Football is about achieving a simple objective: winning games (and by extension, trophies). You can further divide that objective into two sub-objectives: scoring goals and not conceding goals. That's how you win games after all, by scoring more goals than you concede.

At this point, footballing philosophies and tactics splinter and diverge in a thousand different directions. Some managers prefer to play with the ball, some prefer to play without the ball. Some managers favour a back 3, others a back 4, others a back 5. Some managers like to play with 1 striker, others with 2 strikers, and so on. But regardless of the system, every manager is trying to set up his or her team in the best possible way to achieve the objectives outlined above.

Oliver Glasner sets up his team very well.

Crystal Palace typically set up in a very sensible 3-4-3, which plays to the strengths of all the players in their starting 11. This is how I know a manager is really good: instead of dying on the sword of a particular formation or style, they look at the 11 players they have and try to figure out how to put them in the best system to bring out the best in them collectively.

Against Nottingham Forest, they lined up like this.

The idea is quite simple: Richards, Lacroix and Guehi are reasonably capable defenders who can defend space and win duels both aerially and on the ground; together, they make a solid back 3.

Wharton and Kamada are all-action central midfielders; they are both capable of receiving the ball under pressure and either progressing it or circulating it by passing to teammates in space. They are also capable of covering space, tackling, winning duels and making recovery runs to protect the defensive unit behind them. Adam Wharton, in particular, can play a mean pass and split the Nottingham Forest block open more than once in this game with one of those threaded through balls.

Tyrick Mitchell and Daniel Munoz make for some really pleasant viewing if you are a fan of wingbacks, as I am. Any system that deploys wingbacks typically needs them to be able to do two things at a very high level: get forward offensively to support attacks, and get back defensively to cover the space left by your offensive forays when the team is defending. Too often, I see fullbacks who offer great defensive cover but little offensive threat, leading to lopsided teams and subpar attacks (Mazraoui at United is a good example).

Mitchell and Munoz have the energy to get forward and go backwards when they need to throughout the game. But, more importantly, they are effective at going forward. Munoz, in particular, was Crystal Palace's most frequent outlet in the first half, typically receiving the ball from one of the defenders, then turning to drive at Forest's defence before putting a cross into the box. As it turns out, deliveries into the box were Palace's preferred route to goal in this game, and Munoz and Mitchell proved themselves more than capable by delivering some excellent crosses into the box. According to data from Opta, Munoz put 8 crosses into the box, more than any other player on the pitch. In fact, Munoz nearly scored from a Mitchell delivery into the box, as you can see in the highlight below.

It is worth noting that Crystal Palace's only goal in the game came as a result of Eze scoring a penalty won by Tyrick Mitchell. Not a bad day's work for the wingback.

On the wings, Palace have Eberechi Eze and Ismailla Sarr. Sarr is a very traditional winger, strong and pacy, and he can take on his man and cross or strike the ball. Eze can do all of that, but we already know that he has a wider range of tools in his locker, particularly in the ball carrying and ball striking department. Very often in this game, Eze and Sarr would end up attacking the box with Mateta as crosses came in from the wingbacks.

But, sometimes the wingbacks would attack the box while the wingers peeled wide to provide width. This is especially the case with Eze and Mitchell on the left. And understandably so, Eze's deliveries are better than Mitchell's, and Mitchell is taller and stronger, so perhaps better suited to attacking the box than Eze. If you take a snapshot of the Palace goal, you can see this in effect. Sarr delivers into the box from the right, Munoz is ahead of him, attacking the box. On the left, Mitchell is already in the box where he receives Sarr's delivery, and Eze is behind him, just arriving in the box from a wider position.

Up top, Palace have, of course, Jean Philippe Mateta. He's strong, he's tall, he can hold up play, and he can shoot. He's basically the kind of striker you want to play with if a big part of your strategy is crossing into the box.

So there you have it, 11 players set up in the best possible way by their managers. Individually, these players are not the best in the world in their respective positions, perhaps. But Oliver Glasner puts them together so well in a system that elevates the group as a whole.

It's worth noting that football can be a game of moments. And so, no matter how good your system is, you really need players who can make something happen out of nothing. Eberechi Eze brings that magical spice for this Palace team. His 88th-minute strike came out of nowhere, and he almost scored with it. A few minutes later, Matz Sels had to make another brilliant save to keep him out.

I reckon that with a few signings, this Palace team will be in the European places mix next season.