Coppello Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 If you asked Huddersfield Town or Derby County fans, Kasey Palmer has the creativity and talent to take you to the Premier League. However, supporters of Blackburn Rovers will provide you with a different story. Prior to Kasey being unveiled as a City player, comments such as the tweets below were not uncommon on social media: However, having seen his first two appearances in a red shirt, his lack of success at Blackburn was possibly due to him playing alongside Bradley Dack, arguably one of the most talented number 10s in the league. For two successive weeks, Palmer has come off the bench with around 30 minutes left on the clock and a wonderful chance to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Palmer was introduced against Bolton as part of a triple substitution after City found themselves 1-0 down against the run of play. In some ways, it was the perfect time to be introduced, allowing him to neglect his defensive duties in search of creating and scoring goals. His direct running caused havoc for the Bolton defence and they simply couldn’t contain him. In the half an hour he played, he beat his man twice to carve an opening. As a comparison, Callum O’Dowda attempted to take on his opponents twice and failed on both occasions. Similarly, Jamie Paterson was successful one from his two endeavours. Although he was only on the pitch for 30 minutes, he was fouled four times, more than any other player on the field during the course of the game. His combination of speed, trickery and strength gives us a different option. His dashboard, taken from an Opta related feed, can be seen below (along with a key to make sense of it all): What is doesn’t highlight, and sadly I don’t have access to, is his direct running ability. Moving on to yesterday, it was another match where City needed to introduce a new player to help gain a stranglehold on the game. Palmer was excellent again, and despite only being on the field from the 64th minute, beat more players than anyone else over the course of the 90. Admittedly, he only completed two from two, but no other player achieved this. He was also very efficient in the final third, completing 4 of 5 passes. His link up with Weimann for the goal was fantastic and their understanding from their Derby days was evident. It may seem absurd that anyone can find at case against starting Palmer but our recent run has been built on discipline in all areas. Since our unbeaten run began, we have lined up in a 4-1-4-1 on 7 consecutive occasions (since Birmingham away). Paterson would be the natural player to give way for Palmer but the creative midfielder is quite proficient at defending and will also cover a lot of ground over the course of 90 minutes. If we compare Brownhill and Paterson’s defensive metrics over the course of the last 7 games, it may not be easy to remove either of them: Further, if you consider that Paterson is a player is who often withdrawn midway through the second half, and has played fewer minutes than Brownhill, the stats are a little surprising. We’re yet to see what Palmer can offer defensively but I’m unsure he has the same level of discipline as this pairing or the same engine. Against Bolton, he recovered the ball once and did not win a tackle. On Saturday, his defensive statistics were a lot better, with 2 ball recoveries and 2 successful tackles, a better return per minute when you consider he was introduced after 64 minutes. Those stats are impressive but one should not overlook the virtues of playing with fresh legs against a tiring opposition. It would be interesting to see if it could be sustained over the course of 90 minutes. In order to accommodate him fully, we’d need to change formation and play him in a more advanced role, in the hole behind Diedhiou where he has the freedom to exploit the space between the lines. This is not something I’d be adverse to in a few weeks but it would be foolish to disrupt the rhythm of the unbeaten run in the league. However, this weekend’s FA Cup fixture against Bolton would be the perfect opportunity to rotate and give Palmer his first start. Given the Trotter’s poor form, and their incentive to rotate, he will have a field day against them. I’m sure Johnson will have a few headaches about how to fully integrate him without losing our defensive discipline. What is unquestionable is what an asset he is to bring off the bench. It’s early days but he looks like he could be the kind of player worth his admission fee alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 If you overlay his heatmap from Bolton, does that gives you a sense of his running? [whoscored.com] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der no.2 Posted January 20, 2019 Report Share Posted January 20, 2019 Great post @Coppello Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Isewater Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 7 hours ago, Coppello said: If you asked Huddersfield Town or Derby County fans, Kasey Palmer has the creativity and talent to take you to the Premier League. However, supporters of Blackburn Rovers will provide you with a different story. Prior to Kasey being unveiled as a City player, comments such as the tweets below were not uncommon on social media: However, having seen his first two appearances in a red shirt, his lack of success at Blackburn was possibly due to him playing alongside Bradley Dack, arguably one of the most talented number 10s in the league. For two successive weeks, Palmer has come off the bench with around 30 minutes left on the clock and a wonderful chance to take the game by the scruff of the neck. Palmer was introduced against Bolton as part of a triple substitution after City found themselves 1-0 down against the run of play. In some ways, it was the perfect time to be introduced, allowing him to neglect his defensive duties in search of creating and scoring goals. His direct running caused havoc for the Bolton defence and they simply couldn’t contain him. In the half an hour he played, he beat his man twice to carve an opening. As a comparison, Callum O’Dowda attempted to take on his opponents twice and failed on both occasions. Similarly, Jamie Paterson was successful one from his two endeavours. Although he was only on the pitch for 30 minutes, he was fouled four times, more than any other player on the field during the course of the game. His combination of speed, trickery and strength gives us a different option. His dashboard, taken from an Opta related feed, can be seen below (along with a key to make sense of it all): What is doesn’t highlight, and sadly I don’t have access to, is his direct running ability. Moving on to yesterday, it was another match where City needed to introduce a new player to help gain a stranglehold on the game. Palmer was excellent again, and despite only being on the field from the 64th minute, beat more players than anyone else over the course of the 90. Admittedly, he only completed two from two, but no other player achieved this. He was also very efficient in the final third, completing 4 of 5 passes. His link up with Weimann for the goal was fantastic and their understanding from their Derby days was evident. It may seem absurd that anyone can find at case against starting Palmer but our recent run has been built on discipline in all areas. Since our unbeaten run began, we have lined up in a 4-1-4-1 on 7 consecutive occasions (since Birmingham away). Paterson would be the natural player to give way for Palmer but the creative midfielder is quite proficient at defending and will also cover a lot of ground over the course of 90 minutes. If we compare Brownhill and Paterson’s defensive metrics over the course of the last 7 games, it may not be easy to remove either of them: Further, if you consider that Paterson is a player is who often withdrawn midway through the second half, and has played fewer minutes than Brownhill, the stats are a little surprising. We’re yet to see what Palmer can offer defensively but I’m unsure he has the same level of discipline as this pairing or the same engine. Against Bolton, he recovered the ball once and did not win a tackle. On Saturday, his defensive statistics were a lot better, with 2 ball recoveries and 2 successful tackles, a better return per minute when you consider he was introduced after 64 minutes. Those stats are impressive but one should not overlook the virtues of playing with fresh legs against a tiring opposition. It would be interesting to see if it could be sustained over the course of 90 minutes. In order to accommodate him fully, we’d need to change formation and play him in a more advanced role, in the hole behind Diedhiou where he has the freedom to exploit the space between the lines. This is not something I’d be adverse to in a few weeks but it would be foolish to disrupt the rhythm of the unbeaten run in the league. However, this weekend’s FA Cup fixture against Bolton would be the perfect opportunity to rotate and give Palmer his first start. Given the Trotter’s poor form, and their incentive to rotate, he will have a field day against them. I’m sure Johnson will have a few headaches about how to fully integrate him without losing our defensive discipline. What is unquestionable is what an asset he is to bring off the bench. It’s early days but he looks like he could be the kind of player worth his admission fee alone. LJ will start KP on Friday night , unless there are more training injuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1960maaan Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 Could be the change for home games, that makes us less pedestrian and more of an attacking threat. Palmer playing slightly more advanced at home, while reverting to Paterson away, Palmer coming on as an impact sub. Not sure he can keep that intensity up for 90 minutes, we’ll see Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Bailey Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 He is sure to start Vs Bolton. My major worry is how much he grafts off the ball. Much of the criticism levelled at him before he joined us was about his lack of effort to track back and roll up his defensive sleeves. We will see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davefevs Posted January 21, 2019 Report Share Posted January 21, 2019 6 hours ago, JonDolman said: Impressed with the 4 tackles per game in 3 of the games by Paterson. 4 in a game is a high number. He has clearly looked a lot fitter in this run of games. He has a very high work rate now like he did first half of last season. It is a tricky decision for LJ. I think he will give Palmer his chance against Bolton in the cup and whether he keeps his place will be down to how he perfoms in that one. 2 hours ago, Major Isewater said: LJ will start KP on Friday night , unless there are more training injuries. 1 hour ago, Jack Bailey said: He is sure to start Vs Bolton. My major worry is how much he grafts off the ball. Much of the criticism levelled at him before he joined us was about his lack of effort to track back and roll up his defensive sleeves. We will see LJ said in his post-match presser that Palmer will start on Friday. Question is where will Paterson play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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