We have our doubts about whether he will start today against Manchester United – he looked in pain after the game against Bayern on Wednesday night, and it would be mad to risk him again. Once again, Maresca insisted in an interview with Sky Sports today that the team don’t need Palmer to succeed:
“We need him, no doubt, with Cole we are a better team,” Maresca said.
“But knowing that Cole is not going to be available for the whole season, we need to find solutions and find ways to win games like we did against West Ham and Fulham. But, no doubt, we need Cole. He’s growing a lot, especially in terms of personality. I’m not saying he is one of the leaders, but he’s growing in that aspect.”
Maresca must put his money where his mouth is and leave out injured star
If he really believes that this team can win regularly without Palmer (against teams better than a rotten West Ham) he needs to prove it by not picking Palmer today. It’s better to miss him for a few days than to keep using him and risk losing him for longer.
Against a Manchester United team likely to push forward more than some of our previous opposition this season our attackers should be able to score goals on the counter attack. Save Cole for defences that need to be unpicked.