'A question of time' - £25m ex-Arsenal star lauded after dazzling display in EFL Cup
The former Arsenal forward shone for Crystal Palace in their Carabao Cup win over QPR
Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner was quick to praise his new recruit Eddie Nketiah after the former Arsenal striker opened up the scoring for the Eagles in their 2-1 win over QPR at Loftus Road.
The 25-year-old struggled to gain consistent minutes at Arsenal but has started both games for the Eagles since making the deadline day move for £25 million and his new coach has highlighted that not only is the ex-Leeds loanee a figure who can score goals, but a player whose intellect around the game makes him an extremely versatile forward option.
Speaking to the press after Palace’s EFL Cup win, Glasner said: “Eddie showed it before he joined us that he’s a guy who can score goals. But when we play this system, all these players can come into situations where they can score.
“JP (Mateta) scored two against Leicester, Eddie scored the first today and Ebs (Eze) scored today. We have players with great finish. He did really well, he also had a great second chance.”
The former Arsenal star started in a more right-wing position, contrary to his former spot as striker but Glasner assured fans that he knew the 25-year-old could thrive in this area of the pitch due to his intelligence around the game.
“You can trust us that we did our homework before signing him”, Glasner joked. “When you watch Eddie when he played at Arsenal he played as a nine but he’s a very involved in the game.
“He’s not just waiting with his body because he’s not a 190cm number nine but he’s so smart in finding the space. He can play the nine, he can play the ten but he can also play around the striker because he’s just smart to find the space.
“He has such a good feeling, to stay in the pocket then making the run in behind, so he’s was very close when (Eze) made the chip over in the first half, he could run in behind from the other side.
“Waiting in the cutback when Tyrick could give him the pass when he had the second pass (just before half-time) so they’re very different situations but he had the feeling to make the right decisions. He had many good situations against Leicester so for me it was just a question of minutes and games until he scored his first goal and sure it won’t be his last one.”
Glasner and Palace fans alike will now be hoping that Nketiah’s goal against QPR can now signal the start of a rich goal-scoring season, with the Palace head coach all too aware of what a lack of finding the back of the net can do for a striker’s confidence.
“We can train, we can talk we can show them videos but scoring goals is the best for (strikers’) confidence”, Glasner added. “And yes he was very close against Leicester but there was a false block but he did it today which will give him confidence. This is why we said we want to start with the same attacking three. They only had one training session before the game and to be honest it was mostly recovery so we said let’s give them game time so they get to know each other.”