Pundit Alan Brazil has suggested why he thinks Chelsea star Cole Palmer did not clap the travelling Chelsea supporters last night after their loss against Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup.
He told TalkSPORT that he thinks the England international was actually embarrassed over his own display last night, and was not exercising any arrogance from not approaching the away fans.
Palmer endured arguably his first personal night to forget since making the move from Manchester City to Stamford Bridge on deadline day last summer.
He was operating in an unfamiliar false nine role, as Mauricio Pochettino looked to experiment with his attack in a huge game for the Blues.
Unfortunately, the 21-year-old was particularly wasteful on this day, missing a host of good chances.
As has been typical this season, those missed efforts came back to bite the Blues as they were defeated 1-0 in the semi-final first leg.
Brazil has claimed that he believes the embarrassment from a rare poor performance from Palmer.
He said: “I’ll be honest with you, I think that he was embarrassed to go over to Chelsea fans because he knows he should have given Chelsea a good lead to take back to London.
I don’t think it was anything to do with the Chelsea fans and ‘oh stuff you, don’t give me stick’.
“I don’t think it was anything to do with that. I think he was slightly embarrassed. I want to shower, go back to London, we’re not out of this yet. I don’t think he means to do that. I promise you.”
It would be highly recommended for Pochettino to not look to persist with this false nine system after watching his side last night, and instead look to continue to get Palmer on the ball more in deeper areas where he can really impact proceedings more.
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