Oliver Glasner wants Crystal Palace to take the positives from their Carabao Cup quarter-final exit at Arsenal.
Palace missed out on a place in the semi-finals after losing a penalty shootout at the Emirates.
The Eagles weathered some first-half pressure from Arsenal, with stand-in goalkeeper Walter Benitez impressive, but conceded an 80th-minute opener when Maxence Lacroix inadvertently scored an own goal.
Despite that late setback, Palace regrouped, and forced penalties when Marc Guehi scored late in stoppage time.
Glasner’s side eventually lost 8-7 in the shootout, with Lacroix’s effort saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga, but the Austrian was proud of how his team performed.
“Of course, when you lose a game, when you lose on penalties, you’re always disappointed,” Glasner said.
“On the other side, I’m delighted with the second-half performance today, especially after the first-half performance – that was really bad. Walter Benitez kept us in the game, but the second-half was much better, it was an all-even game.
“We had already two penalty shootouts this year, and we won both, and today Arsenal were the lucky team. To be honest, I’ve watched many penalty shootouts in my life, but I can’t remember having seen so many well-taken penalties. It’s always somebody who has to miss, and today it was one of our players, but nobody is to blame.
“I spoke to the players. For us, it’s important to build on the second-half performance and also show that great character again. All of a sudden, in the second half, one-nil down from a set-play, it looked like deja vu from the league game [against Arsenal in October].
“Then, coming back again, with everything that’s happened in the last weeks and months, is a huge credit to the players for their mindset – so we’ll take many positives from today’s performance.”
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