Palace frets over UEFA ruling as Liverpool looms
Crystal Palace heads into the FA Community Shield against Liverpool with a worry list ranging from injuries and lacklustre transfer business to a pending appeal against UEFA's decision to demote it from the UEFA Europa League.
Eagles boss Oliver Glasner guided Palace to a new height in May as it won the club's first major trophy, beating Manchester City to clinch the FA Cup.
But joy at the south London side's first appearance in the Community Shield has been dampened by off-field issues.
Palace was dropped to UEFA's third-tier Conference League last month in an alleged multi-club ownership breach because John Textor, president of Lyon majority owner Eagle Football Group, also had a controlling stake in Palace.
Eagle sold its stake in Palace last month, and the English club appealed against the demotion at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the hearing set for this month.
"If you have to play in the Conference League, it feels like we have been punished," Glasner said ahead of the Wembley showdown with Liverpool.
"We hope that this verdict brings us back into the Europa League because, as I said, we haven't done anything wrong."
To add to Glasner's worries ahead of Monday's clash (AEST), striker Eddie Nketiah is out for eight weeks after suffering an injury during pre-season and midfielder Cheick Doucoure will not return for another two months.
"We have also had injuries to [Matheus] Franca and [Caleb] Kporha, too. So we are short of numbers. If we want to be competitive, we have to add players with good quality," Glasner added.
But Palace has not been active enough to make up the numbers it needs for a first season with a UEFA competition since the 1998 Intertoto Cup, the manager said.
"We have been quite passive in the transfer window. We have to add a few players to be ready for all the competitions," he said.
"In a situation like this now, we definitely need two more players, one at the back and one in the attack."
Eberechi Eze, who scored the FA Cup winner, has also been linked with a move away.
"He will play on Sunday [Monday AEST], definitely," Glasner said.
Glasner said his players were looking forward to taking on Premier League champion Liverpool regardless of the problems.
"Liverpool [is] a top team and it's much better than playing friendlies. It's a chance to win a trophy and the chance to compete with the champions. We want to show our personality again," he added.
