The Cole Palmer ‘Flop’ Talk Is A Myth- Here’s Why

Over recent months, many spectators around the world have questioned Cole Palmer and how he has failed to replicate his form from last season. His performances last season earned him 25th in the Ballon D’or, however, his recent form saw him go 18 matches in all competitions without scoring a goal. This has sparked debate into the fact that Palmer is a ‘flop’.

Ranked at the 25th place for the 2024 Men's Ballon d'Or!

Cole Palmer @ChelseaFC @England #BallonDor pic.twitter.com/LpDBRVecFe

— Ballon d'Or (@ballondor) October 28, 2024

This talk, however, is all a myth, and in the following article, we will explain how Palmer is not a ‘flop’.

Cole Palmer’s raising expectations

After his performances last season as a 21-year-old for most of the season, and his first full Premier League campaign at that, he certainly set the bar high. But maybe his numbers in output were so good that it escalated expectations of him so much that if as soon as he hit a dip in form, fans are calling him out as a ‘one season wonder’ or a ‘flop’.

Sometimes though, we need to think about pressure that people and pundits put on him to perform every game, with many fans also claiming he was the reason Chelsea even qualified for a European competition. Last season, Cole Palmer registered 22 goals and 11 assists in the Premier League. I mean you cannot get much better than that in your first Premier League season at just 21, can you? He was winning games by himself at times, for example he scored two late goals against Manchester United to secure a hat-trick and a 4-3 win. He even earned himself Premier League player of the month for April 2024, where he scored seven goals in just four matches.

With the time at 90+11’, this was the Cole Palmer goal that completed a remarkable @ChelseaFC win 🔵

pic.twitter.com/BCu074A5uE

— Premier League (@premierleague) April 5, 2024

One of those games was against Everton where he put four past Jordan Pickford including a perfect hat-trick inside 29 minutes. This was not the last time he would score four in a game however, as we will mention later in this piece.

This form heading into the Euro 2024 put him in contention to be included in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man England squad. Eyebrows were raised during the group stage however, as he only got to play 20 minutes in three matches. He was continued to be benched by Southgate, causing an outrage amongst England fans knowing he could turn games on its head as he did for Chelsea. He proved his worth in the final when England looked down and out, and Palmer scored an excellent goal to give his nation hope.

⚠️ | QUICK STAT

Since the start of the 1996 tournament, only two players have scored a goal from outside the box in a EURO final:

🇵🇹 Éder in 2016
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cole Palmer in 2024 🆕

Only the 6th goal scored from outside the box by an English player in EURO history! 🚀#ESPENG #EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/Os0okFeuwQ

— Sofascore Football (@SofascoreINT) July 14, 2024

Palmer had no lack of self-confidence either and was just as surprised as the fans were that he was not getting the game time he should have. This put perhaps even more pressure on the youngster to perform next season to prove he is not just the Premier League’s next big thing, but also England’s next talent.

From Hero To Zero?

After a very successful first full season in English football getting regular minutes, Palmer was quickly a star player under new coach Enzo Maresca. In just his second game of the season, Chelsea defeated Wolves away 6-2, with Palmer grabbing a goal and three assists. Just a few weeks later, he became the first player to score four goals in the first half in Premier League history, during a 4-2 victory at home to Brighton. In this season, it is where we saw more of a creative Palmer rather than one like last season where you felt like he could do anything from anywhere and score goals out of nowhere. The reason for the question mark in the title of this section is because ‘Zero’ is what many people believe he has become.

As I have said before, however, is that this season, we have seen a more creative Palmer. In fact, although he went 18 games, scoring zero goals and providing just three assists, it does not mean he is not creating any chances. He has created 21 big chances this season, only behind Salah. Palmer is also second behind Bruno Fernandes in terms of key passes played this season, with 73. This season, Chelsea’s conversion rate from chances created by Cole Palmer sits at a poor 9.6%.

He is also third for most chances created this season, with 81. All of this is much better in comparison to last season, yet he has only eight assists. All of these stats show how important Palmer is creating and starting attacking plays for Chelsea, however, as you notice players around him in these stats, Salah has 18 assists and Fernandes nine, compared to Palmer’s eight.

As we can tell above that although these statistics are not reflecting in his goal contributions, he is not at all having a terrible season. I have not even mentioned the fact he still has scored 15 goals and has eight assists this campaign- 23 involvements in 34 games is not bad at all. The most recent fixture against Liverpool confirmed this. No assists and he scored a penalty. But if you watched this match, he was the most threatening player on the field by a long way. Here, he created yet another three chances, as well as another big chance- with that one of course being missed.

So, this season for Cole Palmer, despite him performing well, you could argue that he is not getting the same luck with some of his chances that perhaps he was getting last season, which is why many people believe he is a ‘flop’, when actually he is still having an excellent season and why Chelsea will desperately hope to keep him on board this summer.