Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner left furious at ‘slapstick’ Macclesfield defeat in FA Cup – ‘Our Under-21 team would do better’

They also became the first sixth-tier side to knock out the holders of the Cup and, in his post-match press conference, Glasner was almost dumbfounded by what he had just witnessed from his players.

“I think we’re not able to create chances,” he told TNT Sports.

“We have no player who can win a one against one, we have no player who is quick enough to run past somebody, we have no physical strength in our attack, we didn’t create anything and we have no presence in the box.”

Despite their efforts to overturn the one-goal deficit, the opposite happened, as Macclesfield doubled their lead down the other end through Isaac Buckley-Ricketts – a goal which Glasner likened to a comedy sketch.

“We tried to make three changes, play more attacking, and obviously, the second goal is slapstick,” he said.

“We tried everything, but I have no explanation and everything I try to explain (about) this performance would be wrong, because I think our Under-21 team would do better than we did today.”

Macclesfield skipper Paul Dawson put his side 1-0 up, before Buckley-Ricketts added the second on the hour mark.

Yeremy Pino found the back of the net with a brilliant free-kick in the 90th minute to set up a tense finish at Moss Rose, but to no avail as Macclesfield held their nerve to reach the fourth round – three matches away from a semi-final at Wembley.

‘Magic moment’ – Buckley-Ricketts doubles Macclesfield lead with classy finish

Video credit: TNT Sports

To gauge the size of the upset, which is arguably the greatest in FA Cup history, Macclesfield were founded five years ago in 2020 following Macclesfield Town’s liquidation, and play at a 5,000-capacity ground on a 4G artificial pitch.

They are 14th in the National League North – 117 places below Glanser’s side in the pyramid, who play European football in the UEFA Conference League, having won the FA Cup last term.

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