Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca responded to Cole Palmer’s comments (Image: Getty/Amazon Prime Sport)
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has responded to Cole Palmer’s piercing comments after the Blues suffered a late collapse in their 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Boxing Day.
Maresca’s side were looking comfortable after leading through Palmer’s 12th league goal of the season, with the 22-year-old dancing through the Fulham defence before slotting home.
But the visitors fought back and Marco Silva’s substitutes paid off when Harry Wilson scored from the bench and Rodrigo Muniz netted a stoppage-time winner.
Palmer was critical of ‘s inability to keep control of the game, which some might have interpreted as a slight dig at his manager, who made just one change as opposed to Silva’s maximum of five.
“We were winning for the majority of the game, but to lose at the end, it’s difficult,” Palmer told Amazon Prime Sport. “I think the first half we played well, we controlled the game. We had quite a few chances. In the second half, we just lose a bit of control.
“They are good transition team Fulham, direct, so we got caught up with their game and paid the price. I don’t think we lost any intensity, we just lost control of the game and turned it into a game that they’re better at, running and stuff. We need to try and manage the game a bit better.”
Cole Palmer questioned how Chelsea lost control in the game after losing to Fulham (Image: Getty)
And Maresca responded by admitting Palmer was “right”, with the Italian conceding his side did not cope well with Fulham’s threat on the counterattack.
When asked if ‘s game management was the issue as Palmer said, Maresca replied: “Yes, it’s exactly what I said to them.
“We can manage the game better. We have to control the game, it’s a game we can learn many things [from].
“We knew it would be a game potentially where they could transition many times because they have very good players. We could avoid that, some moments we avoid, but we concede too many transitions. We need to work on that.”
Enzo Maresca admitted his team did not do enough to stop transitions on the counter (Image: Getty)
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