There is a quiet, almost surgical precision to the way Oliver Glasner builds a trophy winning side. In the aftermath of Crystal Palace's Conference Le...
There is a quiet, almost surgical precision to the way Oliver Glasner builds a trophy winning side. In the aftermath of Crystal Palace's Conference League final victory over Rayo Vallecano, the Austrian manager did what he does best. He pointed not to the headline grabbers, not to the lads who hit the back of the net, but to the engine room. "Wharton and Kamada played very, very well," he said, and those words carried the weight of a man who knows exactly where battles are won and lost.Let's be honest. Rayo Vallecano are not a side you can simply breeze past. They press with a fury that leaves you breathless, they rotate their midfield like a well oiled machine, and they know how to make a European final feel like a street fight. For large stretches of that first half, Inigo Perez's men had the Londoners pinned back. But Glasner had a plan, and it revolved around the central pairing of Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada.Wharton, the England under 21 international, has that rare ability to receive the ball under pressure and turn the play forward in one fluid movement. He sees passing lanes before they open. Alongside him, Kamada offers a different kind of steel. The Japanese international drifts, pulls defenders out of shape, and has the tactical intelligence to know when to sit and when to burst. They are not just a double pivot; they are a double act. Against Rayo's aggressive low block, the pair provided the necessary balance, screening the back four while springing the quick transitions that eventually broke Vallecano's resolve.The irony will not be lost on Palace fans, of course. That this victory caps a trophy laden spell for Glasner, a manager who arrived with whispers of "too tactical, too rigid", only to walk out of London with silverware in his hands. The Austrian has proved that his tactical flexibility, his willingness to let his midfielders dictate the tempo rather than simply shuttling side to side, is the real hallmark of a champion.So who takes the credit The manager, obviously. But anyone who watched the final knows where the game was truly won. In the centre of the pitch, where Adam Wharton and Daichi Kamada refused to let the occasion swallow them. They played very, very well indeed. And that, in the end, was enough.
