New Crystal Palace boss OIiver Glasner demanded his side stay “humble” after moving eight points clear of the relegation zone with a 3-0 home victory over 10-man Burnley in his first match in charge.
The Austrian, who only led his first training session on Wednesday, had declared himself “no magician” and warned there would not be too many changes implemented ahead of the Clarets’ trip to Selhurst Park.
Still, there seemed to be a clear brightening of spirits both in the stands and on the pitch after goals from Chris Richards, Jordan Ayew and a Jean-Philippe Mateta’s spot-kick lifted Palace to victory in front of an elated crowd, whose support moved the first-time Premier League manager.
Glasner said: “The players from the beginning, the players who came into the game, and also the bench, you can feel this. There was a good spirit. You are more often than me at Selhurst, but for me it was ‘wow.’
“Before the game in the locker room, what kind of spirit the players showed, what kind of power they showed, and for me it was ‘wow’ again when I entered the stadium before the game.
“In such an environment you’re able to show your best performance. I don’t think it was our best performance, but it was OK for the start.
“We know this is something we can build up our ideas, we can work the next weeks, and it’s also important to stay humble now. We know it was a very good performance, but they could also see many things we could improve and we will continue working on it.”
Burnley set themselves an unwelcome and ultimately insurmountable challenge after goalkeeper James Trafford’s weak back pass was intercepted by Jefferson Lerma and Josh Brownhill’s reacted by bringing the midfielder down to earn his 35th-minute sending-off.
Glasner might have been disappointed that it took until the 68th minute for Palace to break the deadlock via Richards’ header, the American defender’s first Premier League goal, four minutes before Ayew netted the hosts’ second.
Less than 10 minutes after providing Ayew and picking up his first Palace assist, substitute Matheus Franca was brought down by Vitinho and Mateta made it three goals to the good for the Eagles in the 72nd minute.
Burnley thought they had clawed one back in the 88th minute, but David Datro Fofana’s header was chalked off after a VAR check determined Lorenz Assignon had been offside in the build-up, potentially even interfering with Palace keeper Sam Johnstone.
The result was a bitter blow for Burnley, who remain eight points adrift of safety.
Vincent Kompany conceded it was always going to be a tough ask for his side after a red card he demurred to evaluate, but he was more clear about how deeply-felt the loss had been.
He said: “It’s difficult to play in a game of this magnitude, and it’s really not something we could afford today, and it happened, and then after that it’s difficult to summarise what we’ve seen today.
“It’s one of them where you’ve got to pick yourself up again, because this one hurts, but the overall riding disappointment is on the fact that we had such a key event in a game where we couldn’t afford it.”
Haaland and Gyokeres 'not a priority' for Barcelona, says Deco
Barcelona sporting director Deco has said that a striker is “not a priority” for the club despite recent links to Erling Haaland and Viktor Gyokeres.
Deco affirmed the club’s faith in current number nine Robert Lewandowski, who is in form with 14 goals and two assists after 13 games in LaLiga this season.
Gyokeres, by comparison, has 16 goals and one assist in the Primeira Liga while, despite a dip in form, Erling Haaland has 12 goals in the Premier League this season.
Barcelona, however, are “happy” with Lewandowski and hope he will lead the line in the Catalonian capital for another season at least.
"First we have to know whether Haaland is what we want for the future. We don't know that now,” Deco told El Mundo Deportivo.
"At the moment we don't want any 'nine.' We have Robert. We are not planning anything with any 'nine.' It's not a priority because we have to focus on this season."
Lewandowski leads the Barcelona squad for shots (38) and shots on target (26) in the league, indicating the 36-year-old is still maintaining pace at the top level.
He leads the league for goals with Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior coming closest to matching his tally, trailing by six goals.
"I think it's very difficult to find a striker like Robert nowadays. There are one or two of this level. Maybe Haaland or another one. There are not so many of this level available,” explained Deco.
"But we are not going to get hung up on finding any striker now because we are going to focus first on what Robert can do. I surely think he is happy to be here. He is a winner and if we have a big season I think he will want to stay.
"We want Robert to continue to be happy, to score goals and to stay at least one more season."
While the Pole is without a goal in two games, Barcelona’s rumoured target Gyokeres has not faltered.
The Swede caught global attention in Sporting CP’s recent Champions League clash with Manchester City, producing a hat-trick to help his team to a shock 4-1 win.
He accumulated an expected goals (xG) total of 2.41 in the match, accounting for most of Sporting's overall 2.87xG.
"Gyokeres is a good player. He has been scoring goals for some time in Portugal. We know him as we know others, but it's not a priority for us right now,” said Deco.
"When the time comes to make a decision and I have to make it because I am the one at the club, we will consider the options. But I don't think it's the right time to talk about any player."
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Amorim will 'change the energy' at Man Utd, says Fernandes
Ruben Amorim has been backed to "change the energy" at Manchester United by club captain Bruno Fernandes.
Amorim officially took the reins as United head coach on Monday, with Ruud van Nistelrooy having served as interim boss after Erik ten Hag was sacked last month.
The 39-year-old enjoyed a wildly successful four-year spell in charge of Sporting CP, which began in March 2020, two months after the Lisbon giants sold Fernandes to United.
Amorim delivered two Primeira Liga and two Taca da Liga trophies during his time at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, recording a 71% win rate through 231 matches at the helm (164 wins, 34 draws, 33 losses).
In the Primeira Liga, they won 77% of their games under him (120/156), the best win ratio of any team across Europe's top 10 leagues since he took charge.
Amorim's first game in charge of United will be a Premier League trip to Ipswich Town on November 24, and Fernandes has faith that he can change their fortunes.
"I hope he does the same here because you know sometimes a person can change the energy of a space, if it's the right moment," Fernandes told United's media channels.
"We hope this is the right moment for him to come and bring his energy, bring his qualities and his knowledge of football, because he's done something really, really special at Sporting.
"If someone doubts that, it's about just looking at the past. Sporting was to be about 20 years without winning the league, and he got back to win the league, and he won it two times in four years with a really youthful team, in a moment of change.
"So hopefully he can do the same here for us and [hopefully] it's going to be a successful time for all of us."
Amorim will become the youngest coach to lead United since a 33-year-old Wilf McGuinness took charge of them on Boxing Day 1970 against Derby County, and Fernandes believes one of his main strengths is his man-management style.
"Obviously for me, what stands out as I said to you is the connection he has with the players," Fernandes added.
"I've seen many, many moments where players were struggling and he kept his faith in them. He always goes to the press conference and defends his players.
"He had a really youthful team so they needed that and hopefully when he comes here he can do the same again with the youth.
"Us players with the most experience, we have to help him to get that and get the best out of every player at this club."
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