Sideways Sammy

Kasey Palmer is someone who has provided much excitement in a Coventry City shirt, however, he has now had nearly two seasons and has yet to make the step up beyond being a useful rotation option in attack. A return of four goals and four assists from 50 league appearances feels below par compared to the level of talent that Kasey Palmer appears to possess and while some of that output can be caveated by Palmer’s fitness issues and the competition he has faced to nail down a starting place, it is legitimate to wonder whether he will ever become the decisive, consistent match-winner that he has occasionally promised to become.

Kasey Palmer has a lot of raw attributes in his favour that should make him a devastating presence on the pitch. Both skilful with the ball at his feet and physically strong, a key feature of Palmer’s game is being able to take the ball in tight areas, out-muscle defenders and then leave them for dead with a swish of his boot. The issue is that what happens next is just not consistent. Kasey Palmer can leaves fans as baffled by his decision-making as they are excited by his raw talent. Palmer can get himself in great positions but the execution is why his return of goals and assists is so disappointing.

At the age of 27, Kasey Palmer is yet to mature as a footballer, a large part of why that is the case is his injury issues. Palmer has been unable to sharpen his decision-making because every run of starts he’s had has been abruptly ended by injury, which means he has to work on his fitness before he can focus on his impact on the pitch. Now enjoying his best run of fitness while at Coventry City, at a time where the shortage of other attacking options makes him a regular starter, if Kasey Palmer cannot start delivering a more consistent end product between now and the end of the season, he may never do so. He is now in an important phase of both his time at Coventry City and his career as a whole.