Glasner's Selhurst Return Ends in 3-1 Defeat as Palace Come Back

By full time, the same stands were ringing with chants of "Glasner, what's the score?" and "Sacked in the morning!" as Palace completed a 3-1 comeback against his Nottingham Forest side.

The match itself was stranger than the scoreline suggests. Dan Ndoye put Forest ahead in the third minute, and the visitors dominated much of the first half. On the balance of chance creation, the away side carried the greater threat for long stretches.

Yet Palace scored three times. Daichi Kamada equalised four minutes before half-time with his first Premier League goal, Jefferson Lerma headed in a second deep into first-half stoppage time, and Yéremi Pino added a third in the 59th minute. That is the afternoon in miniature: the side with less of the ball and fewer chances converted what it had, while the side with more of both did not.

For Palace, the attacking output was unusual against their own recent baseline. Their 2.38 expected goals here compares with an average of 1.4 across their earlier 2026/2027 matches in all competitions, and their open-play expected goals of 1.82 compares with an average of 1.05. Their five corners here came against an average of 3.4 across those earlier matches. Their goals scored minus expected goals of 0.62 compares with an average of 0.0. Whether that represents a side finding its balance under Pierre Sage or a single good afternoon against a fragile opponent is a question the next matches will answer.

The wider context is Palace's league form. Under Sage in 2026/2027 so far, they have one win, one draw and three defeats from five games, 0.8 points per game. Under Roy Hodgson in 2022/2023, they took 1.8 points per game over ten games, with five wins, three draws and two defeats. The current sample is too short to call a trend, and the comparison spans different seasons and different squads. How that turnover has affected the team's balance compared with the 2022/2023 window is a fair question, but not one five league games can settle.

For Glasner, the afternoon sharpened a different contrast. The instability around him is not of his making, but it is now his problem. Forest's chance volume suggests the players are executing something; their conversion suggests they are not yet executing it well enough.

Glasner's Palace legacy is secure — the trophies are in the cabinet. But the club he left has moved on, and the side he now manages is still searching for the resilience that defined his best moments at Selhurst Park. One match does not settle that. It does, however, show how thin the margin can be between a warm welcome and a mocking chant.