FLW’s Coventry City fan pundit has named the two Sky Blues players that were the most underwhelming this season.
This post is a part of the “Terrace Talk” series from Football League World, whereby our FLW Fan Pundits share their personal insights on the newest breaking news, teams, players, managers, possible signings, and more.
Coventry City has had another respectable Championship season.
After losing prominent players Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer in the summer, the Sky Blues had a sluggish start to the season and were defeated by Luton Town in the play-off final.
Despite finishing ninth and missing out on the play-offs, Coventry had risen from as low as 20th in the table in late November to become one of the top six contenders following a superb second half of the season.
Championship standings 2023/24 | ||||
Team | P | GD | Pts | |
9 | Coventry City | 46 | 11 | 64 |
10 | Preston North End | 46 | -11 | 63 |
11 | Bristol City | 46 | 2 | 62 |
12 | Cardiff City | 46 | -17 | 62 |
13 | Millwall | 46 | -10 | 59 |
14 | Swansea City | 46 | -6 | 57 |
15 | Watford | 46 | 0 | 56 |
16 | Sunderland | 46 | -2 | 56 |
In the FA Cup, Coventry also had a fantastic run. In the semi-final at Wembley, they overcame 3-0 down to defeat Manchester United and force extra time.
Victor Torp’s goal in the final minute of extra time gave the Sky Blues hope, but it was disallowed for offside. As a result, United prevailed on penalties and advanced to the championship game.
Coventry will be hoping to recover from a dismal season finale and make another run for promotion the next season, and owner Doug King is probably going to support manager Mark Robins in the transfer market this summer.
Coventry City supporter commentator names the least impressive players
Midfielder Kasey Palmer and defender Milan van Ewijk have been the most disappointing players for the Sky Blues this season, according to FLW’s Coventry City fan pundit Neil Littlewood.
Van Ewijk joined from Heerenveen in July for a reported €4 million (£3.4 million). In 49 games in all competitions this season, he has five assists and two goals, but Neil feels that he should have occasionally made better use of his pace.
In 38 games in all competitions this season, Palmer recorded eight assists and four goals, but Neil feels those stats are insufficient for a player of his calibre.
“For most underwhelming players, there are a couple of candidates,” Neil stated.
“I think Milan van Ewijk has a case, even though we had a strong season and the team was overworked.
“I know I’ll be punished for this because he’s been excellent, but he came in with a reputation for being extremely quick and having a killer ball. On occasion, he’s shown to be very reserved, as if he wouldn’t want to beat a man and was hesitant to use his pace—except when he was playing defence, where he did so repeatedly and kept us out of trouble.
“I believe Kasey Palmer is the winner because he had a strong enough season to get away with it.
“He is a top six Championship player, if not a lower half Premier League player, with all the skill in the world when he is on it.
You can see why he succeeded at Chelsea; he is incredibly talented, but he suffers from overuse injuries and makes poor decisions in the closing third of the game.
We really expected on Palmer to step up and be that catalyst for us with O’Hare out with an injury at the beginning of the season and Hamer moving on, and I don’t think he did, which is unfortunate because he has shown flashes of his potential.
Rumour has it that he will be leaving in the summer. I’m not sure if Robins has reached his limit, but it appears that the club has decided to look to let players go when their contracts are about to expire.
“If he leaves, I wouldn’t be that devastated.
“Don’t get me wrong, he occasionally scores goals and some crackers, but I’ve stated repeatedly that he’s a cup player. That’s when he performs well.
Although he has been a decent player, I don’t think his performance is commensurate with his skill level, which makes me feel horrible. I believe that we should anticipate more goals and assists from him.
“At his age, he ought to be taking better care of his body and making better decisions than he currently does.
“We’ve had an excellent season, so we should note that he’s still a very strong player.
“Yes, we didn’t make it to the play-offs, but we made it to the FA Cup semifinal, and considering how much change we’ve gone through this year, I don’t think any Coventry fan anticipated us to perform even half as well as we have.
“I feel harsh saying it, but Kasey Palmer underwhelmed me the most.”
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