Nick Ware

Sat 27 March 2021 10:10, UK

Alex Palmer has had plenty of plaudits this season but his display v Oxford United on Friday proves he is not a guaranteed Sam Johnstone replacement at West Brom.

Palmer, 24, paired up with former Baggies boss Michael Appleton at Lincoln City on a season-long loan at the start of 2020/21 and he has helped to inspire the Imps to a promotion push with the side currently sat in fourth.

Only Lee Burge (17) and Chris Maxwell (15) have kept more clean sheets than Palmer’s 14 this season [Transfermarkt] and he has been touted as a challenger for the number one spot at Albion next season with Johnstone’s future uncertain.

Steve Madeley of The Athletic said: “Promoting Palmer would be the obvious move.”

But he did himself no favours on Friday night in front of the Sky Sports cameras as he churned out a disasterclass of a goalkeeping performance.

Lincoln went one-up in the fourth minute but unravelled to lose 2-1 and Palmer will consider himself culpable for both goals as well as making a number of other errors in the game.

At West Brom News we have taken a look at some worrying moments from Palmer v Oxford United.

Below you can see a long-distance shot on its way to goal with Palmer in position to stop its route.

However he makes a complete hash of it and pushes the ball high and over his own head.

He is saved only by a last-gasp clearance from one of his defenders.

The next attempt was not on a par with the previous but shows some poor handling skills.

A shot came across his goal but it was not ferocious and he should’ve tipped it wide or behind for a corner kick, or perhaps even caught it.

He stretched across and but pushed the ball back out into the danger zone (white arrow) where there were a number of Oxford United forwards waiting to pounce.

Once again he was saved by his defenders when he should have tipped it wide (black liens).

Palmer was not so fortunate for Oxford United’s winning goal, however.

Once again the strike is well-hit and we’re not expecting him to catch it but he makes the fatal mistake of pushing it back out into the six-yard box.

That gave Matty Taylor the simple task of tapping in to clinch victory for the the U’s and it compounded a poor game for Palmer.

This shouldn’t be used as a stick to poke him with as he has been an impressive performer this season but stats show that it has not been as good as first thought.

According to Wyscout Palmer prevents 0.03 goals per 90 in League One, placing him 15th in the goalkeeper rankings. For context Nathan Baxter is top with 0.32.

Furthermore his reflex save accuracy is just 44.44% – only two goalkeepers in League One have a worse success rate.

However an 87.3% pass accuracy is reflective of his ease on the ball and the football instilled at Lincoln by Appleton.

If we bounce back into the Championship a goalkeeper with some comfort on the ball will be vital as we hold onto possession more.

Lincoln still have at least nine games to play in League One, possibly nine if they make it all the way to the play off final, so Palmer has plenty more opportunities to impress and stake his claim for an Albion starting spot next season.

If Johnstone remains at The Hawthorns Palmer has no chance and will have to be content with a No.2 spot unless he moves once again.

But even if Johnstone does leave it should not be considered a procession to the throne for Palmer.

We want to see a solid run of games until the end of the season now before we become convinced he can step up.

In other West Brom news, Steve Bull makes Big Sam relegation claim.

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