Man Utd, beware! The idea of Cole Palmer is now better than the reality

Analysis

Cameron Smith | Editor

There are a lot of issues at Chelsea, inexplicably so, and they reared their ugly head once again on Monday afternoon.

A harrowing 3-1 defeat to a second-string Nottingham Forest side extended the Blues’ losing streak to six matches in the Premier League - the longest such run they have endured in the competition since 1993.

A 93rd-minute bicycle-kick from Joao Pedro at least ended their agonising goalless drought, but that certainly didn’t lift the mood at a heavily-discouraged Stamford Bridge. For many, that will be the last home game they attend this season. Quite frankly, enough is enough.

The defeat means Chelsea have lost four consecutive home league matches for just the second time in their entire history and there is very little to suggest the rot will stop anytime soon.

With a lack of potency in attack and a lack of coherence in defence, this Chelsea team have mediocrity coursing through its veins and with an interim head coach with only four senior games under his belt in charge, things could spiral even further out of control before the final whistle against Sunderland on 24 May.

Chelsea are now ninth in the Premier League table - 10 points behind a drab Liverpool side in fifth and remarkably only six points ahead of Forest in 16th.

European football of any kind feels like a pipe dream right now and for the second time in four years of the BlueCo regime, Chelsea could finish in the bottom-half of the Premier League table. It’s a catastrophic failure at all levels and there isn’t one party solely to blame.

The board are undoubtedly at fault for throwing away billions of pounds on a squad that simply isn’t good enough, but the players must face the music and hold themselves accountable too.

Somehow, considering the vast amount of money spent, Chelsea have a mid-table squad. The standings don’t lie; this team is so far from where they should be. And there’s one player in particular who looks a shadow of his former self.

It’s time to have a serious conversation about Cole Palmer

It’s hard to be overly critical of Cole Palmer considering what he’s achieved in his Chelsea career to date, his obvious injury troubles this season, and the fact that he hasn’t had a summer off since 2022. However, his form is a huge concern and it has been for over 12 months.

Bar a stellar display versus Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final last summer and a few other fleeting examples, Palmer has looked entirely lacklustre for the last year. In fact, he hasn't really looked the same since the exit of former Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino, whose end-to-end chaos ball provided the perfect platform for Palmer to shine.

Due to his past performances, he now has the ego of a world-leading superstar, but the current form of a subpar Premier League attacker.

He hasn’t scored or provided an assist in his last 11 matches for club and country, and he only has 24 goal contributions in his last 59 appearances for Chelsea. That number reduces to just 18 when excluding penalties, and he has a measly five non-penalty goal involvements in 23 Premier League games this season.

Meanwhile, he even missed from the spot against Forest on Monday afternoon. Palmer was denied by Matz Sels in first-half stoppage time at Stamford Bridge and it epitomised how quickly Chelsea’s season has fallen apart. Worryingly, there wasn’t much confidence he would convert either.

There is usually only one outcome when Palmer steps up to take a penalty, but his miss on Monday simply summed up his, and Chelsea’s, malaise.

It’s difficult to know exactly how fit Palmer currently is, given the trouble his ongoing pubalgia problem has given him this season, and he confirmed that his dip in form this term is a direct result of his injury troubles during a recent interview with The Guardian.

However, he has played in 26 of Chelsea’s last 30 matches in all competitions, suggesting that he isn’t totally plagued by injury, and his current performance level is a major concern.

He no longer possesses the burst of pace that saw him glide past opponents with consummate ease during the first 18 months of his Chelsea career and he can no longer score, or create, a goal out of nothing. He is simply no longer the creative spark that causes every fan to sit up with excitement when he receives possession. Even if this is due to injury, it’s still a worry.

Furthermore, Chelsea’s win rate is substantially better without Palmer (72%) than with him (27%) this season. Of course, that includes several cup fixtures against lower-league opposition, but it’s the exact story when only accounting for Premier League matches. When Palmer hasn’t played this term, Chelsea’s win rate in the league is 67%, while that figure stands at a measly 22% when he has featured. That is an extremely worrying trend.

On current form, Palmer is only in Chelsea’s best starting XI due to the absences of others and, quite frankly, there is no world in which he should be on the plane to North America in June.

A summer off will likely do wonders for Palmer’s fitness and it could help him rediscover his mesmeric form of 2023-24. If it doesn’t, however, and his performances continue to underwhelm, Chelsea will have a major transfer dilemma on their hands amid reported interest from Manchester United.

A sale could come back to bite them if he transforms back into 2023-24 Palmer, however there is no guarantee of that happening and opponents are no longer scared of facing him. He’s lost his fear factor and the idea of Cole Palmer is now far better than the reality. With a price tag in excess of €150 million - Man Utd, beware.

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Written by

Cameron Smith | Editor

Cameron Smith is a Digital Content Producer for FootballTransfers, having joined the team upon its inception in November 2020.

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