“Watch Palmer,” the gentleman behind me barked. “Watch Palmer,” he said again. And again, and again, and again. In fact, I lost count of the amount of times he was demanding a Liverpool player to “watch” Cole Palmer.
Such is Palmer’s brilliance, he brings a fear factor with him everywhere he goes. Even Anfield; one of the most difficult stadiums to get a result at in the Premier League.
His brilliance is often his own worst enemy, though, because he sets himself such high standards. Ridiculously high. When he is not bagging himself four goals, you can consider it an ‘off day’ for Palmer. But Sunday afternoon’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool was really an off day for the 22-year-old.
Just one dribble completed throughout the 90 minutes for Palmer, with only four passes into the final third. Chelsea were trying to get him involved but the truth is, the Reds found a way to lock him up. That was down to the tireless work-rate of Dominik Szoboszlai and eventual match-winner Curtis Jones, who never gave Palmer a moment’s peace on Merseyside.
It is testament to Palmer, however, that Arne Slot built his Liverpool game-plan around stopping September’s Premier League Player of the Month. Ironically, Liverpool took the wind out of Palmer’s sails on an incredibly blustery day on Merseyside – feeling the full impact of Storm Ashley, that has battered parts of the UK over the last 24 hours.
They managed to keep Palmer quiet but it allowed some other Chelsea attackers into the game, including the likes of Nicolas Jackson and Pedro Neto. Jackson scored a really well-taken goal just after the second-half got underway. A finish that summed up his confidence at the moment.
Meanwhile, Neto made such an impact after coming on for the second-half in place of Jadon Sancho. It begged the question: Why didn’t Neto start in the first place? His speed caused Trent Alexander-Arnold all sorts of problems in the first-half.
While the Portugal international made such a positive impact, he could not quite lead Chelsea to that all important equalising goal at the end. With that said, here are some more talking points/moments missed from the dramatic, action-packed encounter at Anfield.
Maresca loses it with Jackson
Enzo Maresca was such a cool, level-headed figure in the post-match press conference. There were some contentious refereeing decisions during the game, something that would usually irk a manager but the Italian, smartly, refused to get drawn on them despite being asked numerous times about his thoughts.
While typically calm and assured when speaking to the media post-match, that was not always the case on the touchline. In fact, during the first-half when Jackson smashed the outside of the post from a tight angle, the Chelsea head coach lost his cool with his striker.
It looked as if Maresca was frustrated with Jackson’s decision-making. There were a couple of things he could perhaps have done better. One, held the ball up for his teammates to arrive and potentially create a better opportunity or two, shoot across goal.
He did neither, though, leading Maresca to lose his rag in his technical area. Despite this, the Italian would have left the ground pleased with his striker’s overall contribution after he netted his fifth Premier League goal of the season.
Big Fernandez question looms
What is Enzo Fernandez’s best position? A question that has dominated the Chelsea online space this season. A very difficult one to answer, though.
Fernandez is clearly a magnificently gifted footballer. A great technician but other than the first few months of his tenure with the club, we have seen nowhere near the best of him. Against Liverpool, he was dropped to the bench for a more defensive approach with Romeo Lavia replacing him.
Lavia, who made his first league start since the opening weekend of the season, did fantastically well in just less than an hour on the pitch. The 20-year-old had a really tricky job against the likes of Jones, Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, but he more than held his own defensively and was often a good out-ball for the Blues when under pressure.
The Belgian formed a partnership with Moises Caicedo and it more than worked on Sunday. The duo seems to be the sensible approach to those away matches against the better sides in the Premier League.
Where does this leave Fernandez, though? Plenty of questions to ask about him, not least; does this system Maresca uses suit the Argentine’s style?
Maresca has previously explained Fernandez’s role in the team. He wants him to be that box-to-box midfielder that defends well and aggressively but also makes those charging runs forward and offers a threat in the final third.
The truth is, at the moment, he is not offering any of that. Some people online are suggesting Fernandez has been made a ‘scapegoat’ but these conversations definitely need to be had, particularly when Lavia is fit and available.
