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Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer had a night to forget for England, being subbed off after 59 minutes as England lost 1-0 to Japan at Wembley.
Cole Palmer started in the number 10 role in England’s 1-0 loss against Japan, and did little to silence Thomas Tuchel’s recent criticisms of his attacking stars.
The Chelsea man looked a shadow of the player who dominated the league last season. Struggling with the pace of Japan’s transition play, he appeared physically sluggish, as well as giving the ball away on multiple occasions. In fact, it was him losing possession that gifted Japan their goal.
His creative output was uncharacteristically poor, misplaced passes ruined several promising attacks, and he failed to register a single shot on target.
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Cole Palmer slammed for his England display against Japan
The national media was slightly too nice, with the one even handing him a 6/10 rating, but the key theme was his carelessness with the ball.
BBC – The Chelsea attacker was given the nod as the number 10 over Phil Foden who played as a false nine. There was always a sense that something could happen when Palmer was on the ball. However, he was caught on the ball and punished for Japan’s opener. Came off just before the hour mark. 6
GOAL – Afforded full creative licence as the starting No.10 but made very little, consistently lost possession and cheaply gave the ball away leading to Mitoma’s goal. Hooked for Bowen. 4
FourFourTwo – A tough night for the Chelsea man. Robbed of possession by Mitoma – who then scored from the resulting counter attack – he then almost tried too hard to exert his influence and ended up over-hitting a free-kick before half-time that really summed up his game to that point.
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Photo by Alex Davidson – The FA/The FA via Getty Images Cole Palmer’s stats against Japan
In very unlikely fashion, Cole Palmer failed to register a single successful dribble, failing on both occasions. He was also dispossessed once, which led to the goal.
As well as this, Palmer had 40 touches, a passing accuracy percentage of 77, created two chances, three crosses and failed his only accurate long ball attempt.
On the defensive side of things he made just one recovery, won two out of five duels and was fouled on two occasions.
A slightly concerning performance for those who hoped Cole Palmer had return to his best after an impressive cameo against Uruguay last time out.
All stats via FotMob.
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