Neil Lennon slams Alex Palmer live on Sky Sports after West Brom v Blackburn
Sky Sports pundit Neil Lennon has slammed West Brom goalkeeper Alex Palmer live on air as the Baggies fell to a 2-1 defeat against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday 05 August.
Carlos Corberan’s side started their campaign with a trip to Ewood Park and found themselves 2-0 down after only 22 minutes with goals coming from Dilan Markanday and Harry Leonard, before halving the deficit through Matt Phillip’s second half-strike.
Corberan himself was shown a red card last in the second half, but it was Lenord’s strike that left a bitter taste in the mouth of Lennon who was far from impressed with the goalkeeping of Palmer who failed to keep the striker out of his net at his front post.
Speaking on Sky Sports Soccer Saturday (5 August, 15:26), Lennon said: ” Leonard flashed in a shot, it beat Alex Palmer at his near post, which is poor goalkeeping from him and all of a sudden from a period of dominance West Brom find themselves 2-0 down.”
Worrying moment
The goalkeeping position was one of the few in which West Brom were well stocked heading into this campaign, with Palmer the clear number one and Josh Griffiths his deputy, but that early mistake will have raised a few eyebrows at the Hawthorns.
Leonard’s effort from the corner of the box only carried an xG of 0.09 and from that sort of angle, a keeper should never be beaten at their near post, making Lennon’s criticism fairly well warranted despite goalkeepers often being the easiest target for criticism.
The Baggies had been the better side before the two goals in quick succession but were unable to make their dominance count, possibly showing where Corberan needs to invest between now and the end of the campaign.
Hopefully, for Palmer, it is just a case of blowing away the early season cobwebs and the criticism from the former Celtic manager will only reinforce that need to sharpen up, especially having conceded twice from only four shots that he faced.
In other West Brom news, one Baggies winner has opened up about his surgery during the off-season