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Frustrated Glasner suffering from severe case of the post-Christmas blues at Palace

The Guardian

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December 29, 2025

Perhaps it's appropriate that the last Premier League game of the Christmas weekend shouldn't be a thriller.

- Jonathan Wilson Selhurst Park

You've spent four days eating and drinking, the belly is straining at the belt, work is looming on Monday and there's a dreadful sense that the holiday is over and you'll soon have to get back to mundane chores: defrosting the freezer, filing the tax return, shopping for real food that might actually have some nutritional value.

For neutrals, this was the ideal game for dozing through on the sofa. Very little happened, and almost none of what did was pleasing on the eye, with the possible exception of the two passages of play Tottenham put together that led to Richarlison scoring goals that were subsequently ruled out for offside. At the start of play it was ninth v 14th and in the first half especially, it looked like it. It was bitty, scrappy, ugly, and included many of the worst elements of Long Throw Britain.

Oliver Glasner looked thoroughly fed up, his frustration evident in every wander to the edge of his technical area. Three minutes into the seven added minutes at the end, he sat down glumly, folded his arms, and seemed only with a great effort of will to be able to stand up and propel himself forward again, hands whirring as he yelled: “Four more minutes. Come on!” It felt a characteristically understated howl of despair.

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