I don’t think anyone should be surprised that Cole Palmer is frustrated. He went from thriving under Pochettino - where his attacking qualities were allowed to flourish - to being nullified by his own manager under Maresca. Palmer himself highlighted how he effectively turned the Conference League final around once he’d “had enough” of the endless backwards and sideways passing. That says a lot about the tactical straitjacket the players are operating in.
Maresca is not building a team that looks diverse in its approach or consistently dangerous. He is overly risk-averse, tries to be too clever, and repeatedly plays players out of position. Football is not complicated. Play your best players in their best positions, move the ball progressively, make space, and score goals. Instead, Maresca opts to shoehorn talents into roles that don’t suit them (Reece James as a central midfielder being the prime example), moves the ball deliberately slowly to avoid risk, invites opposition teams to drop deep and close the space, and then only shows attacking intent once Chelsea are already behind.
His favouritism of some players has been obvious: Enzo, Jackson, Sánchez and Gusto have all been given significant backing despite poor performances, while others - Guiu, Santos, Nkunku, Chalobah, Felix, Sterling - have all been alienated at some point. Some of those calls might have a case, but overall his handling has been divisive and poor.
After 18 months in the job, there has been no clear progression in our play and no genuine identity, beyond a watered-down version of Guardiola’s control game. We are no closer to looking like a side that can hurt teams from multiple areas. Right now, Chelsea remains “Cole Palmer FC,” entirely dependent on one man to make the difference.
The reality of a manager who looks to have zero original ideas is the bigger story here - Cole Palmers frustration is simply a side effect.
