Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has named the player who he says is the ‘obvious’ best player at the club right now.
In the midst of a terrible 2-2 draw at home against 10-men Burnley on Saturday afternoon, Pochettino has been drawing on one of the positives from the day, or perhaps the only positive from the day.
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That positive is named Cole Palmer, the man who stood up with another fine performance and scored a lovely penalty in the match. He was once again Chelsea’s best player on the day, and he has been Chelsea’s best player all season so far. In fact, you might as well hand him the Player of the Season award now because nobody is even getting close to his levels in this squad. He is sometimes carrying this team, in my opinion.
Pochettino was asked whether he thinks Palmer is the best player at Chelsea, as cited by The Evening Standard, and of course he replied with yes.
Pochettino says it is “obvious” that Cole Palmer is Chelsea’s best player and will urge him to take charge in future penalty situations.
Another disappointing result against Burnley raised more questions of just where Chelsea would be without Palmer.
Pochettino added: “It’s so obvious, he scored twice, and yes, of course, he is a good example for the rest.
“From day one, he took responsibility in penalties and in the game. You can see that when the team is struggling, they give the ball to him.
“It’s very positive for the team and him to play games that he didn’t play at Manchester City.
“It’s obvious that we are happy with him. But as a collective, he can not be happy. He is, of course, disappointed.”
He’s been excellent in attack, but let’s not overlook the fact that he still needs to improve defensively, where he too frequently appears like he’s less than committed.