Find out why Palmer disappointed his coach.
Chelsea got a win last night, and a comfortable one in the end, but it wasn’t pretty for the first hour, and even star boy Cole Palmer didn’t perform well against a solid Preston back line.
Speaking to the Chelsea website after the game, Mauricio Pochettino revealed that despite living the midfielder’s progress this season, he wasn’t too happy with Palmer in this game, especially for missing a first half chance that could have changed the game earlier:
“I have been very impressed. He arrived on the last day of the transfer window and to be performing after six months is incredible. We are so happy.
“Today I was a little bit disappointed with him because he didn’t score the big chance he had. But he’s still young and he needs to improve in different areas, not only on the pitch, off it as well. He needs to understand many things also.
“But he’s in a way where he’s improving a lot and of course he’s a very good player for us. He’s doing fantastic, I’m so happy and so pleased with his performance today and so far.”
From our point of view, it just confirmed what we’ve seen a few times. It’s useful that Palmer can play more centrally when the team needs it, but he’s nowhere near as effective there as he is out wide.
He had the tools to be a playmaker but perhaps just lacks the experience or nous. His worst games for us have all been those like last night, where he has been deployed centrally.
