Enzo Maresca Asks Cole Palmer To Be More Initiative In Chelsea's Game

JAKARTA - Enzo Maresca said he had challenged Cole Palmer to be more creative and take the initiative after the British playmaker claimed he was fed up playing back or sideways during the UEFA Conference League final in May 2025.

After the match in WroClaw, Poland, Palmer hinted at frustration in Chelsea's approach by claiming that he made a personal decision to try and make things happen in the final third.

Maresca also confirmed that she responded directly to Palmer's comments.

"I spoke to Cole. I told him that I really like his way of taking responsibility, taking the initiative to control the ball."

"He even tried on our side to accept the ball, trying to play one on one with the opposing players. This is Cole we expected."

"After the UEFA Conference League final, he said he was quite tired of receiving the ball. Therefore, he decided to do something different."

"The day after the interview, I told him you can do it from the first minute, why are you waiting so long? Why are you waiting? Why don't you do the same after a minute?"

After the conversation, Palmer actually did what Maresca asked for. The player led Chelsea to victory in the inaugural match of the 2025 Club World Cup group phase against LAFC on Tuesday, June 17, 2025.

"He really did what we asked for. We were happy when he did it because I've said many times that Cole is our best player."

"He is a top player and hopefully he can continue to do the right thing," said Maresca.

Chelsea started the 2025 Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over the LAFC in Atlanta, their first game since beating Real Betis 4-1 to lift the UEFA Conference League trophy -- the first post-owned Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital.

While praising Palmer's performance against LAFC, Maresca also appreciated the goals scored by Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez in front of the 22,137 spectators at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Nicolas Jackson helped Neto score the opener in the 34th minute before he was substituted in the 64th minute by Liam Delap, a player who was recruited for 30 million pounds from Ipswich Town in the summer.

Delap added a new spirit to his poor performance, turning behind Palmer's pass to help Fernandez's goal 11 minutes from the end of the game.

Maresca had previously said he had given Delap no guarantee of his place on the team. However, he praised Jackson's response to the new competition for his place in the line-up.

"I'm excited to see how Nico reacts to it. Last season, he played alongside Marc Guiu, who is still very young."

"So, I'm quite happy to see how Nico will face the competition. Both are very good number nine players."

"Hopefully both of them can score goals and help like the game against LAFC because I'd rather have four or five players scoring 10 or 12 goals each over one striker who scored 40 goals."

"Last year, we tried to use different threats, different weapons. We also had two, three months without Nico, without Guiu."

"We're trying to find a different solution, but when you have two attackers like Nico and Liam, it's a good feeling."

"The problem is, you know you can choose one of them. It will be a good choice," said Maresca.

Chelsea will next face Brazilian giant Flamengo in Philadelphia on Saturday, June 21, 2025 - on the same day the LAFC is against African club Esperance Sportive de Tunis in Tennessee.

"We are preparing for this match by also thinking that the environment is a bit different. I think the environment is a bit strange, the stadium is not almost empty, not full."

"However, there is no doubt that the next game will be fun as we know that the Brazilian team, they always carry a lot, a lot of supporters."

"So, we're trying to get ready for the next game. Overall I think after three weeks, almost three weeks of off, we started pretty well, we created chances, we won games, didn't concede," said Maresca.