Last night, Chelsea played a stalemate against Aston Villa in their FA Cup 4th round. But more than the scoreline, the spotlight has shifted towards Cole Palmer, who is being criticized over his performance. Enter Mauricio Pochettino, who, on the other hand, has come in defense of the youngster by drawing parallels with none other than Lionel Messi, succinctly implying that he ‘prefers him on the pitch’.

Aside from their shaky form, Chelsea is facing a striker conundrum, with no natural #9 available at Pochettino’s disposal. This forced the Argentinian coach to position Cole Palmer as a center forward last night. However, it went in vain, as the 21-year-old missed two goal-scoring chances. When asked if his performance raised concerns, Pochettino backed him by saying, “I prefer him on the pitch, at the moment.” This basically meant that Palmer isn’t the finished product yet, with the boss insisting that, given his age, there is still scope for improvement. Defending Palmer firing blank, Pochettino considered it a simple coincidence.

“No, I think he cannot score in every single game. If he did, we should maybe not call him Cole Palmer, we should call him maybe Leo [Messi],” he added, as stated in the Evening Standard. While insisting that his potential is massive, the former PSG boss claimed that he was unlucky against the Birmingham-based side. In conclusion, Pochettino highlighted Palmer’s versatility, claiming that he is ‘always doing really good‘ and never fails to find ‘amazing chances.’

Despite failing to score, it seems Pochettino has a lot of faith in Cole Palmer. It’s quite the coincidence that the Blues manager drew parallels with Lionel Messi, as Chelsea’s penalty kick specialist himself is in awe of the 8X Ballon d’Or winner. 

Cole Palmer snubs Cristiano Ronaldo over Lionel Messi in GOAT debate

Months ago, Cole Palmer was asked to give his opinion on the evergreen GOAT debate between the undisputed legends, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Interestingly, the youngster said, “The obvious one, Messi, because of the way he plays and all the individual awards he has won. Just the best player ever… Messi is clear for me.” Let’s hope that Palmer follows the principles of his idol while he spearheads Chelsea to the top of English soccer again.

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Notably, the attacking midfielder has scored 13 goals and 7 assists in 27 games across all competitions. The numbers aren’t bad, considering how his domestic side is also navigating turbulent waters. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if Cole Palmer will hit back at his critics. 

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