2 hours ago, dermott said:

The relative dawdle that is Serie A gives him the time and space unavailable in the PL.

Not true.

He managed to shine home and away against Spain in his preferred role. He’s a much better player than many credit him as.

Fernandes played that position for Utd. I’d honestly have McTominey in my team ahead of Bruno as you get real defensive work from him as well as goals. Bruno is massively overrated

2 hours ago, bluedave said:

He deserves to be in there but can't see him winning it this year. He was better last year, tbh.

Ballon d’Or nominees in full (best men’s player)

Ousmane Dembele (PSG)

Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG)

Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid)

Desire Doue (PSG)

Denzel Dumfries (Inter Milan)

Serhou Guirassy (Borussia Dortmund)

Erling Haaland (Man City)

Viktor Gyokeres (Arsenal)

Achraf Hakimi (PSG)

Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (PSG)

Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)

Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)

Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)

Scott McTominay (Napoli)

Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)

Nuno Mendes (PSG)

Joao Neves (PSG)

Pedri (Barcelona)

Cole Palmer (Chelsea)

Michael Olise (Bayern Munich)

Raphinha (Barcelona)

Declan Rice (Arsenal)

Fabian Ruiz (PSG)

Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid)

Mohamed Salah (Liverpool )

Florian Wirtz (Liverpool )

Vitinha (PSG )

Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)

God how football has fell off

Sounds biased, because Palmer is a Chelsea player, but in my whole life watching this sport, I have only seen two players that have always looked 100% pumped up in every single minute of every single match and even ready to play a football match every day if possible - Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. These two always gave me the feeling they would trade sleep for football matches. This is how natural it felt for them to be on a football pitch.

Palmer is the 3rd one to give me this feeling and I have my fair share of Chelsea legends that I am in awe of. But Palmer is different gravy. Looks like every minute outside of a football pitch is valuable time wasted for him.

On a similar note there has only ever been 3 players in my time watching Chelsea that I was genuinely excited about watching and felt ran the game single-handedly. Zola, Hazard and now Palmer. We’ve had unbelievable players over the years and many that are on a higher legend status but those 3 are magicians. The things they do with the ball are effortless and it’s a joy to watch just them.

(I also thought Mudryk would go on to be one of those players after his debut cameo against Liverpool lol)

7 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

On a similar note there has only ever been 3 players in my time watching Chelsea that I was genuinely excited about watching and felt ran the game single-handedly. Zola, Hazard and now Palmer. We’ve had unbelievable players over the years and many that are on a higher legend status but those 3 are magicians. The things they do with the ball are effortless and it’s a joy to watch just them.

(I also thought Mudryk would go on to be one of those players after his debut cameo against Liverpool lol)

If Joao Pedro, Estevao and Gittens continue how they've started, we might well have four magicians in the same team !

I hope he invests in recovery the same way Thiago and C.Ronaldo does

38 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I am sick and tired of Maresca playing palmer on the left. It makes absolutely no f**king sense . The most he can do is cross and that isn't his strongest suit. He is best on the right and Enzo is better on the left.

To make the next step he needs to overcome the attention he gets from defensive teams and crack them open.

Eden and Gianfranco did. To reach that level so Cole needs to do so too.

2 hours ago, The Don Antonio said:

I am sick and tired of Maresca playing palmer on the left. It makes absolutely no f**king sense . The most he can do is cross and that isn't his strongest suit. He is best on the right and Enzo is better on the left.

Agree with you on Palmer.

Enzo is better left (in the dressing room)

2 hours ago, axman2526 said:

To make the next step he needs to overcome the attention he gets from defensive teams and crack them open.

Eden and Gianfranco did. To reach that level so Cole needs to do so too.

He would be more able to do that if Maresca knew where to play him. But, with his inexperience (or being mostly a sh*t coach, imo), he’s preventing Palmer from reaching the level he has.

3 hours ago, RMH said:

He would be more able to do that if Maresca knew where to play him. But, with his inexperience (or being mostly a sh*t coach, imo), he’s preventing Palmer from reaching the level he has.

We have hope Palmer can reach the levels eden did though and eden did not let any manager hold him back.

Tweaked his right groin during warmups.

1 minute ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Tweaked his right groin during warmups.

We can expect this to be a familar storyline season. the price of our CWC success.

1 minute ago, axman2526 said:

We can expect this to be a familar storyline season. the price of our CWC success.

Club seem to be taking it seriously though. First Tosin, and they immediately pulled him out and said he is missing the next game. Palmer didn't seem to like missing the game today, but it was for the best.

I feel like if a player so much as stubs their toe this season, they are getting taken out for a few days.

Edited August 22, 2025Aug 22 by Scott Harris

1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

Club seem to be taking it seriously though. First Tosin, and they immediately pulled him out and said he is missing the next game. Palmer didn't seem to like missing the game today, but it was for the best.

I feel like if a player so much as stubs their toe this season, they are getting taken out for a few days.

Aye it seems good so far. Hopefully the medical team keeps on top of it.

Confirmed by Maresca that he hasn't been right for a few days now.

All the more reason to get Simons in.

39 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Confirmed by Maresca that he hasn't been right for a few days now.

So why even risk him. He should have been given the week off . We are in uncharted territory due to the club world cup. If you are not 100 percent then definitely not worth the risk especially so early in the season

I guess whatever happened isn’t too bad he was at the carnival.

Cole “ Rasta man” Palmer 🤣🤣🤣

I can't say I recognise anything of the anatomy on show.

Those shins can't be disguised.

He starts on Saturday then.

1 hour ago, Scott said:

Those shins can't be disguised.

I only know them covered in socks!