Cole Palmer was coached by Enzo Maresca at Manchester City as an U23 player and Chelsea now, as one of the stars of the Premier League. The pair know each other well.
Palmer was instrumental again as his two penalties helped Chelsea beat Spurs 3-4 in a very entertaining game at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. The Blues are now second in the table only four points behind Liverpool who have one game in hand.
Enzo Maresca’s team has been impressive in recent weeks and their talisman was important once more. After the game, the Italian manager was asked whether Palmer is actually the best player in the league at the moment.
'He needs to learn'
“For us, for sure. But in the Premier League it’s full of top players, top talents. Cole belongs to those players,” said Maresca, ranked at no.44 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now. “The good thing about him tonight was Bissouma was marking him man-to-man, so he needs to learn how to play against a team that goes man-to-man with him, but he was fantastic.
"The way he worked off the ball, the pressing, from all the players, in front, the two wingers, was very good.” Maresca reminisced about the days he worked with a young Palmer at Manchester City and explained how the young forward is exactly the same as back then.
"I had Cole for one year, four years ago at Man City Under-23, so I know Cole from four, five years ago. The best thing about him, when he was with me in the U23, he was in one way and now after two years [after his goals] he is exactly the same guy.
"Loves football, humble, no strange things and this is the best thing for Cole, for young players. Because today, young players if they play one good game, they already feel that they are... and they lose the balance. Cole, the best thing he has, is that he is always the same. He doesn’t change. We are very happy with Cole."
Despite going two goals behind against Spurs, Maresca felt his team played well in the first half and he only made a small tactical adjustment at halftime. "There was no problem, to be honest. I think the plan first-half was working well. We were attacking, controlling the game, [but] we conceded two goals unfortunately, but I was very happy [with the performance].
“In the first half, we had Cole Palmer on one side and Enzo Fernandez on the other side. In the second half, we had Cole Palmer on one side and Cucurella on the other side. We changed something in behind. It was just for this reason. I think it worked well in the end and we won the game.”
The Italian manager was very pleased with the resilience his team showed. “Very happy. Since we started, we are trying to work in the way we want to play on the ball and off the ball.
"But also we are trying to work in terms of togetherness. To come to this stadium and think that you are going to win or compete without suffering, or without some bad moment, it's impossible. We were ready for that. It was probably too much to give away two goals after 15 minutes, but it is the perfect win.”
Maresca was happy to be celebrating with the Chelsea fans afterwards. “We work every day for these kinds of moments, to celebrate with the fans and be close to them,” said Maresca. “Tonight was a derby and the way we are in this moment, we are all happy.
"To share that moment is fantastic. I said many times: We need our fans, home and away. I will tell now in this moment that against Brentford we need them to continue in this moment for us. It won't be an easy game and we need them to help and push us.”
