Childish penalty incident shows Chelsea still has maturity issues

Chelsea thoroughly dominated Everton Monday evening en route to a 6-0 victory. The performance and result were undoubtedly the west London club’s best of the entire 2023/24 season. New signing Cole Palmer stole the show by scoring four goals in the fixture, which included a first-half hat trick. The youngster netted three goals by the 30-minute mark and then converted from the penalty spot in the second half

Despite the huge win, much of the post-game discussions regarding the game were about the penalty kick. Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke argued with Palmer and other teammates over who would take the spot kick. Veteran Thiago Silva and club captain Conor Gallagher had to intervene and ultimately give the ball to Palmer. The embarrassing incident in the middle of the match lasted for around a full minute

After the match, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino lambasted the duo for the event.

“I can’t accept this kind of behavior,” stated Pochettino. “I told them it’s the last time I want to see this kind of behavior. It is impossible to have this type of behavior after this performance. If we want to be a great team, we need to change and think in a collective way.”

Penalty incident shows the necessity for growth at Chelsea

The situation only showed that Chelsea still has a long way to go to compete in the Premier League. The Blues currently have the second-youngest squad in the English top flight and it certainly showed on Monday. Todd Boehly and his partners have shelled out over $1 billion on new players since the summer of 2022. A vast majority of these signings were young players who will develop into stars as the years pass.

Nevertheless, many of the new arrivals have not yet lived up to their massive price tags. As a result, Chelsea has struggled to even get near a European place in the Premier League table. The club certainly has a plethora of young talent in the squad, but they lack any real cohesiveness needed to become a quality team.

Multiple teammates haggling over a penalty kick is something more seen at a youth game rather than a fixture in the English top flight. The actions by Jackson and Madueke also go directly against Pochettino’s orders. Palmer is the designated penalty taker at the club. The Blues boss specifically selected the star midfielder for the role.

There is good reason for the choice as well. Palmer has now converted all nine of his spot-kicks in Premier League play. This is the second-longest successful streak in the division’s modern history after former Manchester City star Yaya Toure converted all 11 of his penalties.

Blues have shown immaturity even before the incident

The penalty incident against Everton was also not exactly the first time that Chelsea exhibited maturity issues. During a matchup against Tottenham Hotspur back in November, Jackson and Mykhailo Mudryk raced towards goal together without a defender in sight. The striker could have easily squared a pass to the Ukraine international to convert the goal, but instead opted to go alone.

Despite Jackson scoring, Mudryk did not celebrate his teammate’s goal and instead just slowly walked away. Chelsea went on to win the game 4-1 after two Spurs players were sent off in the fixture. Although making a public statement regarding the ongoing issue, Pochettino will also handle his squad’s maturity issues in-house.

That said, Pochettino is ready to put the matter behind him. Speaking at a press conference after Monday evening’s win, the Argentine manager lambasted how reporters kept prodding away about Monday’s spot-kick debacle.

As seen in the clip, reporters did not take kindly to Pochettino’s words of criticism. Chelsea will return to action with a pair of massive fixtures. The Blues take on Manchester City in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday. Then, on Tuesday, Chelsea travels to north London to face Arsenal.

PHOTOS: IMAGO.