Pochettino fury at penalty row
Chelsea’s 6-0 win marred by dispute over taking spot kick Palmer scores four in blow for Everton’s survival hopes
Mauricio Pochettino laid into his Chelsea players who argued over a second-half penalty and warned his entire squad they will be “out” if there is ever a repeat of the incident.
Cole Palmer scored four goals in a 6-0 thrashing of Everton, but Pochettino was left furious by a row involving Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson, who tried to take Palmer’s penalty off him.
Jackson argued with Madueke, who had initially taken the ball, and then shoved Palmer after Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher and Thiago Silva intervened.
Palmer eventually took the ball and scored the penalty – his fourth of the game – but Pochettino, the Chelsea head coach, described his players as being “kids”.
“It’s a shame,” said Pochettino. “I told the players [in the dressing room] we can’t behave in this way. I told them this is the last time I will accept this type of behaviour. They’re all involved in this situation, next time they’re all out. This is not a joke.
“It’s impossible after a performance like this to see this type of behaviour. If we want to be a great team, fighting for big things, we need to change and think more in a collective way.
“I made clear to them, and now through the media, and I say to our fans and to everyone, Cole Palmer is the penalty taker. And it’s now his choice if he wants to give the ball to another player, but not in this way.
“They are not experienced players that really know what they are doing. They are young. They are kids. They need to experience some situations to learn.
“We are like in a school. We need to show that they were wrong, now they need to learn. If they don’t learn, yes we will take some decisions. Now it is about learning, using this experience to move on.”
Palmer had earlier tried to downplay the penalty incident by saying: “Other players wanted to take it which was understandable. I am the penalty taker and wanted to take it. We’re just trying to show everyone that we want to take responsibility. Maybe it was over the top a bit, the argument. We were laughing and joking about it.”
Everton midfielder Dele Alli, who played for Pochettino at Tottenham Hotspur, was working as a pundit for Sky Sports on the game and pointed out the fact neither Jackson nor Madueke had tried to take the late penalty Palmer scored against Manchester United.
“In that last big game, when it was the last minute and the pressure was on, I didn’t see them all fighting to take it then,” said Alli. “It’s all right when it’s 4-0 and you want to get on the scoresheet. If you want to get on the scoresheet don’t try that at 4-0 in an unpressurised situation.”
Pochettino’s anger at the penalty row was matched by Everton manager Sean Dyche over his team’s performance. “Really poor,” said Dyche. “Miles off the intent and desire to win a match. You have to give strength, put a tackle in. We were mildly better in the second half, but the first half miles off.”
Pep Guardiola used to call Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur side the “Harry Kane team” and the Argentine now has the “Cole Palmer team” at Chelsea.
But some of the shine was taken off Palmer’s four-goal show by a pathetic pushing match involving Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke over a second-half penalty.
The spot kick was eventually taken and scored by Palmer, and it is unthinkable to consider where ninth-placed Chelsea would be this season without him and his 20 Premier League goals.
Thanks to four goals against Everton, which included an incredible perfect hat-trick, Palmer is now the Premier League’s joint-top scorer with Erling Haaland. He could yet fire FA Cup semi-finalists Chelsea to European qualification and an unlikely trophy.
With little breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone, Everton must hope their appeal against a second points deduction of the season proves to be successful. On this evidence, they cannot be relied on to pull themselves out of trouble on the pitch.
Signed in a deal worth £40million, plus £2.5million in add-ons, Palmer must already be worth more than the hotels Chelsea sold back to themselves for £75million. His perfect hat-trick, with his left foot, head and right foot, came within half an hour against Everton and meant he became the first Chelsea player to score in seven successive Premier League home games.
It was also his second successive treble at Stamford Bridge after Palmer had dramatically won Chelsea the game against Manchester United.
Pochettino has already coached his fair share of young stars and he knows he has one in the form of 21-year-old Palmer, who will look to show his former club Manchester City exactly what they are missing in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
England assistant manager Steve Holland was at Stamford Bridge last night and he and Gareth Southgate are going to find it difficult to leave Palmer out of their squad for the European Championship this summer.
Palmer will no doubt think he should have had four goals inside the opening 30 minutes, as he actually missed his easiest chance of the first half. But the three goals he did score in the opening 45 minutes had a bit of everything.
The first, in the 13th minute, came after Palmer had nutmegged Jarrad Branthwaite and swapped passes with Jackson. There was still a lot to do to beat England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, but the Chelsea midfielder curled a brilliant left-footed shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Palmer seemed certain to get his second minutes later, when Madueke crossed from the left, but this time he got in front of the ball and it hit him on the back and
rebounded away from danger rather than into the net.
Nobody was quite sure how Palmer had missed, but he made no mistake in the 18th minute, when he doubled his tally and Chelsea’s advantage.
Conor Gallagher did brilliantly to keep the ball alive and it was eventually worked to Jackson, whose shot was saved by Pickford and Palmer was alert to head the rebound into the net.
With over 70 minutes of the game remaining, it seemed a certainty that Palmer would complete his hat-trick and he did so shortly before the 30-minute mark – thanks in part to a terrible mistake from Pickford.
Palmer certainly does not need any favours to get on the scoresheet right now, but he got one when Pickford passed the ball into his path when trying to find Amadou Onana.
Pickford immediately raced back towards his own goal, but Palmer lobbed a beautiful right-footed shot from around 35 yards over the goalkeeper and into the net.
It was an incredible way to complete a hat-trick and left Everton and manager Sean Dyche completely stunned after the visitors had made a decent start.
Branthwaite won a header from an early free-kick that caused brief panic, while Beto skied a Seamus Coleman cross over the bar and had his blushes saved by an offside flag.
Beto also had a header correctly ruled out for offside after Chelsea had taken a three-goal lead, but it got even worse for Dyche and his team before the half-time whistle.
Palmer was involved again, as Jackson deservedly got on the scoresheet. It was from Palmer’s pass that Marc Cucurella crossed from the left and Jackson controlled the ball and scored on the turn.
Having heard his team booed off by the visiting fans at half-time, Dyche unsurprisingly made three changes at the break – sending on Nathan Patterson, Andre Gomes and Jack Harrison.
There was a further blow for Dyche, when Branthwaite had to be replaced by Michael Keane and Palmer netted his fourth and Chelsea’s fifth with just under half an hour remaining.
But the goal from the penalty spot only came after a ridiculous row involving Madueke, who thought he had won the spot-kick when it was actually Palmer, and Jackson. The pair ended up shoving each other before the ball was eventually given to Palmer, who was also pushed by Jackson before scoring.
There was a frosty exchange between Jackson and Pochettino when the striker was taken off at the end, before substitute Alfie Gilchrist scored Chelsea’s sixth of the night with his first goal for the club. The 20-year-old joined the Chelsea youth set-up at under-11 level and ran up to the crowd to celebrate joyfully.