What Cole Palmer did during FA Cup Final cannot hide brutal truth when it comes to Chelsea

Chelsea were beaten 1-0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, despite the best efforts of their No.10, with Antoine Semenyo scoring the only goal

For someone as languid as Cole Palmer, the urgency was startlingly evident. No-one could accuse England’s most laid-back midfielder of not putting in a shift.

There were times in this FA Cup final when the main duty of one of the Premier League’s most creative talents appeared to be a defensive one, doubling up with Reece James to nullify the danger of Jeremy Doku. And Palmer stuck to his task. The entire Chelsea team stuck to its task.

But the brutal truth underlined by this FA Cup final defeat was that Palmer has lost his way under the gross mismanagement of a great club. The entire Chelsea team has lost its way under the gross mismanagement of a great club.

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OPINION

Bobby Vincent

Chelsea were narrowly beaten but they were beaten – as they usually are nowadays. Nine of their last 12 games have ended in defeat. Palmer has one domestic assist all season. And he remained one of Chelsea’s biggest hopes in this attempt to salvage something from a pretty dismal campaign.

Palmer’s inclusion or exclusion must be one of the few selection dilemmas on the mind of watching England manager Thomas Tuchel. To be fair, Tuchel will probably not have read too much into a strictly low-calibre match.

An indictment of the tedious proceedings was that the only vaguely interesting talking point of the first half was the lack of a suit in the technical areas. Pep Guardiola went roll-neck and Calum McFarlane went club shop. It is fair to say the game was even scruffier.

When you demean the FA Cup final by not making it the crowning moment of a domestic season, do not be surprised if the occasion is anti-climactic. For a good while, it all felt a bit routine. There was no shortage of physical exertion, that is for sure.

In fact, Chelsea’s exuberance for the challenge occasionally threatened to turn a touch reckless, Enzo Fernandez slightly fortunate not to find intervening when Darren England only gave him a yellow card for a violent challenge on Bernardo Silva.

But in general, Chelsea kept their discipline and stuck to the system McFarlane thought would give them the best chance of beating City for the first time in a good while.

McFarlane’s and Chelsea’s tactics certainly frustrated Guardiola’s side who also looked a little leggy. Understandably, Chelsea looked fresher. And that was for a combination of reasons. City played three days previously, Chelsea played seven days previously.

On a broader note, most of these Chelsea players have taken a fair bit of the season off. No wonder they were fresh.

In terms of quality, most of this contest was a write-off but you could not fault Chelsea’s physical application. And that went down well with supporters whose patience has been sorely tested this season.

Of course, that patience has not just been tested by a collection of under-performing players. It has been tested by an ownership model that seems to be making fresh efforts to prove itself unfit for purpose.

So much so that we saw the very unusual sight of the old Wembley way being used as an avenue of protest by a sizeable contingent of Chelsea supporters.

‘BlueCo out: we want our Chelsea back,’ read one banner.

This was not getting their Chelsea back. Indeed, it was a reminder that while Chelsea should have a talent pool deep enough to give the new manager a very decent chance of challenging at the business end of every competition, it is being shockingly mismanaged.

The fans parked the protests to get behind their team but were out of the stadium before the players had a chance to acknowledge them following the loss to Antoine Semenyo’s clever second-half finish.

Meanwhile, Palmer was remonstrating long after the final whistle with referee Darren England.

The reasons were not clear. But the real targets for his displeasure should be clear – the people who are running Chelsea Football Club.