“I don’t believe it’s tactical. I don’t think it’s technical either. Cole’s still the same player who’s scored plenty for us this season. The way we play hasn’t changed. The manager’s the same. The club is the same. Everything around him is the same so it must be mental.”
It’s a brave, some might say risky, stance to take in public pinning the problem on the player’s psyche rather than systems or setups. But there’s no question that something’s off. Palmer, once glowing with confidence, now looks like a shadow of the lad who was lighting up the Bridge just a few months ago.
He’s started 32 of 33 possible league games this season the only one he missed was Brentford away, and Chelsea fans were fuming that day over Maresca resting him. But in the weeks since, those same fans are starting to wonder: should he even be starting at all?
His latest showing against Everton did little to silence those doubts. He went missing again. No shots, no key passes, five giveaways. For a player of his caliber, that’s not just quiet it’s invisible. In truth, if he wasn’t named Cole Palmer, he probably wouldn’t have made it to halftime. He’d have been hooked, told to take a seat and reflect on what’s going wrong before Liverpool comes to town next week.
And honestly? That might not be the worst idea.
Palmer offered nothing close to what Chelsea got from the rest of the front three. Pedro Neto was lively and direct on the right, twisting his marker inside out. On the opposite flank, Noni Madueke was arguably Chelsea’s best player.
It was his first time playing off the left under Maresca, and he nearly bagged a brace, only denied twice by Jordan Pickford with excellent saves. Madueke’s ability to drive inside onto his stronger right or hit the byline with his left kept Everton’s back line constantly guessing.
That unpredictability was mirrored on the other wing too, where Neto, full of confidence after his belter against Fulham, looked every bit the player Chelsea hoped they’d signed. He stretched the pitch, linked with midfield, and opened up space through the middle for Palmer space Palmer never looked ready to use.
In the middle, Nicolas Jackson finally showed the kind of decisiveness fans have been begging for all season. His finish, after some fantastic work by Trevoh Chalobah winning the ball high up the pitch, was ice-cold no extra touches, no hesitation.
That’s been Jackson’s problem too often: overthinking in big moments. But on this occasion, he let instinct take over, and it paid off.
All of which raises the question Maresca surely has to be asking himself: how much longer can we keep playing Palmer like this?
He’s clearly not the same player that electrified Chelsea for the first 18 months of his Blues career. The body language says it all shoulders down, head dropping, frustration bubbling. And yet Maresca, even with the top five slipping away, insists it’s not the system, not the style. Just the player.
That’s a dangerous stance when you’ve built your whole managerial brand on structure, control, and tactical clarity. If everything is supposedly in place, then how come it’s only now 50 matches into the season that your front three finally clicks?
There’s also something to be said about the burden Maresca places on Palmer. If he’s claiming it’s all “mental,” is he doing enough to help lift that fog? Has he changed his message? Adjusted his role? Spoken to him like a player who needs rebuilding, not just reminders? Right now, it doesn’t seem so.
At the same time, the fans aren’t blind. They see Palmer drifting through matches, looking lost between the lines, playing safe when he used to take risks. It’s hard to square that with the player who once scored braces against top-six sides and danced past defenders with swagger.
Yes, he’s young. Yes, dips in form happen. But this is crunch time now. Chelsea’s final four league games Liverpool at home, Newcastle away, Manchester United at the Bridge, and Nottingham Forest on the road are as brutal a run-in as you could draw up. There’s no room for passengers.
So what’s next?
Does Maresca finally drop him for Liverpool and throw Madueke, Neto, and Jackson out there again? Does Palmer need a breather not as punishment, but as a reset?
Because at the moment, it feels like whatever motivational tricks Maresca’s using aren’t cutting through. In fact, it might be making things worse. His public comments about Palmer’s struggles being psychological might be brutally honest but they also come off as distancing himself from the problem, rather than taking responsibility.
And that’s not how this works.
Maresca has every right to push his players, to demand more. But when your star playmaker looks like he’s lost his spark, it’s on the manager to find it again. Not blame the bulb.
Palmer might need to sit out the Liverpool game. Not out of spite or punishment, but as a reminder of what he’s missing. Sometimes, watching from the bench reignites the fire. Right now, his flame looks like it’s barely flickering.
Chelsea fans know what he can be. They’ve seen it. But at the moment, it’s fair to ask whether Maresca really knows how to bring it back.
Because if Palmer’s dip really is “all in the mind,” then the next move Maresca makes will show whether he’s a true man-manager or just another systems coach who’s run out of answers.