Jesus Perez and Mauricio Pochettino have been speaking about their time at Chelsea during the 2023-24 season and Perez, Pochettino’s right-hand man, spoke highly of Cole Palmer.
Palmer is enduring a difficult season, but will have reignited some confidence after scoring a hat-trick on Saturday. Liam Rosenior became the second English manager to win his first four Premier League games.
Meanwhile, Palmer’s three goals saw him overtake Didier Drogba’s tally at the same stage, 114 games in. Of course, Drogba would go on to score 164 times for Chelsea and become a Stamford Bridge legend.
Rosenior is the perfect manager for Palmer, isn’t he? 🤔
It is a few years yet before Palmer reaches that level, but Rosenior will be tasked with getting Palmer back to the level he was at during Pochettino’s time in charge. In 23-24, Palmer had a hand in 42 goals.
Perez shares how Palmer once stormed out of teamtalk
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast alongside Pochettino, former assistant boss Perez said that during a Cup game, Pochettino was being hard on his players against a side in a lower division.
During the chat at half-time, Perez says Palmer simply got up and walked off. He then approached Perez, complaining about Pochettino’s half-time teamtalk, but Perez told Palmer that he was making a mistake.
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Perez told Palmer to say it to Pochettino, publicly or privately: “It was a cup game, half-time, Mauricio was tough on the group. When you play a team not in the same division, it can be a different approach.
“Mauricio gave his talk and he [Palmer] left. He comes to me and says A and B. I said to him, ‘why didn’t you say this 10 seconds before?’. That’s not something you do. He knew that he made that mistake.
“It’s fine to talk to the assistants, but next time you go to the manager whether it is public or in private,” Perez said. Pochettino added: “The day after, I say to Cole, what do you need to say? Be brave [laughing].”
Perez explains why Palmer is special off the pitch
Everyone is aware of just how good 12-time England star Palmer is on the pitch. But there is clearly an edge that takes him a level higher than his teammates and other players in his position around the world.
Cole Palmer is the best signing of the Todd Boehly era, there’s no debate 🤩
Perez explains why, identifying Palmer’s emotional intelligence as crucial. In an industry where ego is huge and players’ self-confidence makes it impossible for them to be wrong, it appears Palmer is the exception.
“Cole’s emotional intelligence is above average. It makes him special, how he assesses situations and how to behave, he is above average. He has the capacity to know when he is wrong. That makes him great.”
For now, Palmer will be focusing on being fit, as he endures what Alan Shearer said is a “horrible position” to be in. Not 100% fit, but still tasked with guiding Chelsea to success, the Blues face Leeds on Tuesday.
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