Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged that the penalty incident involving Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, and Noni Madueke during Chelsea’s victory over Everton was not acceptable.
Palmer scored four goals as Pochettino’s team beat Everton 6-0, narrowing the gap on the European spots with a game in hand on the teams above them.
With Palmer scoring another hat-trick and Jackson adding a goal, Chelsea was comfortably ahead 4-0 at half-time at Stamford Bridge.
In the second half, Palmer fell in the penalty box, and then Madueke was fouled by James Tarkowski, resulting in a penalty kick. All eyes were on Palmer as he prepared to take the penalty kick to score the fourth goal for Chelsea.
Conor Gallagher passed the ball to Palmer, but Madueke and Jackson also wanted to take the kick. This led to a disagreement and a scuffle between the three players. Eventually, Palmer took the kick and scored his seventh goal in two games, placing the ball to the left of Jordan Pickford.
After the game, Chelsea manager Pochettino expressed his disappointment with the situation and stated that such behavior will not be accepted in the future.
“It’s a shame, it’s a shame,” he told Sky Sports. “We cannot behave in this way. I told them that this is the last time that [I will] accept this type of behaviour. All [of the players] involved in this situation, all out the next time.
“That is not a joke, it’s impossible after a performance like this to have this type of behaviour.
“If we want to be a big team fighting for big things, we need to change more in the collective way. I made clear today to the fans and to everyone that Cole Palmer is the [penalty] taker. If Palmer wants to give the ball to another then he can, but not in this way.
“That is a really, really sad situation that happened, and I’m not going to accept that happening again.”
Just like Pochettino, Palmer also claimed he was the penalty taker after the game and said the situation was blown out of proportion.
“Other players wanted to take it which is understandable,” Palmer added. “The game was 4-0, but I am the penalty taker and I wanted to take it, so in the end I took it.
“I think we’re just trying to show that everyone wants to take responsibility. Maybe the argument was a bit over the top, but everyone wants to win and help.
“It’s nothing major, we were laughing and joking about it, but the gaffer has told us now.”
