Carlton Palmer hits out at Matt Le Tiss; Matt responds

Former Southampton midfielder Carlton Palmer has questioned why Matt Le Tissier didn't have more caps for England, and why the Saints hero neglected to leave Hampshire.

Palmer hit out at Le Tissier after he commented on how he struggled to believe that Palmer amassed 18 caps for England, while Le Tissier himself only managed eight.

"I wanted to win football matches, so if you played in the same team as me and you weren't at it, we got a problem," Palmer said.

"Matt Le Tissier put in his book that I was a bully and asked 'How did he get 18 England caps?'

"Well why did you only get six? People say he should have had more but why didn't he?

"I've played more games than him and I've got 18 England caps, so don't criticise me and try and get publicity off the back of that."

In his international career, Palmer was picked to represent England at Euro 1992, where the Three Lions finished bottom of their group, failed to win a single match and scored just one goal.

Le Tissier however, never represented his country in a major tournament. He made his debut for England at the age of 25, playing in a 1-0 friendly win over Denmark at Wembley Stadium.

His final cap came just three years later, as England lost 0-1 at home to Italy in a World Cup qualifier.

Le Tissier was repeatedly ignored by Glenn Hoddle and Terry Venables during their leadership of the national team, something which was put down to Le Tiss rejecting moves to Chelsea (managed by Hoddle) and Tottenham (managed by Venables), earlier in his career.

Palmer criticised Le Tissier's loyalty to Southampton - with Matt making over 500 appearances for Saints across 16 years - saying that the Guernsey islander should've walked out on the club.

"Le Tissier was a fantastic footballer, but how can he criticise me when I can look back and say I've done the best that I could do?"

"Has he done the best he could do? Big clubs came after him.

"It's all right to play for one club if you're at Chelsea.

"Southampton, with the greatest of respect, if Chelsea come in for you, you go and test yourself."

Le Tissier issued a quick response via Twitter earlier today, posting:

"So, I've been getting stick on Soccer AM by the only footballer I knew who would control a ball further than he could kick it."

He later added: "By the way, I totally respect Carlton Palmer for getting every ounce out of his career with the ability he had."

SMOKIN': Le Tiss issued a quick-witted response to Palmer's comments

In addition to his 18 appearances for England, Palmer played over 100 times for West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United despite being recognised as the second-worst footballer to ever play for England.

However, Palmer was never fortunate enough to land any honours in his 21-year professional career.

Le Tissier was named as PFA Young Player of the Year in 1990, making the PFA Team of the Year in 1995, the same season in which he won the award for 'Goal of the Season'.

In September 2013, Matt was inducted into the 'Hall of Fame' at the National Football Museum alongside some of the greatest names to have played on these shores.

In October 2014, Palmer was exposed as a liar when he claimed to have won the Premier League with Leeds in 1992 after taking a role with a college in Shanghai.

Whatever Carlton says, we're glad you stuck around, Matt...

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