Palmer’s character ‘not a concern’, Alonso insists after Chelsea’s derby defeat
Xabi Alonso insists he is not concerned about Cole Palmer’s character despite the forward’s sending-off in Chelsea’s defeat by Tottenham.
Palmer was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Conor Gallagher in the 80th minute, three minutes after a Mike Penders own goal put Spurs on course for a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge, which Mathys Tel sealed late on.
Cole had been booked 10 minutes earlier for handling the ball and then clashing with Mateus Fernandes, and Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi was booked for protesting that Palmer should have been sent off at that point.
It was also the second week running that Palmer’s discipline came under scrutiny, after Jordan Henderson spoke to him at the end of last weekend’s win at Everton, when he was already on a booking.
But Alonso said: “Not today – today, for sure, yes. But it’s not a concern.
“When Cole is focused on the game and enjoying it. And today, after we went 1-0 down, it was a moment to keep calm and stay mature – and that goes for everyone.”
The Blues boss accepted that referee Chris Kavanagh had probably made the right decision, although he had not yet seen the incidents.
“From what I’ve been told, he probably got it right,” he said.
“It’s a lesson for Cole, for sure, but for everyone. Until now we hadn’t had any red cards, and we need to continue that way, because we need the maturity to deal with difficult moments.
“When we went 1-0 down there were probably still 15 or 20 minutes to go. I need to look at the incident again and talk to Cole, but it’s one to learn from for the future.”
Alonso said Chelsea had discussed the risk of picking up yellow cards in training before the game.
“We need to work on that and improve,” he said.
“We spoke about it, and about knowing that in those situations one yellow card can be decisive, as we have seen. It’s part of the process of maturity for the team and for the individual players.”
Penders, 21, was making his first Premier League start, in place of the injured Emiliano Martinez. He punched a corner into his own net under pressure from Jan Paul van Hecke.
Alonso said: “We win and we lose together, and dealing with mistakes and overcoming them is part of the job – for me as well, and for everyone.
“So we support Mike, and we support the rest of the team as well. He will learn from it and he will want to prove that he can do better – and we all have to show that we can do better.”
Meanwhile, Chelsea are still waiting to find out the extent of Joao Pedro’s injury, which ruled him out of the game.
“We don’t know yet because there is still a lot of fluid,” Alonso said.
“He felt it yesterday, and we probably need to wait until tomorrow to do the tests and know how serious it is.”
