Glasner hails how Palace 'stuck to the plan' to reach FA Cup Final

Wembley, April 27 (IANS) Head coach Oliver Glasner hailed how Crystal Palace executed his plan to plot their way to the FA Cup final first since 2016.

Eberechi Eze strike alongside two goals from Ismaila Sarr earned the Eagles a deserved 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Wembley to send Palace to just their third FA Cup Final in nine years.

“It is easy to talk about it but it is very difficult to execute it like the players did today, all credit to them. How they stuck to the plan, how hard they were working. It was great to see after the missed penalty (by Jean-Philippe Mateta), we had two or three situations to overcome and Dean Henderson made a good save and we didn’t lose our heads.

“We stayed calm, waited for our situation, stuck to the plan and got our reward. It was a really amazing performance," he said.

Eze put Palace ahead after half an hour with a stunning curled effort from just outside the box before Sarr drilled home to double the lead just before the hour. The Eagles then wrapped up victory in style, as Sarr broke free in stoppage time to slot home for his second, and Palace's third goal.

"It was crucial to show a performance like this today. It was the fifth game in two weeks, every game we entered with the approach to win it and we couldn’t do it four times.

"All those steps helped us perform like we did today. When we work so hard as a team, it is not so easy to create chances against us and we can always threaten their defence with our transitions.

"It was such a great atmosphere before. It was very relaxed, I felt very calm. I had to take a few tough decisions. I didn’t start Will [Hughes] and Jeff Lerma who played so well for us and they deserved to start. I told them I decided to start with Adam [Wharton] and Daichi [Kamada] in midfield.

"They could have been disappointed or upset but their reaction was ‘okay gaffer, if the team needs me I will be ready’. From that moment I was really calm. It is such a great group of players," he added.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery admitted both the result and manner of defeat will sting for his side, but he conceded his charges were beaten by the better team on the day and insisted there are plenty of better days to come for Villa fans.

"“They have very good players, they performed very well. We didn’t perform our best but that happens sometimes. We didn’t perform like we have been consistently doing. They were better than us.

"They are a very good team and they always perform fantastically against us. In the last four games against them, we lost three and drew one.

"Two years ago when I arrived here we were in a really bad moment and we are improving and our level is going so quick. Yes of course, we lost in the Europa Conference League semi-final against Olympiacos as well. Everything we are doing is increasing our demands and today the loss is something we have to accept," he said.

--IANS

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