing-backs press a lot more often than their team-mates to close down the opposition. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect, with the added instructions:
Wing-Back – Support:
Mitchell’s role, in this system, is to hold the team’s width on the left; His attacking ventures are slightly less aggressive than Muñoz’. Much like Muñoz, when Palace don’t have possession, Mitchell will always close down the opposing wingers/full-backs. Therefore, I felt this role was best-fit, with the added instructions:
Ball-Winning Midfielder – Support:
In this system, Lerma is the more defensive-minded of the double-pivot, constantly breaking up play to allow Wharton to dictate the play in possession. Additionally, when the opposition goes wide, both holding midfielders can drift into the wide areas to prevent opposition overloads. I felt this role was most optimal – no added instructions.
Regista – Support:
In this system, Wharton is the more progressive of the double-pivot, being given licence to move forward at times and generally roam around the midfield, searching for pockets of space to occupy and receive the ball, before releasing an attacker in-behind with a through ball. Therefore, I felt this role was as close to perfection as possible, with the added instruction:
Attacking Midfielder – Attack:
On the right side, Sarr is more attacking than Pino on the left. Sarr will typically run beyond both Mateta and his ‘10’ counterpart to attack space in-behind. When Palace don’t have possession, both ‘10s’ in this system tend to hold their position and rarely ever close down the opposition, rather preserving central cover by closing passing lanes into the half-spaces. Therefore, I felt this role was most ideal, with the added instructions:
(Mark Specific Position: DMCL)
Attacking Midfielder – Support:
On the other side, to the contrary of his counterpart, Pino tends to drop deeper at times to receive the ball in-between the lines – to emphasise this tendency, Pino is often given full licence, much like Eze was warranted prior, to roam around the pitch and situationally get further forward to attack the box as a lateral box-crasher. When he receives the ball, Pino will regularly go on mazy dribbles with the ball, gaining Palace territory in their attacks. Finally, as just mentioned, both ‘10s’ in this system rarely close down the opposition, rather preserving midfield protection. Therefore, I felt this role was perfect, with the added instructions:
Complete Forward – Attack:
Mateta’s role in this Palace system is the epitome of the ‘Complete Forward’ role, as he can situationally drop deeper to link play, hold off his marker to receive and hold up play, run the channels, and even make stretching runs in-behind. Much like the ‘10s’ in this system, Mateta rarely closes down the opposition, rather preserving the centre of the pitch.
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Opposition Instructions
Results
Premier League:
In the Premier League, we came so close to winning Crystal Palace’s first ever Premier League title, narrowly missing out to eventual champions, Arsenal. In the end, our kryptonite was drawing too many games, as, despite losing just 2 league games, the fewest of any club in the league, we missed out by 9 points. Of our 38 league games, we won 26 games, drew 10 games and lost just 2 games. In our 38 league games, we scored a league-high 86 goals and conceded just 23 goals – the league’s second-lowest.
Even worse for us was that the xG Table had us finishing 2nd behind Arsenal, although, just 0.5 xPts (expected points) behind the Gunners – talk about tough luck…!
Domestic Cups:
We managed to win the season’s curtain-raiser, by beating Liverpool on penalties, following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes. We managed to follow that up with a Carabao Cup victory, defeating Leeds United 1-3 in the Final! On our way to Wembley, we knocked out the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, and Aston Villa, 2-2(P), 2-1, and 1-2 respectively. We were unable to replicate that feat in the FA Cup, however, as we were defeated in the Fifth Round by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
UEFA Europa League:
We had a staggeringly stunning European campaign, as we reached the Europa League Final, having gone to Barcelona and BEAT the Catalan giants 2-3 on their own turf in the semi-finals, following an initial 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park – probably my greatest ever individual result on FM24! However, our hearts were broken as Real Madrid (yes, Real Madrid!) scored a late winner to defeat us 2-1 in the final, after Mateta had initially given us the lead earlier in the game. On our way to the final, we beat Barcelona (3-4), Lille (4-2), and Atletico Madrid (1-0), having successfully navigated a group containing Braga, Rangers, and FK TSC.
Conclusion
Glasner has revolutionised Crystal Palace since his arrival in early 2024 and, currently, the sky is the limit following their FA Cup and Community Shield victories – their early season form has them well-placed for a second successive European adventure and they’re on course for another very successful season under the Austrian manager. If you want a taste of this extraordinary tactic, make sure to download the tactics using the link attached to this article and follow FM Blog and myself (@AshtonGgmu) on our respective socials. I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves!
