What Liam Rosenior did after shocking Cole Palmer moment speaks volumes amid £100m Chelsea boost

The main talking points and moments missed from Stamford Bridge as Chelsea were forced to settle for a point despite being two goals to the good against Leeds United

Liam Rosenior is not one to single out individual performances, good or bad, at any point. That was clear in the aftermath of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Leeds United.

While he did name drop Moises Caicedo almost immediately in his post-match press conference, the Blues head coach was keen to stress it was a combined effort that let his side down on Tuesday evening. It was definitely that but equally, there was one uncharacteristic error from Caicedo and he certainly didn’t cover himself in glory for the equalising goal either.

Ever since Enzo Maresca was appointed head coach in the summer of 2024, there haven’t been many midfielders better than Caicedo in the Premier League. Perhaps not any, but that’s an argument for a different day.

Caicedo is someone you could have easily mistaken for a machine given his insanely high performance levels over the last 18 months. However, Caicedo has looked much more human in recent times.

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Since Rosenior took over, the Ecuador international has been unable to hit the standards he set himself for the past season-and-a-half. Perhaps even longer. An easy assumption to make would be Caicedo getting used to Rosenior’s style, but perhaps the amount of football he has played has finally caught up to him.

If anyone is allowed a dip in form, it is probably Caicedo – he has more than enough credit in the bank given the ridiculous consistency he has shown.

Plenty of things have been said about Rosenior since he took charge at Stamford Bridge last month, particularly about what the 41-year-old has said in his press conferences. But what he said on Tuesday night will be unanimously appreciated by Chelsea supporters.

Rosenior didn’t mince his words – there was no “we deserved to win” or “we were unlucky”. Instead the Blues boss was quick to point out what his players did wrong, and why they didn’t leave with three points.

He said: “Two key moments in the game that we didn’t take care of. We don’t stay calm. Moises Caicedo is a magnificent player, he’s been top for me.

“We make a poor decision. Actually, how the play gets there as well. We make a few poor decisions in terms of how we press in that moment and we give away a penalty when, like genuinely, I can’t remember Leeds having a shot or a moment in the game.

“Some of our football, in possession, our press, our energy, was everything I wanted to see and that makes it even more of a bitter pill to swallow that we haven’t won the game.”

“I think it’s within six minutes [conceding both goals],” Rosenior added. “So the penalty goes in, they hit a few long balls, their energy is up, they pick up a few second balls and the lad handballs it. He handballs it, it affects my players in that moment – they think it’s a handball, we switch off, we don’t clear the ball, they score.

“Then for 25 minutes after that, it was wave after wave of attack. We have to just make sure we take care of moments and be professional.”

Rosenior has an enormous issue to try and fix with his Chelsea squad – and it was one Maresca never got to the bottom of. Chelsea have now dropped 17 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season. Fifteen of those have come in games at Stamford Bridge – no side has dropped more.

Is it focus? Is it complacency? Is it his tactical approach? These are questions Rosenior and his staff will have to consider, but they have little to no time to do that because they travel to Hull City on Friday.

The need to solve said problem could have been put on the back burner if Cole Palmer, whose second-half penalty had put the Blues two goals to the good, converted the best opportunity he could possibly have asked for to secure the three points.

Some nice link-up play between Caicedo and Joao Pedro saw the former cross the ball on a plate for Palmer between the six-yard box and the goal. Open goal for Chelsea’s No.10, who surely had to score his fifth goal in two games. But no. Palmer skied it and Rosenior could not quite believe his eyes – with the Chelsea head coach putting his hands over his mouth on the touchline. You won’t see many more misses like that this season, certainly not from a player of Palmer’s level.

“He’s in the position and 999 times out of 1000, he scores,” Rosenior said on the miss. It was just that one-in-a-thousand moment.”

People will remember that Palmer miss given its significance and the fact it came with just seconds remaining of the game, but some might forget the performance he put in for the Blues. It was something close to Palmer’s best version – something we have not seen much of this season, even though he scored a hat-trick at Wolves just 72 hours before.

The 23-year-old made it look effortless for Chelsea at times on Tuesday night, particularly in the first half. Palmer was dictating play in the Leeds half, while Andrey Santos was doing something similar a few yards back.

The link-up play between Palmer and Joao Pedro was a delight to see. The duo, who cost Chelsea just north of £100million in a combined transfer fee, have an almost telepathic understanding at times and Blues supporters are beginning to see more and more of that on the pitch.

Joao Pedro’s goal on Tuesday evening mirrored the third goal in the Club World Cup final back in July. Palmer finding the Brazil international with a line-breaking ball in behind and the versatile forward dinking the goalkeeper. It was football at its most beautiful and both players play the game for moments exactly like that.

Three of Joao Pedro’s last four goals have come from Palmer assists. Chelsea supporters will be hoping both can stay fit because the more time on the pitch they spend together, the better they will become.

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