Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner explained that Eberechi Eze was not playing in the first leg of their Conference League play-off round because the England international was not ready to play.
Eze was absent from the matchday squad for their match against Fredrikstad at Selhurst Park on Thursday night. Arsenal have agreed a deal with Palace to sign their playmaker, with the expectation that a medical will happen on Friday.
Arsenal were keen for Eze not to play versus the Norwegian Cup winners. All parties discussed his involvement in the game throughout Thursday before the decision.
Glasner, however, anticipated a different outcome. “Honestly, I expected that he would start today for us,” the Palace manager acknowledged during a pre-match interview on Channel 5.
“But he called me this morning and said that he doesn’t feel well [enough] to play in the evening, and of course, I have to accept it, and everything else, you’ll have to ask the chairman [Steve Parish].”
Glasner reiterated: “If a player tells me he is not ready to play, then we have to accept it. I called the player who starts instead, Justin Devenny, but he is ready; it is my responsibility to prepare the players that play for us in the best way.
“So it was quite a busy day. It is not what you want to do, to change the starting 11 on matchday, especially in this situation, the first time in European football for Crystal Palace, but we have to approach the game in the best way.”
Glasner also conceded that he did not know whether Eze would be in attendance at all at Selhurst Park. Multiple young fans turned up for the match with signs about Eze, one dubbing him a “Palace legend” and another read: “My hero Eze! Thank you!”
