Cole Palmer’s half-time substitution in the 3-0 victory of Chelsea against Legia Warsaw in the conference league was planned, confirmed head coach Enzo Maresca after the game.
The glowing form of the 22-year-old has a downturn since the beginning of the year and coincides with Chelsea’s general inconsistency.
Palmer recently spent time on the side because of a thigh injury, with his minutes being achieved earlier in the season when Maresca decided not to register him for the League group phase conference.
Manchester City’s former playmaker, who scored 25 goals in all competitions in West London in his first season, began the speed rule against Legia on Thursday, but was withdrawn at half-time, with the results still closed at 0-0. His replacement, Noni Madueke, scored a clip in the second half and built on the go-a-haeAD goal, which was achieved by the young wing player Tyrique George.
Among the followers of Chelsea after the match, it was concern that Palmer was the sign that he had grasped another injury, but this feeling was pushed onto one side by Maresca after the game.
“No, no, no, we planned for him and 45 minutes for tose, so everything was planned,” the Italian proclaimed before saying: “We planned the game to try our best players for this game and also give the remaining games the opportunity to regain energy and in the end.”
Apart from a dramatic turn on the Stamford Bridge, Chelsea tried to ensure her place in the semi-finals of the competition-Legia had a completely different threat than the recent games of the Premier League against Brentford and Tottenham. “I think overall was a professional performance, a good result, probably the second half was much better than the first half for different reasons,” considered Maresca.
“I often said that we have to learn how to play other games, if they face Tottenham, we often said that they try to press up, there is more space, but if they lean back, they have to be on the ball faster. They have to try to shoot from outside the box because they are all in the box, so if they don’t shoot it, it is difficult, it is difficult.”
“Very happy first for the Chelsea Academy because it is one of our boys from the academy who is very happy for him,” added Maresca when he asked his feelings towards George to open the goal.
“He was pretty good at the first half, assumed, the second half in the middle was probably a little better, but the one I fall in love tonight is Josh Acheampong, because for me he may be a fantastic player, top player for this club, for football in general and a good player show that she can play in a different position and he can do it well.
“He was fully back, good, midfielder, good, central defender, good, so it’s not about playing in this position or in this position when you are a good player, you can be in a different position.”