Stan Collymore has now criticised Crystal Palace No.10 Ebere Eze for his performance as England recorded a 3-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Goals from Cole Palmer, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Harry Kane handed the Three Lions victory in a friendly affair, in which the Crystal Palace maestro made his first start for England.
Ebere Eze‘s display was a bright one – with England’s official X account even praising him during the match – although the Crystal Palace No.10’s efforts were not enough to please Collymore…
Stan Collymore criticises Ebere Eze
The 53-year-old has now criticised the £17m man for his performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Collymore accused Eze of running into “blind alleys” on his full debut for England, adding that he would prefer to see a natural, pacey winger playing instead.
The man from Staffordshire wrote: “Not for me. Came inside too often and ran into blind alleys. We need width from a pacey wideman, or cleverness (keep the ball even if nothing created) from a wide man coming in.”
Eze started on the left of Gareth Southgate’s attack, with Palmer in the centre and Jarrod Bowen out on the right flank, behind Ollie Watkins leading the line.
As Crystal Palace fans know from seeing Eze playing on the left under Roy Hodgson and Patrick Vieira at times, it is not an area where he performs to his maximum, so he simply cannot be blamed for wanting to roam inside.
In 19 appearances as a left forward, Eze has only ever scored three goals.
Collymore is – of course – entitled to his opinion, although he cannot blame the England international for wanting to get on the ball in more central areas.
Eze simply isn’t a speedy winger who burns past defenders like Yannick Bolasie – if that’s what Collymore wants to see on the flanks for England, it is up to Southgate to make that call and select someone else, rather than force the Crystal Palace star to reinvent himself.
How Crystal Palace No.10 performed for England
Collymore is actually one of very few pundits to have criticised Eze, who largely shone on a night where many others failed to step up.
The 25-year-old completed three successful dribbles, more than any other England player, while he also won seven duels in total, as shown by SofaScore.
READ MORE: How Ebere Eze reacted as Crystal Palace teammate Adam Wharton shines on England debut
In Eze’s 63 minutes on the pitch, he was brave, drove at defenders and looked to make things happen – if that can be considered a bad performance, it is only because of how high the midfield maestro has set his own bar.
The post "Not for me": Stan Collymore now shares why he thinks Ebere Eze played badly in 3-0 England win appeared first on We are Palace.