You can tell it’s an international break, but people are getting bored and starting arguments for no reason, making outrageous over-criticism.
The fickleness of the football world reared its ugly head again this weekend and its true colors were revealed once again.
Over the past three weeks, pundits, media, fans and everyone involved in football have run out of words to praise Cole Palmer. It was literally a Cole Palmer festival. I think like every other post on the live blog there was a post about how good Palmer is!
But one bad performance for England and the pitchforks are out. It’s expected and happens all the time. But it shows how little balance there is in examining football.
Palmer didn’t look terrible for England against Finland last night, but we all knew he wasn’t playing at all. Take a guess. He’s human, he can’t perform at his best all the time, and he’s going to have a bad day at the office.
It was an extreme assessment, with talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham giving him 2/10. I’ve given some extreme ratings in my match reports over time, but it takes a truly nightmarish performance for even me to rate it that low.
Palmer was quiet, did not play and did not attend England’s game at all on Sunday. But I wouldn’t call it a 2/10 nightmare.
Additionally, context is important. Asking Palmer to hug the touchline as a winger doesn’t do that. He is not an out-and-out winger. He is much better when he has the freedom to come inside and operate centrally. He is actually much better when playing in a central position. I think we all saw it in the recent game at Chelsea.
I was disappointed that he didn’t play better. Because this was a great opportunity for him to now establish himself as a regular England starter. But that doesn’t really matter anyway. Because soon a new manager will be coming to England. He will take a look at his setup and what he will be using in the future. Lee Carsley has actually done a lot of experiments. He played Palmer as a double pivot in one game and as a touchline winger in the next!
Palmer will have an off day. It’s just everyday life. But unfortunately, now that he’s been so good these days, his off days will always be more highlighted. They love a player when he’s good, but they love jumping on him even more when he’s down.
But Palmer won’t sit still. We know it. He has the confidence to revive himself and will ignore the noise and focus on his own confidence.
It was just one game, and one he had played too extensively. He didn’t see it at all, but it happened.
The media needs to appease both sides. I’ve been noticing so many compliments over the past few weeks. It was too good to be true. But when he lights up again, they’ll all love him.
