Garth sends strong warning to Cole Palmer ahead of Man Utd clash
Garth Crooks has warned Cole Palmer to be “careful” after “taking the Michael” with his penalty against Burnley at the weekend.
After Mykhailo Mudryk won the spot kick for Chelsea towards the end of the first-half, Palmer stepped up from 12 yards to score his 14th goal of the season in all competitions. The England international calmly dinked the ball past Aro Muric in the Clarets’ goal.
Taking a penalty in such a manner shows extreme confidence and that is no surprise given how good Palmer has been in his first season at Stamford Bridge. Crooks, though, who selected the Chelsea winger in his BBC Premier League Team of the Week, has fired a warning in Palmer’s direction following the events on Saturday afternoon.
“The way Palmer dispatched his penalty showed me he has supreme confidence in his own ability,” Crooks wrote. “But his dinked finish was bordering on ‘taking the Michael’ and players have a way of dealing with that. If he’s not careful he may have his wings clipped.”
Palmer went on to score his 15th goal of the season in the same game, but it still was not enough for the Blues to secure all three points against Burnley. After the match, Palmer went on a passionate rant after missing out on the victory.
“It’s poor. It can’t happen, especially when they go down to 10 men,” Palmer said to Sky Sports. “The changing room is really down. When they went down to 10 men, we were 1-0 up and just got too comfortable. Same story, we kill ourselves every week. It’s got to improve from us as players.
“We had many chances and then that time we defended sloppy. It is very disappointing. On a personal level, it is good to score two, but if you don’t get the three points they count for nothing.
“I think it’s our consistency all around the pitch, being alive and not switching off like we did today. We seriously have to do some consistency if we want to do something.”
Chelsea do not have too long to reflect on the draw, though, with the visit of Manchester United on the horizon. Erik ten Hag’s side come to Stamford Bridge on Thursday night as the Blues look to get back to winning ways in the Premier League.
Mauricio Pochettino’s squad will only have three days to prepare for the match after being given the day off on Sunday to recover. Chelsea will have trained on Monday and will do so on Tuesday and Wednesday before the match on Thursday evening.
