Oliver Glasner has confirmed that Jean-Philippe Mateta‘s half-time withdrawal in Crystal Palace‘s 5-2 defeat to Manchester City was “a tactical decision”.
The Eagles travelled to the Etihad Stadium in fine form, winning four of their last five Premier League games, and they fired themselves into a two-goal lead against Man City inside the opening 21 minutes.
Eberechi Eze tapped home Palace’s opener in the eighth minute, before Mateta played his part in their second goal, blocking goalkeeper Ederson from coming off his line and creating space for Chris Richards to head home a corner.
However, Man City dusted themselves down and staged an impressive comeback, restoring parity with two first-half goals in the space of three minutes before Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly all netted in the second half to condemn Palace to their second-heaviest league defeat of the season.
To the surprise of many, Palace’s top scorer Mateta did not reappear for the second half and was replaced by centre-midfielder Will Hughes.
Mateta has been a standout performer for the Eagles this term, netting nine goals in his last ten Premier League matches prior to the trip to the Etihad, but the Frenchman was not immune to criticism from Glasner at full time.
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Glasner insists ‘subbing Mateta wasn’t a mistake’ in loss to Man City
Explaining why he opted to replace Mateta with Hughes at the interval, Glasner told reporters: “It was a tactical decision.
“Now, I have to say it was the wrong decision. Not taking him off, but changing the formation to a 3-5-2. We wanted to control the midfield more, but it didn’t work.
“Subbing him wasn’t a mistake, he can do better than he did in the first half. He lost too many duels and balls. That’s why we decided to change something.
“The mistake I made was to change the system, not subbing JP.”
Mateta recently returned to first-team action for Palace after received specialist treatment and 25 stitches to a severe laceration to his left ear after being kicked in the head by Millwall’s Liam Roberts in a FA Cup win in March.
The 27-year-old, who has since been wearing a customised mask to protect his ear, will hope to retain his place in Palace’s starting lineup when they travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United in the Premier League on Wednesday.
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