Jason Cundy singled out one Chelsea star for massive praise after his latest performance in the Conference League.
On Thursday night, Chelsea booked their spot in the Conference League quarter-finals after beating Copenhagen 1-0 in the second leg, which secured a 3-1 aggregate victory.
The Blues did enough to continue their European journey this season, but the Chelsea player ratings against Copenhagen highlighted it was a quiet evening for many individuals.
In a dull first half, Enzo Maresca’s side didn’t register a single shot attempt. They were a lot more energetic in the second period, which included Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s match-winning strike.
Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images
Jason Cundy claims Chelsea playmaker Cole Palmer is ‘beautiful to watch’
Jason Cundy, who was on co-commentary during Chelsea versus Copenhagen, thought Cole Palmer was a class above during his performance in the Conference League.
Even though the 22-year-old attacking midfielder started on the bench, he was introduced as a half-time substitute to inject some extra quality and intent.
Cundy said via Chelsea’s official app (9:10pm, 13 March): “He’s such a beautiful player to watch. He gives us so much control. The thing about Palmer he does so well, he finds himself in space where he can hurt you the most.
“It’s amazing how many times he gets in those areas where he just turns and plays a pass. It’s almost in one movement. He’s the introduction and difference maker tonight… The way he receives the ball on the half turn, it’s such a difficult skill.”
MORE CHELSEA STORIES
Earlier this week, Palmer missed Chelsea training because of an illness that has been around the camp. Thankfully, he was available on Thursday and certainly changed the game in his team’s favour against Copenhagen.
Minutes played Shots on tagret Chances created Accurate passes Touches in opposition box Was fouled Match rating
45 1/4 (25%) 1 24/26 (92%) 2 1 6.3
Cole Palmer’s performance vs Copenhagen via FOTMOB
While Palmer did fail to find the back of the net again, he was exciting whenever he got the ball at his feet to lift the crowd.
Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images
Cole Palmer goal drought stretches to 10 matches
The good news is that Palmer is still impacting games in a positive way and getting into plenty of goalscoring positions on the pitch. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to break a goal drought that is growing bigger and bigger.
It’s now a 10-game streak that the England star is on since his last Chelsea goal, which was on 14 January against Bournemouth.
For most of Palmer’s Chelsea career, he’s had a composure and conviction about his finishing. We do wonder if he’s overthinking things in front of goal at this moment in time, though.
Joe Cole’s message on Palmer is that he desperately needs senior professionals around him to help him get out of this struggling form, but there’s not too much of that when you look around the dressing room.