So was Liverpool a blip and he is now back to 2025 piss poor palmer?

He needs to be dropped until the end of the season, he's a shadow of himself.

Can't drop the magic man, even if he does look like one of the Children of the Corn.

Cant drop him.... not now. Needed some time out 6-10 games ago - but not now at the business end.

On 12/05/2025 at 15:05, nonotnowjim said:

Cant drop him.... not now. Needed some time out 6-10 games ago - but not now at the business end.

Yep, the time was January or February, it's too late now. Who even comes in for him anyway? We loaned out the only two players that could play in his position.

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

53 minutes ago, Frawdulant said:

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

Much ado about nothing. He defines laid back. Goal celebrations? Chilled. Hence the nickname. He's his own man.

59 minutes ago, Frawdulant said:

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

Way out of what? The club is developing as it should and it is filled with lots of top talents that will only get better and better. Yesterday around 70 something minute, just before taking a corner he was all smiling, pumped up and gave the Chelsea fans in the away end the signal to be more vocal as the match was nearing the end. Then by the end of it he was rattling the Forest fans during a couple of throw ins and very, very late in the game he was pressing by himself all the way in the Forest half and then made sure he came back to defend as well. If anything, it's the sign of someone who cares. His post match and everyday laid back attitude is part of his persona.

33 minutes ago, dermott said:

Chilled. He's his own man.

He is like Eden was in that way, quite individual in that sense! Loved the club but quite separated from the overboard celebrations!

That said, I did think the same @Frawdulant Cole was looking at the fans with a subdued look on his face! It might not be so much his plans but what the board might plan with him, you never know with this bunch what they’re thinking!

Palmer is not scoring yet still doing quality moves, like with Neto, with more composure could have converted Palmer's early cross yesterday.

5 hours ago, Frawdulant said:

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

One of my biggest fears of missing out on top 4 was losing Palmer to a team that can offer him CL football. Now we are that team, and he's supposedly going to be getting a decent pay rise that should put him on par with what he'd get elsewhere.

If he wants to leave now, so be it. At least I won't be filled with regret thinking of what could have been if we hadn't missed out.

6 hours ago, Frawdulant said:

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

Way out to where exactly???

7 hours ago, Frawdulant said:

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

I thought the same but I think he's just a bit of an odd-bod to be honest...

Having said that I wouldn't be that surprised if he did f**k off because I don't think he really enjoys Maresca ball that much. Neither do I.

6 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

Way out to where exactly???

Agree! Clubs are hesitant to pay £100m+ for players anymore. You already have Bayern & City walking away from the Wirtz deal. A £100m+ fee means £250k/w+ wages and you have to be certain the player will hit at a min 25 G+A in the league no excuses

He was probably just bored sh*tless of the football Maresca has us playing, the vast majority of fans are so no surprise if the players are too.

Thank god Caicedo wasn’t bored then.

5 minutes ago, dkw said:

He was probably just bored sh*tless of the football Maresca has us playing, the vast majority of fans are so no surprise if the players are too.

I wouldn't be surprised. He is the one suffering the most. His role has diminished greatly since Christmas. No more flicks, no more taking opposition midfielders out of the game with a single touch, no long range shooting, rarely in a position to get a shot away at all because he doesn't get into the box much anymore. He's been forced to play safe. He plays too deep, he's pushed out to the left so we can accommodate Enzo on the right. He often has a LB taking up positions he would rather be in himself. Even with all of this, he still manages to create goal scoring chances for the players.

3 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Thank god Caicedo wasn’t bored then.

Likely because Caicedo's role in the team has been left alone by Maresca so he can just keep playing the same way he always has.

8 hours ago, Frawdulant said:

Really worried about Cole. After the match he wasn’t celebrating with the team, he was a bit of a lone figure. Then in all the videos and pictures of celebrations post-match he’s either at the back or out of the way. I really hope he’s not already on his way out.

Nah, nothing to worry about. The whole away stand was singing his name every corner in the second half, and at the end, we kept singing his name and he approached the fans, applauded and looked happy, in his own way. This lad is just too chilled.

22 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I wouldn't be surprised. He is the one suffering the most. His role has diminished greatly since Christmas. No more flicks, no more taking opposition midfielders out of the game with a single touch, no long range shooting, rarely in a position to get a shot away at all because he doesn't get into the box much anymore. He's been forced to play safe. He plays too deep, he's pushed out to the left so we can accommodate Enzo on the right. He often has a LB taking up positions he would rather be in himself. Even with all of this, he still manages to create goal scoring chances for the players.

Likely because Caicedo's role in the team has been left alone by Maresca so he can just keep playing the same way he always has.

Caicedo is being asked to play as a 6, an 8, and a RB in the same match. If anyone had the right to f**k the manager off it’s him yet he still shows the same professionalism.

Palmer is a young player who is playing with pressure to uphold the same standards he had previously. He’s forcing things to happen and is making the wrong decisions, which only makes matters worse when his teammates aren’t scoring either.

The only gripe I have is like you mentioned when Palmer is played on the left, but even then he played there in the first half of the season and was still scoring goals like against Wolves and West Ham.

I might need to tell him to cheer up and remind him that he's 15 or so years younger than me earning in a week what I earn in 4 or 5 years. Crazy.

5 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Caicedo is being asked to play as a 6, an 8, and a RB in the same match. If anyone had the right to f**k the manager off it’s him yet he still shows the same professionalism.

Palmer is a young player who is playing with pressure to uphold the same standards he had previously. He’s forcing things to happen and is making the wrong decisions, which only makes matters worse when his teammates aren’t scoring either.

The only gripe I have is like you mentioned when Palmer is played on the left, but even then he played there in the first half of the season and was still scoring goals like against Wolves and West Ham.

Caicedo is coping fine because he's playing the exact same role in a 6, an 8 and at RB, nothing about his game really changes. Break up the oppositions attacks, intercept, start attacks, play the odd nice pass here and there. Although I do think he struggles at RB when we are forced to defend.

Palmers role has changed dramatically. Maresca doesn't like risks, so I am almost certain he is responsible for Palmer no longer trying the flicks, nutmegs, risky passes and long range shots. Maresca is afraid of the damage teams can do to us on the transition, so he's coached the attackers to take less risks. It's completely nulified Palmer's game. You'll never see Palmer attempt the pass he made against Newcastle again under Maresca, he's coached him not to do it because it's too risky. This is why people were saying Palmer wouldn't be the same player had he stayed at City. The odd nice cross, pick up the odd assist, but boring, takes too long on the ball and looks a little lost.

Combine all of this with moving him into positions he's not comfortable with, and you end up with a player that isn't even half as good as he was before. I am pretty much putting the blame entirely on Maresca when it comes to Palmer's drop in form and confidence. His tactical shift changed him and even the other attackers too. It's just not as noticeable with them because they weren't as outstanding as Palmer was.

Edited May 26, 20251 yr by Scott Harris

16 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Caicedo is coping fine because he's playing the exact same role in a 6, an 8 and at RB, nothing about his game really changes. Break up the oppositions attacks, intercept, start attacks, play the odd nice pass here and there. Although I do think he struggles at RB when we are forced to defend.

Palmers role has changed dramatically. Maresca doesn't like risks, so I am almost certain he is responsible for Palmer no longer trying the flicks, nutmegs, risky passes and long range shots. Maresca is afraid of the damage teams can do to us on the transition, so he's coached the attackers to take less risks. It's completely nulified Palmer's game. You'll never see Palmer attempt the pass he made against Newcastle again under Maresca, he's coached him not to do it because it's too risky. This is why people were saying Palmer wouldn't be the same player had he stayed at City. The odd nice cross, pick up the odd assist, but boring, takes too long on the ball and looks a little lost.

Combine all of this with moving him into positions he's not comfortable with, and you end up with a player that isn't even half as good as he was before. I am pretty much putting the blame entirely on Maresca when it comes to Palmer's drop in form and confidence. His tactical shift changed him and even the other attackers too. It's just not as noticeable with them because they weren't as outstanding as Palmer was.

Scott, this is bang on mate and i think you can even see the point where Maresca starting to change things.

If you remember we were being quoted as Palmer FC. More and more games were decided by some excellent input from Palmer, so Maresca largely let him have his head and worked around him. We became almost transitional in a heavy possession game because of an exquisite piece of vision and slide rule pass.

He started out on the right drifting into the half space and really impacting games, similar to his time under Poch. We then played Newcastle and he got the assist of the assist of the season, with a deep lying collect, spin and ball in behind for Neto's run and Jackson's finish. Lightbulb moment for Maresca. This kid can play anywhere. So he starts moving him deeper and more to left side of midfield, allowing him to use Madueke on the right side and inverting Gusto wherever he can.

The result being that he nullified Palmer and showed up some horrendous traits in Gusto getting him to perform a role that he was not suited to. Confidence being what confidence is, i literally lay the blame on Palmer's loss of form and the shocking decline in Gusto, firmly at Maresca's door. I also see this as the origin of our dramatic fall off of form as a collective from December as well.

Hes done to Palmer what Guardiola did to Grealish, coach the individualism out of him.

On 26/05/2025 at 11:47, petre ispirescu said:

Way out of what? The club is developing as it should and it is filled with lots of top talents that will only get better and better. Yesterday around 70 something minute, just before taking a corner he was all smiling, pumped up and gave the Chelsea fans in the away end the signal to be more vocal as the match was nearing the end. Then by the end of it he was rattling the Forest fans during a couple of throw ins and very, very late in the game he was pressing by himself all the way in the Forest half and then made sure he came back to defend as well. If anything, it's the sign of someone who cares. His post match and everyday laid back attitude is part of his persona.

I wish the certainty that you have about our players getting better and better was actually a fact But it isn't. We've had loads of so called young talent at our club over the years who didn't get better at all. .

18 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Caicedo is coping fine because he's playing the exact same role in a 6, an 8 and at RB, nothing about his game really changes. Break up the oppositions attacks, intercept, start attacks, play the odd nice pass here and there. Although I do think he struggles at RB when we are forced to defend.

Palmers role has changed dramatically. Maresca doesn't like risks, so I am almost certain he is responsible for Palmer no longer trying the flicks, nutmegs, risky passes and long range shots. Maresca is afraid of the damage teams can do to us on the transition, so he's coached the attackers to take less risks. It's completely nulified Palmer's game. You'll never see Palmer attempt the pass he made against Newcastle again under Maresca, he's coached him not to do it because it's too risky. This is why people were saying Palmer wouldn't be the same player had he stayed at City. The odd nice cross, pick up the odd assist, but boring, takes too long on the ball and looks a little lost.

Combine all of this with moving him into positions he's not comfortable with, and you end up with a player that isn't even half as good as he was before. I am pretty much putting the blame entirely on Maresca when it comes to Palmer's drop in form and confidence. His tactical shift changed him and even the other attackers too. It's just not as noticeable with them because they weren't as outstanding as Palmer was.

I'm hoping you're wrong on this Scott.

I mean, not completely wrong, because I do agree with parts of this. I'm no fan of Maresca-ball and don't think it helps players like Palmer - especially when being played out of position. But I do think some of it is down to Palmer probably not being 100% fit and having played a LOT of football. I just can't see that Maresca (who lets face it is still a novice in the coaching world), would dare to nullify a talent like Palmer to he extent that he becomes nowhere near the threat he once was. I feel it is more a combination of things and hopefully, next season, we will see him back to his best and he WILL do the unexpected and take risks.

Just hope he gets plenty of rest over the summer - he needs it.

Edited May 27, 20251 yr by Nibs