Crystal Palace’s home loss to AEK Larnaca could be the wake-up call they need to win the Europa Conference League.
You have to break eggs to make an omelet, right?
Crystal Palace 0-1 AEK Larnaca: Key stats 👇
Palace missed two big chances, with an expected goals of 1.66 to Larnaca’s 0.17 as the Cypriot side’s 16/1 outside won at Selhurst Park A misplaced pass by Jaydee Cambot earned the visitors a goal Palace had 15 shots, but only one was saved by goalkeeper Zlatan Alomelovic
AEK Larnaca’s coaching staff rushed onto the pitch at full time to celebrate their historic win in Europe, symbolizing how much the win meant to them and what a huge scalp Thursday’s result was.
Larnaca currently sit fifth in the Cyprus top flight, but after defeating Crystal Palace and surprisingly AZ Alkmaar 4-0 in the first round, they are joint top of the conference league standings with Italian giants Fiorentina.
Despite their strong start, we’re not rooting for them as trophy contenders, but we’re pretty much confident about Palace’s chances after their humiliation.
Are Palace in a good position to win the Conference League after losing to Larnaca?
In short, yes, we honestly believe so.
I didn’t expect the Eagles to mentally progress through the league as a result, but recognizing early on that finishing in the top eight is not a given can temper expectations and maybe approach these games a little differently.
Most people expected Palace to come on and win easily, but that didn’t happen. Given their dominance in the first half, it probably should have been. But that was never the case.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Palace will look to bounce back from this situation when they host Alkmaar in matchday three.
Oliver Glasner is the perfect person to succeed in Europe
Winning the Europa Conference League would be a great achievement for the club, which won its first-ever major trophy last season.
Thankfully for the Londoners, they have Europa League-winning head coach Oliver Glasner, who led Eintracht Frankfurt to that trophy in 2022.
As of 3/1, Palace are the favorites to win this season’s conference league, and the reason for that is Glasner’s coaching ability and European pedigree.
The truth is that any Premier League team qualifying for Europe’s third-tier competition should be favorites given their financial strength compared to the majority of their competitors.
There are three games before the game against Alkmaar, with trips to Arsenal and Liverpool (Carabao Cup) scheduled before a home game against Brentford. tricky.
Crystal Palace fans share TIFO about their trip to Leipzig for the Conference League final 👏 pic.twitter.com/Y4tkTvHr7t
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Marc Gehi praises his ‘learning’ experience in Europe
Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi even knows he and his teammates will learn from Thursday’s home defeat.
“They scored, we didn’t. It’s simple, that’s it. Every team has a different type of game plan. Today was the team that fell behind. They did well, but they frustrated us. Even if they did that, we still could have scored. This is an opportunity for us to learn and move forward.”
“I can’t blame him (Kambot). I thought he played well today, I thought he did a good job. It’s not his fault, it’s about each of us. We’re all going to carry that burden and move forward.”
“We always believe that we are right until the end and we have proven it in different matches, but only today was not the case. This is all good, we need to learn. This is a new experience for the club and, hopefully, we can grow even more in these competitions.”
“When you feel like you have to win 0-0, it’s natural for not only the fans but also us on the pitch to feel frustrated. Everyone felt the same way. It’s a good opportunity to learn and understand that matches in Europe are tough no matter who you play.”
And head coach Glasner largely echoed Guehi’s words.
“That’s European football. We have to learn from it. Small mistakes are punished, and on the other hand, we had a good chance to win the game, not just today, but in many games. There was an effort here, we created situations with deep blocks. We had four or five big chances to score and we didn’t, and one mistake can cost us a game like this.”
“It’s part of the game. No one is blaming him (Jadee Cambot). It just happened. The finish was great. If you don’t score, you don’t win. We lost a point today. It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, it hurts, but on the other hand we keep going. We have enough games.”
“We had enough clear chances, but we still lose. We have to learn from that.”
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