Matty Palmer

[Piessince67]

I fully appreciate what he has done for the club but sometimes sacred cows have to be destroyed in order to move forwards.He is too good for the national league and would be great in a league 2 team with no great ambitions.However i dont think he has the physicality for a team with promotion ambitions .With a fully fit squad Crowley Abbott and Robertson would be my midfield picks.

[OldBanksy]

Really? He was the saviour when he was injured.

[the_anticlough]

I fully appreciate what he has done for the club but sometimes sacred cows have to be destroyed in order to move forwards.He is too good for the national league and would be great in a league 2 team with no great ambitions.However i dont think he has the physicality for a team with promotion ambitions .With a fully fit squad Crowley Abbott and Robertson would be my midfield picks.

I'm not quite there yet. His game is on a gradual upward curve following the serious knee injury. You only get there playing games so we were always going to take the hit of many un-MP like games not at the level of before. He was doing great when LW had us at the top of a stronger league. He's 29, he might get back there.
I agree with those that say he has to compete for his place in the meantime. Our midfield is Abbott + 1 for now.

[maddogslater]

I fully appreciate what he has done for the club but sometimes sacred cows have to be destroyed in order to move forwards.He is too good for the national league and would be great in a league 2 team with no great ambitions.However i dont think he has the physicality for a team with promotion ambitions .With a fully fit squad Crowley Abbott and Robertson would be my midfield picks.

Thought he was decent today

[jackal2]

His game is on a gradual upward curve following the serious knee injury. You only get there playing games so we were always going to take the hit of many un-MP like games not at the level of before.

Sums it up for me. I actually think Matt Palmer has looked far more like his old self in recent weeks, albeit not back to his top levels yet, for the perfectly understandable reasons you describe.

At least this particular thread hasn't started with the cringeworthy "not the player he was before his injury" line, which is the laziest and most overused of all football fan cliches. Few if any players would immediately recover their best form after a long lay-off. You have to trust in the player's ability and give them the playing time to get back to their best and most match sharp.

[OldBanksy]

He's not a big tackler or provider of assists.

[freemuzzy]

He's not a big tackler or provider of assists.

He never has been - and that?s not intended as a criticism.

It seems to me that his long absence has meant people have forgotten the sort of player he was/is. IMO him and Abbott compliment each other well and are the least of our problems currently.

[LeftPeg_Pie]

I thought this thread might appear tonight. I thought Palmer had a good game today. He probably misplaced about 3 passes all afternoon.

Given the position he plays, and call that what you want, the water-carrier etc. he is there to do a specific job. He is there primarily to connect the whole team in our possession based style.

His movement off the ball, especially when oppositions play with a 10, is much better than Robertsons and better than Hinchys. He is more often than not in good positions to receive the ball. He may not always get it, but positionally he is excellent. He is also very rarely dispossessed when receiving the ball facing his own goal; this allows Bass the opportunity to play into midfield as well as the back three.

Nobody wants Crowley to play so deep and if you ask Abbott to play there, you take away all his best attributes. Edwards could be the other option, but I cannot see him being defensively as sound.

At times, he can be a bit sideways and backwards, I cannot argue with that (but I would far more is retain the ball and work a team out than lose it playing poor balls for the sake of going forward), but I feel in recent weeks he has passed forward more, often to good effect. Maybe down to confidence, or rhythm, who knows? It is also positive to see him driving into space with the ball too. I also thought he pressed intelligently today too.

Abbott was excellent today, full of running, dynamism; supporting all over the pitch. Who allowed him that freedom? Matt Palmer. Abbott goes because he knows MP will cover for him. The wing backs can start and play so high because MP can drop into the channels and support to two wide CBs when we get turned over.

Heard a few murmurings about corners today too; Palmer took plenty. When they are being put in, it is obvious they are being asked to put them right on the front post, between the touch line and six-yard line with pace. Any touch with a well whipped in delivery is a goal. We also load the box and do not have anyone deeper than about 25 yards out as a defensive header or keeper punch is not going to travel too far when a ball is whipped in at such pace and in that spot. Corner takers are not always going to hit the spot, especially when they are being asked to hit such a specific spot.

His two long shots were immensely frustrating, for a player of such technique, not many can escape that fact.

Palmer is not going to score all the goals, or set them all up. He will not steam into tackles, beat his chest, shout and yell as some think a captain should (another absolute fallacy in my opinion). He is not the best CM in the division and will not grab many headlines.

He is no Sergio Busquet by any means and most of his work will go unnoticed by quite a few.

But I guarantee, if you ask the whole squad who makes us really tick, who the heartbeat of the side is, the vast majority would say Palmer.

[SmiffyPie]

I fully appreciate what he has done for the club but sometimes sacred cows have to be destroyed

That's a bit harsh, they are normally put out to pasture where they spend the rest of their days chewing the cud under a blissfully sunny sky.

[SinceSept1959]

A difference of opinions on here and I'm of the opinion that Palmer played very well today .
In fact I would have nominated him as a MOM contender along side Matty Platt and of course George Abbott.
Those types of injury take a long time to heal and very often it's two steps forward and one step back !
Palms is progressing very nicely at present.