Matt Law is not a Chelsea fan, and as a journalist who covers Chelsea every week he has a great perspective on the club. He sees everything, but isn’t affected by his club affiliation.
So it was interesting to see him on Twitter getting into a discussion where he was happy to openly criticise Cole Palmer.
The attacker score both goals for his team yesterday and was at the heart of everything good they did in attack, yet Law chose to call out his off the ball contribution as insufficient.
“He’s not blameless [in the defeat],” Law started.
“He needs to sort ouf his game off the ball and defensively. He was pretty bad in that respect yesterday. Lazy at times. Recognise this will be unpopular.
Chelsea fans got used to watching Eden Hazard do whatever he likes off the ball simply because he contributed so much in attack. The same has always been true of Leo Messi. Of course Palmer isn’t on their level in terms of ability, but in terms of how much he’s actually contributing to his team’s goals this season, he comes pretty close.
He’s not blameless though. I was at Spurs but I’ve just watched Chelsea back. For as good as Palmer is on the ball and attacking, he needs to sort out game off the ball and defensively. He was pretty bad in that respect yesterday. Lazy at times. Recognise this will be unpopular
— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) March 31, 2024
Does that buy him a license to do nothing out of possession? Or are you with Law in this case, saying that every player needs to join in to set the tone?
I agree with matt law, cole needs to realize that the game is about defending as much as attacking and it’s every player responsibility to do both to be a complete player, you let your team down if you don’t do both
This side can’t afford a “passenger” defensively right now, and Law is dead right in calling Palmer out for his lack of commitment once the ball turns over.
Yes,he is lazy and at times greedy
Very true. Lazy and greedy
I thinks most guys commenting have not realized how many times Cole has been pressing opposition defenses leading to errors and sometimes contributing to our goals either by him scoring or creating opportunity for others…be observant guys