Joe Cole has explained what Chelsea’s Cole Palmer desperately needs right now while he’s going through this difficult run of form.
Nearly everything that Cole Palmer has touched has turned to gold since he joined Chelsea from Manchester City in 2023, which is why his recent dip in form has shocked everyone.
Fans can’t quite believe that Palmer has now gone nine consecutive appearances across all competitions without scoring. Even stranger than that, he hasn’t registered an assist in his previous 17 matches, with the previous one against Aston Villa on 1 December.
Competition Appearances Goals Assists
Premier League 28 14 6
Conference League qualifiers 2 0 0
Conference League 1 0 0
FA Cup 1 0 0
Carabao Cup 0 0 0
Cole Palmer in the 2024/25 season
The English attacking midfielder had the perfect opportunity to break his goal drought at the weekend, but he missed his spot-kick in the 1-0 league win over Leicester. Palmer’s penalty record is no longer faultless after his effort from 12 yards was saved by Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.
John Obi Mikel praised Palmer for starting against Leicester despite suffering with illness in the lead up to the game.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Joe Cole insists Chelsea star Cole Palmer needs senior players around him
Joe Cole, the former Chelsea star, has addressed Palmer’s recent struggles by claiming that he really needs senior figures around him in the dressing room.
Unfortunately, the Blues squad is extremely young and lacking in experienced professionals.
Cole told TNT Sports: “How are they going to get out of this tough spell now without the senior players around the pitch? He (Palmer) needs a senior player around him. If he gets in his head because he’s had a little quiet spell, he can start overtrying things, and then it sort of messes up.”
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The pressure is only growing on Palmer more and more with every game that he fails to score or assist. Hopefully, he can end the negative murmurs when the Blues host Copenhagen on Thursday night in the second leg of the last-16 Conference League tie.
Speaking at the start of March, Graeme Souness backed Palmer to soon rediscover his form as he fired shots at the critics of the Chelsea playmaker.
We’re desperate to see him break his goal duck in the two remaining matches before March’s international break.
Photo by Chris Lee - Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Chelsea don’t own the senior figures they need
It’s pretty obvious when you look around the faces in the Chelsea group that they’re desperately missing older and wiser heads to help guide the super young talents.
Blues co-owner Todd Boehly wants a mix of youth and experience in the club’s squad, so it’ll be interesting to see if they fix the problem moving forward.
Chelsea’s oldest players Age
Marcus Bettinelli 32
Tosin Adarabioyo 27
Christopher Nkunku 27
Robert Sanchez 27
If one or two senior heads are integrated into the squad, we’d be confident of achieving some real success in the 2025/26 campaign. In the meantime, the youngsters are very much learning on the job without too much support.