Paul Merson once again shows how little he really knows about West Ham with god awful opinion.

Sometimes it’s absolutely baffling how wrong pundits can be. It really does make you wonder whether ex-footballers should really be given the opportunity to broadcast their options as often as they are.

Paul Merson has had some horrific takes over the years and his constant bias towards Arsenal is something that infuriates fans. In fact, it seems like the big 6 as a whole get special treatment from him and if you don’t play for them you aren’t good enough.

West Ham fans have called him out a number of times for being blatantly wrong or giving opinions that just shouldn’t exist. However, his latest arguably tops the lot. When speaking about England and Gareth Southgate’s substitutions he gave strong opinions on Jarrod Bowen.

“Bowen is alright if you want to keep a lead,” he claimed. “He’ll do what it says on the tin, he’ll block crosses and put crosses in. You don’t put him on to win a game though. You’ve got to put Palmer on who’s scored 20 goals this season, and can play with a bit of flair.”

There’s so much to tear apart with this abysmal take. For starters, “alright if you want to keep a lead”? Bowen was instrumental to securing the Three Lions’ win over Serbia, nearly earning himself an assist and doing some superb defending in just 20 minutes – Merson’s phrasing completely undermines this.

Merson then goes on to basically say that the West Ham star doesn’t add anything special despite being sensational on the ball. And as for winning games, how many of the current England squad can say they’ve scored a 90th minute goal in a major European final to win the trophy? The answer is none.

Finally, there’s his comparison to Cole Palmer. The big edge he gives the Chelsea midfielder over Bowen is his goals. While Palmer did in fact score more Premier League goals than Bowen, the Hammer of the Year scored more non-penalty goals. Considering Palmer wouldn’t be taking penalties for England while Kane is on the pitch, it clearly shows that Bown is the better option if England are looking for a goal. Let’s not even mention the fact that two also play in two different positions so it wouldn’t be a case of bringing one on instead of the other.

Overall, it’s just a surface level ‘observation’ which offers no real substance or food for thought. You can disagree with Southgate bringing Bowen on, but at least make a valid argument.