Chelsea star Cole Palmer has come in for a fair bit of criticism for his performance during England’s 1-0 win against Andorra.
It was not the most exciting game despite Thomas Tuchel fielding a side that boasted the likes of Palmer, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane.
England take on Senegal next, and supporters of the Three Lions will be hoping to see much better from Palmer and his teammates.
After his duties with the England squad, Palmer will compete at the Club World Cup with Chelsea.
Thomas Tuchel claims Cole Palmer was already struggling at Chelsea
Tuchel has also been criticised for England’s lacklustre display against Andorra and not getting the best out of his attackers.
However, the former Chelsea manager has suggested that he is not responsible for Palmer’s underwhelming outing, claiming that the attacking midfielder already joined his squad out of form.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror ahead of the Three Lions’ next game against Senegal, Tuchel said: “At the moment, I think that even Cole struggled lately at Chelsea to have an impact. Phil [Foden], unfortunately, struggled over many months now to have the impact that he can have.
“So, the question would always be: ‘Do we then invite them and create an atmosphere that he can still perform here?’ It’s difficult to prescribe freedom, to play with freedom and suddenly everyone plays with freedom.”
Palmer’s form certainly did tail off in the second half of last season, but he finished the campaign strongly.
It was the 23-year-old who was at the heart of Chelsea’s comeback in the Conference League final, setting up the Blues’ first two goals in their 4-1 win against Real Betis.
He made the kind of impact that Eden Hazard made in Chelsea’s 4-1 victory over Arsenal in the 2019 Europa League final. Palmer has now taken the No.10 shirt that Hazard once donned.
Cole Palmer’s numbers vs Andorra
Palmer was certainly not at his best against Andorra, yet the Chelsea star still managed to register a couple of key passes.
However, he only had one shot before being taken off just after the hour mark, which is quite rare for him.
| Cole Palmer vs Andorra | Total |
| Minutes | 64 |
| Goals | 0 |
| Assists | 0 |
| Key passes | 2 |
| Shots | 1 |
| Crosses (accurate) | 12 (2) |
| Dribble attempts (successful) | 0 (0) |
Again, if Palmer does feature against Senegal on Tuesday night, England supporters will want to see the former Manchester City man make more of an impact. Do that, and the Three Lions have a great chance of making it back-to-back wins.
