Oliver Glasner: The Cup-Coach Myth—What Knockout Football Teaches About Personality

Oliver Glasner gave Crystal Palace their first-ever FA Cup trophy in May 2025, in a week that the Eagles will continue to remember for years to come. The Austrian led the team past Pep Guardiola’s ‘almighty’ Manchester City to Wembley, winning 1-0, and as though that were not enough, he followed it with another big win in the FA Community Shield against Liverpool.

Like we saw with Leicester City (against Chelsea) in 2021, where the Foxes beat the Blues thanks to a Youri Tielemans strike; it is not unusual for a team like Palace to win the cup, but Oliver Glasner’s feat is something special.

To date, his London side are still a hard nut to crack even for the big boys. And it does not matter whether they are in the bottom half of the table or pushing for a European place. It is all just the same, thanks to the 51-year-old who has made the team look ready for anything.

The FA Cup win tells everything about his ability to prepare players for knockout football. He relies on good defences, quick transitions, and formations that shifted between 3-4-2-1 and more attacking setups depending on the opponent.

Glasner moved to Selhurst Park in February 2024, after a career in Austria and Germany that included guiding LASK Linz to European qualification. It was there it is said that he created “a team with an unmistakable style of play.” He then went on to win the UEFA Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022.

If his time at the German top flight taught anything, it is that the Salzburg-born gaffer can manage full seasons and the demands of a league. But, as the situation would play out, the Premier League is on a different level.

This season, the Eagles have struggled in the league, leaving Glasner under scrutiny. Injuries have limited his squad to just over a dozen available first-team players at times and, to make matters worse, many have left.

Eberechi Eze moved to north London, to his boyhood club, at the start of the season; captain Marc Guéhi left for the northern part of the country to Manchester City, and now striker Jean-Philippe Mateta has just said he wants to leave. You could say things are just going south for the Londoners. So when Glasner publicly criticised the board, calling the situation “abandoned”, he has a point. 

When the now-ex Manchester United gaffer Ruben Amorim expressed a similar outrage against the club’s hierarchy, it did not take long for the Red Devils to show him the door.

That there is some truth to his point is probably why Palace chairman Steve Parish has said the team would not part ways with the manager, and that the gaffer will see out his contract in June.

A Cup Coach?

There are those who believe that Glasner is a “cup coach.” That is, a manager who knows his ways only around knockout football. But if his record is anything to go by, the truth is far from that. Glasner has had consistent results, and specifically qualified for the Champions League with Wolfsburg and Frankfurt. The ongoing struggle at Palace is therefore about the situation with the squad.

Meanwhile, knockout football gives a perspective into his personality. In preparation, he has his own methods. He motivates the team and he does not shy away from speaking out when he sees problems that affect his players. To be fair, his comments about the squad could be better, but he was honest.

As of today, Crystal Palace will continue in the Europa Conference League, though they still struggle in the league. Months ago, Glasner said he will leave the club at the end of the season. Clubs like Manchester United are already monitoring his situation, and are seeing him as a candidate for the full-time role next summer. The Austrian is one to watch in the rest of the season, or even the coming weeks.