Crystal Palace fret over Europa League demotion, transfers ahead of Community Shield
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Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner says the team would feel punished by having to play in the Conference League.
- Crystal Palace faces challenges including injuries to key players such as Nketiah and Doucoure ahead of the Community Shield.
- The club appealed their demotion to the Conference League due to a multi-club ownership breach involving John Textor.
- Manager Oliver Glasner seeks new signings to bolster the squad, especially in defence and attack, for upcoming competitions.
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LONDON - Crystal Palace head into the Aug 10 Community Shield versus Liverpool with a worry list ranging from injuries and lacklustre transfer business to their pending appeal against Uefa’s decision to demote them from the Europa League.
Manager Oliver Glasner guided Palace to a new height in May as they won their first major trophy, beating Manchester City to clinch the FA Cup. But joy at the South London side’s first appearance in the Community Shield has been dampened by their off-field issues.
Palace were dropped to Uefa’s third-tier Conference League in July in an alleged multi-club ownership breach because John Textor, president of Olympique Lyonnais majority owners Eagle Football Group, also had a controlling stake in Palace.
Eagle sold their stake in Palace in July, and the English club appealed against the demotion at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the hearing set for this month.
“If you have to play in the Conference League, it feels like we have been punished,” Glasner told reporters on Aug 8.
“We hope that this verdict brings us back into the Europa League because, as I said, we haven’t done anything wrong.”
To add to Glasner’s worries ahead of the Aug 10 clash at Wembley, striker Eddie Nketiah is out for eight weeks after suffering an injury during pre-season and midfielder Cheick Doucoure will not return for another two months.
“We have also had injuries to (Matheus) Franca and (Caleb) Kporha too. So we are short of numbers. If we want to be competitive, we have to add players with good quality,” Glasner added.
‘Passive’ transfer window
But Palace have not been active enough to make up the numbers they need for their first season with a Uefa competition since the 1998 Intertoto Cup, the manager said.
“We have been quite passive in the transfer window. We have to add a few players to be ready for all the competitions,” he said.
“In a situation like this now, we definitely need two more players, one at the back and one in the attack.”
Eberechi Eze, who scored the FA Cup winner, has also been linked with a move away.
“He will play on Sunday, definitely,” Glasner said.
Glasner said his players were looking forward to taking on Premier League champions Liverpool regardless of the problems.
“Liverpool (are) a top team and it’s much better than playing friendlies. It’s a chance to win a trophy and the chance to compete with the champions. We want to show our personality again,” he added. REUTERS
