Lee Carsley is new to the England job, and is only taking charge of his second set of fixtures this week as Three Lions boss. But after years working with the age group sides he’s very familiar with a lot of the players – and when it comes to Cole Palmer, Carsley speaks with a lot of authority.
The attacking midfielder is the focus of a lot of the attention in this international break as he joins up with the national team on the back of his impressive form for Chelsea. In the summer he made his first efforts breaking into the side and scored in the Euro final against Spain. Since then he’s gone from strength to strength with Chelsea, and now looks a must-start for Carsley.
The new boss didn’t want to guarantee his young charge game time – but it’s pretty hard to deny he’ll be playing a lot given his current form.
“I think Cole’s in a brilliant position at the minute in terms of he has really found his feet at Chelsea, he’s highly-rated, he’s getting minutes, he’s showing that he can handle the intensity of playing game after game,” Carsley said in England’s press conference today.
Carsley even asks for more from starlet
As someone who has known him for a few years and watched and coached Palmer up close, Carsley even felt qualified to demand more from the phenom:
“He’s a player that whatever you throw at Cole he deals with. But that shouldn’t give us the right to keep putting pressure on him and hyping him up. Ultimately, he’s still a young player, he’s still got a lot of improving to do, even though he’s at an incredible limit at the moment, I still think he can get better.”
That’s the right attitude, and one we want to see all coaches replicating – no matter how good you are, you can always get better. And that includes even the very best.
