Yesterday it was announced that Cole Palmer had been picked as the “player of the round” for the Carabao Cup semi finals.
After a 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough away in the North East, Chelsea roared back with a 6-1 win at home. Palmer grabbed two goals and really ran the show in attack.
In that game he played as a number 10 behind Armando Broja. The games after that saw him start as a false 9 against Aston Villa, in a 0-0 draw. He reprised that role against Liverpool, and his team were beaten heavily. Against Wolves, Chelsea were beaten but Palmer did grab a goal, playing off the right wing.
🥶 @ChelseaFC‘s Cole Palmer has been voted the Player of the Round for the Semi-Finals! 👏#EFL | #CarabaoCup pic.twitter.com/EjN5StJ6pn
— Carabao Cup (@Carabao_Cup) February 9, 2024
In our replay against Villa earlier this week, Palmer returned to a false 9 role, and one again didn’t get a goal or assist.
What we can conclude is that Palmer is much less effective in that role, at least in terms of creating things for himself. He’s definitely at his best off the right wing, or playing off a striker as he did against Boro.
But after a big win this week with him up top and Nicolas Jackson off the left, will Mauricio Pochettino be encouraged to leave Palmer in a position which doesn’t suit him as well, in order to help the team? We’re very interested to find out.
