Oliver Glasner has thrown his future into fresh doubt after launching a scathing attack on the Crystal Palace hierarchy for a lack of ambition and ‘abandoning’ its players.
The Eagles’ FA Cup-winning head coach further fanned the flames after a turbulent 24 hours in the wake of the Austrian’s devastating press conference revelations regarding his imminent departure, and that of Manchester City-bound skipper Marc Guehi.
Palace are without a win in 10 games and Glasner clearly tried to prove a point about his threadbare squad by refusing to make a substitution in a damaging defeat at the Stadium of Light.
The 51-year-old insisted his strong words were in the best interests of the club — but big question marks now hang over whether he will make it through to the end of the campaign after such a damning indictment of the Selhurst Park regime.
Glasner wouldn’t rule out Palace being dragged into a relegation battle, and he said: ‘The players left their hearts out on the pitch and now they’ve had their hearts torn out twice, the other time before the game.
‘It’s tough to survive. You feel that you’re being abandoned, with no support. We’ve played with the same players and it’s been like that for weeks with the bench made up of kids.The players need to be protected and it’s unfair on them.’
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner launched another scathing rant against the club’s owners after the Eagles lost at Sunderland
Black Cats striker Brian Brobbey secured the win for the hosts at the Stadium of Light
Giving further details on when he was told about Guehi’s £20million move to City, a clearly frustrated Glasner added: ‘The first I heard was 10.30am yesterday, the day before a game. It’s the worst thing you could have. Nobody told us until then and I had to stand in front of the group and say the captain’s not playing tomorrow.
‘That’s why I’m being so direct now because I have to protect the players. For me it feels like if we get enough points not to be relegated then it’s fine. Jean-Philippe Mateta couldn’t train on Thursday because his knee was too swollen but now he has to play 95 minutes against a very physical team. This is what I mean when I say we need support. Everybody’s known it for months.
‘I don’t need any support. Palace is fine to end the season like this, with Oliver Glasner or another manager I don’t know, I don’t care. Saying it behind closed doors makes no sense. It’s maybe the last try for things to get done.
‘If you continue to think we can carry on like this, Crystal Palace will get the bill. Not me.’
This defeat in the North carried less embarrassment than it did last Saturday, but a seventh league game without a win for the deposed FA Cup holders hardly lifted the spirits after Brian Brobbey’s late winner.
The contest’s first two goals were squeezed into a three-minute window from the half-hour. Yeremy Pino deftly volleyed Palace ahead under pressure from Enzo Le Fee 10 yards out as he punished Robin Roefs’ ineffectual punch from WIll Hughes’ corner.
Le Fee atoned by firing his side level with a confident first-time finish into the bottom corner from a dozen yards as he met Nordi Mukiele’s inviting centre.
The Eagles look set to lose their captain Marc Guehi this week to Manchester City
Both sides appeared happy to allow the contest to fizzle out until, with 19 minutes left, the tenacity of Noah Sadiki ferried the ball into the area where Brobbey held-off Jefferson Lerma to find the net right-footed via the underside of the bar from a diminishing angle.
Dean Henderson saved from Trai Hume, Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard to ensure Sunderland had to wait to confirm a first Premier League win in six to reinvigorate a campaign that was threatening to stagnate.
After an 11th top-flight home game unbeaten lifted his side back above Newcastle to eighth, head coach Regis Le Bris said: “We had to work hard to impose ourselves but the fans again gave us extra energy when it mattered.”
