'That's it' - Oliver Glasner calls out player's poor display as Millwall boss issues Crystal Palace verdict

Crystal Palace edged past London rivals Millwall on Tuesday night in the Carabao Cup, requiring a penalty shootout to advance to the next round. Oliver Glasner’s men edged ahead thanks to a Chris Richards goal in the 72nd minute only for Millwall to equalise in stoppage time, with Ryan Leonard scoring in the 91st minute.

With no extra-time at this stage of the competition, a penalty shootout ensued, and Palace won 4-2 on penalties to book their spot in the fourth round. It was a hard-fought performance from what was a strong Palace line-up with few changes from their best possible starting XI.

One player who did get an opportunity was Romain Esse, who got the chance to play against his former club in Millwall, but he did not take his chance. Esse was substituted at half-time, and Glasner admitted after the game that he was not happy with his display.

He said: “I don’t want to talk about a single player but of course if you sub somebody at half-time you are not pleased with his performance. I will talk to him in person and then it’s up to him to show improvement. That’s it.” Esse is only 20 years of age, and this could have been a case of an occasion getting the better of him given what playing against Millwall will have meant for him, but Glasner is careful with the players he uses, and so the attacker can’t afford too many of these displays.

Alex Neil on ‘strong’ Palace

Millwall boss Alex Neil spoke after the game, as quoted by Southwark News, and he praised the strength of Palace when speaking about how resolute his side were at Selhurst Park. “You can see Palace’s team, they were really strong. I know they made a few changes to the team as well, but I don’t think it was as much as us<” he said.

“What I was really pleased with was: I thought at times we pressed the ball brilliantly and turned the ball over. At times, our use of the ball was very good, and we managed to play through Palace, create a couple of chances, which was good. So in the balance of the game, I was really pleased. You could see at the end, we were dead on our feet. But like Saturday, we kept going, we didn’t give in. We’ll always try and push and get that next goal.

“I thought for their efforts, they deserved that goal. They deserved to take it to penalties. Then from there, you’re just hoping that it’s our night, and then maybe the goalkeeper can make a save or two, and all the lads are confident and can stick the ball away.”

Your next Palace read, Wharton has 'made clear' his transfer preference as Madrid 'monitor'