Cole Palmer bagged an incredible FOUR goals in Chelsea's demolition of Everton, taking him to the very top of the Premier League scoring charts. Putting aside the tension with Nicholas Jackson and Noni Madueke over the penalty, the game neatly illustrated just why he's had such an incredible first season under Mauricio Pochettino. Adam Clery looks at the goals, the player, and the numbers, to show just how special a player he's already become.
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00:00Now, it will not have escaped your attention that in Chelsea's most recent fixture, Cole
00:05Palmer took a long, hard look at Everton and decided that he was going to-
00:09And the thing is, while this Everton side aren't exactly particularly threatening at
00:16the minute, they're also not overly leaky, usually.
00:19They've had clean sheets this season against Fulham, against Wolves, against Newcastle,
00:23against Chelsea.
00:25Last time they played them, they recently went to the Etihad and kept it to two, so
00:28they're not going to hurt you too much going this way, but you're also not going to create
00:32too much against them.
00:33Like, this is a mad start, but prior to the kickoff against Chelsea, Everton had actually
00:37conceded less shots total this season than Chelsea had.
00:43I know I'm front-loading this video with, like, stuff about Everton, but I just, I want
00:47to get away from the, ugh, it was only Everton comments, right?
00:50What Cole Palmer did last night to them was impressive.
00:53But yes, about that, so Chelsea set up in this 4-2-3-1 system, we see them use it all
00:57the time.
00:58But normally, we expect Cole Palmer to be on the right-hand side, drifting in, doing
01:02a bit of playmaking.
01:03But last night, he was just shoved straight in as the number 10.
01:07Except, was he really though?
01:08Because if we overlay the average positions of the Chelsea players in that game, you'll
01:12see that actually, he was further forward than Nicholas Jackson.
01:15He was pretty much just playing as a regulation centre forward, albeit starting a little deeper.
01:20But also, whilst we're getting involved in the graphs, I want to show you his pass map
01:24from that game.
01:25Because this sort of makes it look like he was starting as the number 10, but he was
01:28just determined to get in the box and score goals.
01:31Not unlike, what's a good example, Sergio Aguero when he used to play with Dzeko, because
01:35he would always try and get beyond him, he wasn't really playing as a number 10.
01:38I'll just show you his pass map, right?
01:40It's not that he was playing as a centre forward, it's that he was playing with almost total
01:45freedom.
01:46And I'm giving myself way too much editing work here, but we'll put his heat map on this
01:49as well at the same time.
01:50And you can sort of see, you'd expect the main contribution of his on-ball activity
01:55to be around here, because that's where he's appearing on the heat map.
01:58He's just outside the box.
01:59He's slightly over to the right-hand side because he wants to get on his left foot.
02:03But you can see all the other areas where there's sort of like where he's been, it's
02:08to get on the ball.
02:09He's not just sort of going out there and doing nothing.
02:12He's finding space when he needs to and where he needs to, to impact the game.
02:17And I just want you to do me a favour, right?
02:19Get this to memory, because we're going to go look at the goals now, because they're
02:22far more sexy and exciting, but we're going to come back here, because for as much as
02:26the goals tell us the kind of player he is, this actually tells us the kind of player
02:31he really is.
02:32So very conveniently for me, he wanted to make a video telling you about Cole Palmer,
02:37all four of his goals against Everton last night, really neatly encapsulated, word of
02:42the day, an element of his forward play.
02:45You got instinct, you got vision, you've got work rate, and you've got composure.
02:49So goal number one, Chelsea have the ball at the back, and just as an aside, is this
02:53them finally reaching the promised land of giving Moises Caicedo the ball under pressure
02:58and that actually being a way for them to build out from the back?
03:02We've done six videos this season of something on why they haven't been doing that, and it's
03:06been driving me mad, but I digress.
03:10Everton's low block, as neatly illustrated by me here, is designed to restrict the space
03:14around the edge of the box where teams need to get the ball to make things happen, to
03:19force them to not have time to make bad decisions, to misplace passes, to turn the ball over,
03:25right?
03:26Now, because of the good work in the buildup, Chelsea have opened Everton up a little bit
03:30more here.
03:31You would expect this line of midfielders to be a lot closer, but the defence are still
03:34being aggressive.
03:35They're not giving him time on the ball, even though he's dropped to find a bit of space.
03:39But Cole Palmer receives the ball, and when he looks up, he has Jared Brantwaite right
03:43in his face.
03:44He has no time to think whatsoever, and yet, he just plays it through his legs like he's
03:49not even there.
03:51This puts Everton into panic mode, he's surrounded by two other defenders, and yet again, instinctively,
03:56he flicks the ball out to Nicholas Jackson, who's found a tiny little bit of space.
04:00And then when Jackson rolls the ball back to him, Palmer hasn't even really looked up.
04:04He doesn't know where Jordan Pickford is positioned, he doesn't really know if a defender's likely
04:08to get across and block this shot, but again, instinctively, he finishes perfectly into
04:14the bottom left corner.
04:15Like, you go back and you watch this goal at full speed, there is not a single thing
04:19Cole Palmer does that comes with any amount of time to think about it in advance.
04:24He just does it all, because around the box, doesn't matter how little time you give him,
04:28his instincts are so, so good.
04:30But what happens when he can think about stuff?
04:32Well, that's where his vision comes into it.
04:34Chelsea have a corner, it breaks down, so Palmer drifts out to the left-hand side where
04:38the play is, because he can see that there is space, he can see that there are ways he
04:41can impact the play.
04:42Now initially, he does really well to find this much space on the edge of the box between
04:46Everton's defensive lines, but Chelsea don't use him, they instead play the ball down the
04:50byline.
04:51Now, if we just stop it right here, and I said to you that in about two seconds' time,
04:55a Chelsea player is going to score a header from within the six-yard box, I will give
04:59you a million pounds if you tell me who it is, you are never, ever, ever saying it's
05:04Cole Palmer.
05:05And the mad thing is, in this passage of play alone, he actually makes two incredible decisions,
05:09because first off, he moves into this space here, and if we just look at it from this
05:13angle, Mudrick should probably really see him and cut it back to sort of towards the
05:18penalty spot, because he would have the most space out of anyone, he's the only one unmarked.
05:22When the ball gets to Jackson, a lot of players would then stop their run, because either
05:25it's going to go into the net, or it's going to be saved and come back out more towards
05:30this sort of area, but again, Palmer doesn't do that, he decides to keep his run going,
05:35he decides to gamble.
05:36He had the vision to not only identify the space correctly the first time, but also that
05:40his best chance of getting the goal after that was going to be here, rather than here.
05:45It does maybe overlap with that instinct point a little bit, but it's my video.
05:49Anyway, yes, number three, work great, and a lot of people are saying the third goal
05:53is a Jordan Pickford howler, and, well, it is, yes, obviously it absolutely is, but the
05:58thing is, when Pickford gets the ball, this pass between Chelsea's press is absolutely
06:04on.
06:06Jackson aren't doing anything special here for a 4v2 situation, Jackson curves his run
06:09this way around to try and cut off the pass to the left for Pickford, while closing him
06:13down at the same time, and then Palmer just has to kind of drift between these two.
06:18They're completely outnumbered, it's to be expected.
06:20If he doesn't do that, he sort of gestures as if he's going to close down the pass on
06:24Pickford's right, which is exactly what Everton would want him to do, but he's like, his muscles
06:29are all tense, he's like a cat trying to get onto the counter, he's ready to spring back
06:33the other way if Pickford takes the bait, which of course he does, and if you do this
06:37frame by frame, you can see Palmer actually starts to go to cut off this pass before Pickford
06:44actually makes it, like, that's the gamble, like, if it goes out to the right, then he's
06:48never, he's just going to close him down, nothing exciting's going to happen there,
06:51so he might as well roll the dice a little bit, and when Pickford's committed to making
06:55the pass, jump, and it pays off, he intercepts the ball, Jordan Pickford isn't so much in
07:00no man's land as the f***ing land before time, he scoops it over his head, 3-0.
07:05Now if you didn't see the game, or you've not been on the internet at all today, you
07:08might just say, well, it's just a penalty, Adam, everyone's got to have a bit of composure
07:12for a penalty, right, but all the stuff that other teams do to try and put a penalty taker
07:17off, like standing on the spot, delaying the kick, jumping up and down on the line, getting
07:22in the referee's ear, saying this, saying that, could any of it, any of it, put more
07:27pressure on than three or four of your teammates having an argument in front of you that you
07:33shouldn't take the penalty.
07:35Truly and honestly, I have never seen anything like this since the last time it literally
07:41happened in a Chelsea match, which I think was against Arsenal, and both times Cole Palmer
07:45just totally unfazed, like if anything should get in your head, it should be that, and both
07:50times he just steps up and very coolly puts the penalty away.
07:54The Man City penalty as well, last minute, it's an equaliser, you've thrown the game
07:58away, it's your old club, the rain is coming down, that should phase players, but it never
08:04phases Cole Palmer.
08:05Instinct, vision, work rate, composure, and all four of them collectively show unbelievable
08:11technique at the same time, you could not wish, wish for a better goalscorer, but the
08:16thing is, Cole Palmer is not a goalscorer, and the thing is, he's such a good goalscorer,
08:22that he's made Chelsea this season this bizarre statistical anomaly, because if you look at
08:28all their underlying numbers this season, especially in front of goal, they tell you
08:32that simultaneously, they're absolutely awful, but also, they should be a lot higher in the
08:38league.
08:39So right now in the actual Premier League table, Chelsea are 9th, which is like outside
08:42the European positions, it's really, really bad, but in other tables, they're much higher.
08:47They're actually in 6th for the total number of goals, which is obviously a pretty big
08:50improvement.
08:51They're 5th in the XG table, which is miles better than 9th, and they're 4th for the actual
08:56shooting accuracy, so theoretically, in front of goal, they're a really good side, but in
09:00terms of actual chance creation, so the amount of chances they've created this season, and
09:05the number of actual shots, for both of those, they're 12th.
09:09So just to put that into context, right, simultaneously, in front of goal, Chelsea have the numbers
09:14of a team who should be in the European places, possibly even challenging for the Champions
09:19League, but in terms of actually getting there, making those situations happen, they
09:23should be in the bottom half of the league, and the only way this can happen is if one
09:28or multiple members of your team are absolutely lethal in front of goal.
09:33They will routinely and regularly take chances that most players would not score from and
09:39score from them.
09:40Well, looking at the top goal scorers this season, it's not Conor Gallagher, fair play,
09:43he's coming out pretty much average.
09:45It's not Raheem Sterling either, who is also scoring about as many goals as he should.
09:49Mikhailo Mudrik is fractionally overperforming his xG at plus 0.03, which will, let me do
09:55the maths in my head, get you basically a goal out of nothing every 32 matches.
10:02And no, it's not Nicholas Jackson, who I do actually really like as a player, but the
10:07numbers will tell you, has been one of the most wasteful finishers in all of Europe this
10:12season.
10:13He's actually hurting the cause.
10:14I'm not even going to bother with the drumroll, obviously it's Cole Palmer, whose numbers
10:18in front of goal this season are just absolutely incredible across the board.
10:22He's one of the best over-performers in terms of the chances they give him, he scores from
10:27absolutely nothing.
10:28And that number there, that basically equates to, he will score a goal most players wouldn't
10:33score like every three or four games.
10:36And the thing is, like I always try and say, the numbers only tell you so much.
10:40Like, they're completely worthless unless you can look at an actual game of football
10:43and see what it is they're suggesting, borne out in reality.
10:47But I would say that if the numbers are telling us that Chelsea are like a lower to mid table
10:51side in sort of their general play and everything they do, but in front of goal, they perform
10:57like a team who should be going after a Champions League place.
10:59And the reason for that is entirely how good Cole Palmer is that, yeah, yeah, you can kind
11:07of see that.
11:08And I'm going to regret going down this rabbit hole because I can already tell this video
11:11is going to be way, way, way too long.
11:12But do we remember this and how I told you to remember it, right?
11:16Cole Palmer is not just Chelsea's best goal scorer.
11:19He's not just going to be the Premier League's best goal scorer.
11:21He's not just a goal scorer that is taking a team from the mud and the mire to the golden
11:27paradise of European football.
11:29He's also not even a goal scorer.
11:33This is not the pass map or the heat map of somebody who is likely to get you four goals
11:39in a match.
11:40This is a pass map or the heat map of a creative player looking to get on the ball and influence
11:45the match.
11:46Like if we look at his seasonal heat map across the entire season, that is not where an out
11:51and out goal scorer plays.
11:52Like you think about Mo Salah gets a lot of goals from the right hand side.
11:55His doesn't look like this.
11:56His is way more concentrated in and around the box.
11:59He gets into that space way more.
12:00He's so rarely in this particular area of the pitch, but Palmer goes everywhere looking
12:07to get on the ball to create stuff.
12:09And if you actually sit and look at his creative numbers, not just his goal scoring numbers,
12:14it's frightening.
12:15Like this is them here.
12:16And with the exception of the fact he doesn't particularly like to cross the ball, they're
12:20so consistent.
12:21They're so nearly faultless.
12:22And in all the areas that really make a difference, he scores so high.
12:27Like passes into the penalty area, passes into the final third, key passes, which is
12:31just stuff that leads to a chance being made.
12:33Like he's one of the best players in the league for that, as well as scoring goals.
12:37I could honestly spend like an hour talking about Cole Palmer in this Chelsea side, like
12:40how he scores, how he creates, how he helps with their press.
12:43There's just one little subtle thing I want to show you here, which I just think says
12:48loads.
12:49So these are his defensive numbers, right?
12:51They're not very good at all.
12:52There are players who play in his position, who also play in a high pressing side, who
12:56win the ball back way more, who are far more aggressive in a tackle.
12:59Like that's not something he's particularly good at.
13:01But I'm just going to show you his shot and chance creation numbers alongside that, right?
13:06Notice how high he scores for shot and chance creation from a defensive action.
13:13Just in the same way that he's so efficient in front of goal, how he needs so few chances
13:18to actually score.
13:19He doesn't win the ball back a lot.
13:21He doesn't expend loads of energy chasing it around or putting in tackles.
13:25But when he does get that ball back, when he recognises that the chance is there to
13:30make something happen, he's literally the best player in the Premier League this season
13:35for turning a tackle or a block or an interception into a chance.
13:40And in terms of turning those into a goal, it's only Sinisterra and Jota who are scoring
13:44higher than he is.
13:45And given I've just shown you how efficient his Chelsea colleagues are in front of goal,
13:49I would suggest that in a different side, or at least playing with the players that
13:53Jota and Sinisterra are, he might score way higher.
13:58So yes, Cole Palmer, just the complete footballer this season, in my opinion.
14:02Like it's insane.
14:03It's insane that Man City let him go when now he's demonstrating that he is as lethal
14:08in front of goal as Erling Haaland is, but also as influential across the rest of the
14:13pitch as Kevin De Bruyne.
14:15Like why would you sell that?
14:18Also I absolutely understand what it is that Jared Bowen could bring to this England squad,
14:23but if he somehow ends up on that plane instead of Palmer, I will have to just magically discover
14:31that I've got a French grandparent or something.
14:33Anyway though, if you have enjoyed this video, and I dearly hope that you have, please do
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14:51The new issue of the magazine, Those Were Almost Words, that's on sale now, available
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14:57It's the Arsenal Invincibles cover, but if you're a Chelsea fan going, oh, I'm not buying
15:01that.
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15:20And that's it from me.
15:22That's it from me.
15:23That's it from me.
15:25Goodbye.