Joe Cole claimed that Wilfried Zaha “needs to show more” if he wants to move on to bigger things than Crystal Palace.
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The former England international was working for BT Sports when Palace faced his former side Chelsea on Saturday, and the attacking midfielder admitted to being ‘disappointed’ with the forward, stating that 19-year-old Reece James had the better of him.
The Eagles lost 2-0 to Chelsea despite going into the break drawing 0-0. Goals from Tammy Abraham and Christian Pulisic secured all three points for Chelsea.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, Joe Cole said: “I’m disappointed with Zaha today. Reece James has got in his head.
“He’s let a young full-back dominate him. This Zaha five minutes ago was saying he wanted a move to the big clubs.
“He said he wanted to go and play for this club, that club.
“Reece James has come on his debut, got in his head and a player of his quality letting the ball under his feet.
“I think credit to Reece James but Wilf Zaha needs to show more if he wants to make that next step.”
Cole has a point when talking about Zaha needing to improve to make a side go after him. The Ivorian international has not been in the greatest form this season, and since he handed in his transfer request in August, he still has not scored once for the club.
Zaha turned 27 over the weekend and will feel like it’s now or never to prove to teams that he is worth taking a punt on, as the tricky winger is likely to be reaching his peak considering he relies on his pace and quick feet so much. After being denied moves to the likes of Arsenal and Everton over the course of the summer, it does look to be an important season in the former Manchester United man’s career given his age. Indeed, moves to Chelsea and back to the Theatre of Dreams have been touted, though his lack of goals is clearly a concern.
Despite his lack of end product and assists this campaign, WhoScored’s algorithm still think that he is having a decent season; out of the team that has played more than 2 games, he has the highest average rating in the squad of 6.99/10 per game.
It must be said that during Palace’s game against Chelsea, he still managed to get the highest rating with six dribbles throughout the match. Obviously, this suggests that Zaha has not stopped doing what he was doing to seasons prior, but has seemingly lost the kind of end product that made him the Eagles’ top scorer in Premier League history last season. It could be argued that therein lies the problem Cole is talking about – he’s not hit a new level despite some of his qualities.
If he wants his big move – that has to change, despite some of his otherwise promising statistics.
Does Cole have a point? Join the discussion by commenting below…
