Henderson calls for ‘unity’ as fractious Palace face crucial clash with Zrinjski | Crystal Palace
dean Henderson turned a cult hero in south London after saving a penalty in Crystal Palace’s victory against Manchester City in final season’s FA Cup remaining. The England goalkeeper then boosted his reputation when he dropped into an area pub as supporters celebrated August’s penalty shootout victory over Liverpool within the Community Shield and put £1,000 behind the bar.
Henderson, made captain when Marc Guéhi was sold to Manchester City in January after Palace have been humbled within the Cup by non-league Macclesfield, you have to be questioning how issues have turned bitter at Selhurst Park so rapidly. Supporters turned on the supervisor, Oliver Glasner, throughout the first leg of the Conference League playoff towards Zrinjski Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina final week and demanded his sacking after another unconvincing performance in the 1-1 draw.
A banner unveiled within the Holmesdale End initially of Sunday’s 1-0 win against Wolves – solely Palace’s second victory in 16 video games – took intention on the board and lamented “missed opportunities” since a primary main trophy was secured at Wembley final May. It additionally described Glasner as “finished” after he had informed followers to “stay humble.”
Glasner was on his finest conduct as he appeared forward to Thursday’s second leg towards Zrinjski, having struck one other uneasy trick with the Palace chair, Steve Parish, to see out his contract till the tip of the season, that means it was left to Henderson to challenge the rallying name.
“Unity: I think it’s important that we have that,” Henderson stated. “It’s been a difficult period and I think the players have to take a lot of responsibility, because we’ve got to do better, first and foremost. For whatever reason it was, we had too many injuries and we just couldn’t cope with the amount of games and the quality we were up against in the Premier League over the last couple of months.
“Now we have everybody again and we have a squad, we have been selecting up some good outcomes, so hopefully that may give the membership a lift. We’re taking part in European soccer… and it needs to be a time for everybody to come back collectively and luxuriate in that.”
Henderson added: “It’s time to shift the narrative and really smile and enjoy these moments because they don’t come round often, instead of putting all the negative spin on everything.”
One of Glasner’s complaints after the first leg was that some of his players have had their eyes on their next move – an accusation many Palace fans will feel applies to him too. Jean-Philippe Mateta, who Glasner expects back soon from the knee injury that scuppered his January move to MilanAdam Wharton, Daniel Muñoz and the out-of-contract Daichi Kamada are among those linked with summer moves. Henderson, who is expected to be Jordan Pickford’s backup at the World Cup, warned anyone not committed to the cause they were in for a rude awakening.
“If you don’t put the performances in order, you don’t get the move you want, so they need to be very careful,” he said. “I’m not aware of any of that, but I would suggest they have to be careful if they were thinking like that.”
Wharton’s form in particular has dipped in recent weeks but Glasner pointed out that the England midfielder had already played more than 1,000 minutes more than he had last season, owing to Palace’s involvement in the Conference League.
“Players have to cope with a completely new situation in their career,” he said. “I bear in mind I spoke to Eddie Howe at Newcastle after they performed the primary time within the Champions League. They have been massively struggling and I spoke about their expertise. But we’re nonetheless the second-best quantity of factors ever [at this stage for Palace].
“We have the European competitions and we have had some big injury problems at the end of last year. We had the Afcon [Africa Cup of Nations]we had some big noise in any single transfer window, and when I see the big picture, everything that happened to me, it’s just incredible where we are right now.”
Palace are three points behind eighth-placed Bournemouth in the Premier League and Glasner insists whoever replaces him could be competing in Europe again next season. He won the Europa League in 2022 with Eintracht Frankfurt before falling out with the hierarchy the following season despite reaching the German Cup final and is aiming to reach a fourth final in five seasons. But, perhaps wisely given Palace’s difficulty in breaking down low blocks, he was wary of making the bold prediction that Palace can go all the way before Zrinjski’s visit.
“I think for 120 years Crystal Palace entered every cup competition to win it,” he stated. “This group of players has done it once last year. Every team will enter the competition, but just one can leave with the trophy at the end, and it just makes no sense to talk now about it.”
