Palace have enjoyed a very good start to their Premier League campaign, but they must balance their league efforts with the Conference League, and that has led to questions over whether Glasner will rest players for Thursday’s Conference League clash with Larnaca, with Arsenal to play this weekend.
“We’ve no injury concerns – all players are fit, all players look really good, and are in good shape, so we’re ready for our first home game in the Conference League,” Glasner asserted.
“[We will pick] the best team, like always. We had five days between Bournemouth and Larnaca. The international [players] got two days off to recover, and we’ve prepared yesterday and today – short sessions, but the players look really sharp. We will play the best team [against Larnaca]. That makes sense for us, and [then] prepare for Arsenal.”
On the fitness front, Rio Cardines, Romain Esse and Christantus Uche have all been in under-21s action this week, and Glasner explained why. “It was just that [Uche and Esse] didn’t play for the international teams,” he added. “They were called up for Nigeria and England Under-21s but didn’t get minutes there, they didn’t get many minutes for us, and we don’t train a lot at the moment.
“Now we have four games in nine days, that means just recovering, so it was the last opportunity to give them an 11 against 11 and give them a feeling for this, which is important if they have to play in the next four games, and then haven’t played an 11 v 11 for three or four weeks.
“They just played 45 minutes [on Tuesday], but they will be in the matchday squad. I want to see 100 percent effort, like in every single training session. I don’t expect everything to be perfect. I told them it’s never a punishment, it’s just thinking we feel responsible to provide the best environment for every single player, so if we can’t provide it in our regular training because of our tight schedule, we have to think about how can we give them what they need. It’s the best support we can give them, and if they see it as support, they can get the benefit.”
Riad close to return
Palace star Chadi Riad has had a torrid time with injuries over the last 18 months or so, but there is good news on that front. “We have Chadi Riad, who will come back in the next two weeks and start training with us,” Glasner continued.
“I think the squad is enough, so why would we need 28 [players]? It just makes no sense, even more if you build an Academy like this – how can we show our talents from the Academy a pathway, and that they will be involved, if you have five players who are not called up for the team, even senior players?
“Then it’s our job, and big credit to our medical department and fitness department, and the professionalism of our players, that we have no injured players. Anything can happen, like it did with Chadi and Cheicky [Doucouré], but everything else I think we can deal with. The group is big enough.”
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