‘I think we played really well’ Oliver Glasner reflects on defeat to Newcastle United

Oliver Glasner has been reflecting on defeat to Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0.

The 3pm Sunday match at St James’ Park seeing Eddie Howe’s team win with two goals in the second-half.

Bruno Guimaraes and Malick Thiaw giving Newcastle United a deserved three points.

Oliver Glasner declaring after the final whistle: “A disappointing defeat, disappointing result.”

His only previous visit to St James’ Park saw Crystal Palace lose 5-0, so an improvement of sorts.

Oliver Glasner not happy with the Newcastle United goals which follow the pattern of recent matches: “The most disappointing part for me is conceding another two goals from set-plays, five of our last six defeats we just conceded goals from set-plays, and then you can’t win games. This is what we have to get sorted.”

By the end of the match, Newcastle United had managed seven shots on target and Dean Henderson making some great saves, plus NUFC having a couple of ‘goals’ denied by offside, one of them very marginal.

On the other hand, Nick Pope only having the one save to make to get his clean sheet, his defence doing a great job in front of him.

Despite this, Oliver Glasner was positive about many aspects of the match: “It’s always a second phase where we are not really structured and then conceding goals, because there’s many parts of the game I was really pleased today. I think we played really well. Apart from maybe the last five or six, seven minutes, when we went all in to get our goal, before that, we didn’t give them chances from open play. We defended really well. On the other side, we created a few good situations, with a big chance straight before half-time.”

The Crystal Palace boss was also happy with how the club’s new record signing Brennan Johnson had played in his first game: “He showed what he would bring to the team. Of course, I could see in a few situations that his understanding with his teammates was not here after one day of training, when he has trained with just half of the group, but he will definitely help us in the games. I was pleased with his debut and performance today.”

Newcastle 2 Crystal Palace 0 –  Sunday 3 January 2026 3pm

Match Stats

Goals:

Newcastle United:

Bruno 71, Thiaw 78

Palace:

Possession was Newcastle 59% Palace 41%

Total shots were Newcastle 12 Palace 11

Shots on target were Newcastle 7 Palace 1

Corners were Newcastle 8 Palace 6

Touches in the opposition box Newcastle 35 Palace 26

Newcastle team v Crystal Palace:

Pope, Miley, Thiaw, Schar, Hall (Livramento 63), Tonali (Ramsey 63), Joelinton, Bruno, Jacob Murphy (Willock 88), Gordon (Barnes 63), Wissa (Woltemade 78)

Unused subs:

Ramsdale, Trippier, Botman, Alex Murphy