Everton’s Dele Alli says Chelsea players only want responsibility it when it’s easy, like against Everton

ChelseaPen

The most important thing about Chelsea’s six-goal victory on Monday night is not that Cole Palmer scored four times, nor the deleterious effect it could have on Everton’s survival hopes thanks to the effect on goal difference.

No, of course, the main thing about it is that a couple of lads couldn’t decide who should take Chelsea’s second-half penalty to make it 5-0, leading to an admittedly very funny sequence of events.

‘Daft’ Chelsea ruin everyone’s fun with hilarious squabble

Young bucks Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke tussled over the ball after the spot kick was awarded like a pair of children fighting over a Game Boy in the back of a car, prompting Thiago Silva and skipper Conor Gallagher to head over and try to intervene, instructing them to hand the ball to designated penalty expert Palmer. (Kids still play with Game Boys, right?)

The squabble has somehow come to overshadow, and we must repeat this, a 6-0 win for Chelsea, dominating the Tuesday morning headlines alongside calls for Gareth Southgate to put Jude Bellingham in goal to accommodate Palmer, or whatever other recency bias they can come up with. And hey, who are we to thumb our nose at a talking point, however daft it may be?

The incident led to much tut-tutting from the ever-so-serious Sky Sports punditocracy, with Jamie Carragher putting on that little breathless voice he does to say: “It’s daft. I mean, come on, lads, Pochettino’s going to be asked about this after the game.”

Chelsea players ‘showing their age’ with silly-billy penalty antics

Now-mononymous Everton midfielder Dele added: “This is…for me this is them showing their age.

“I am not there at the [Chelsea] training ground every day and I don’t know who is the designated penalty taker, but as far as I’m aware in that last big game when pressure was on in the last minute, I didn’t see them all fighting to take it then.

“It’s alright when it’s 4-0 and you want to get on the scoresheet. If you want to get on the scoresheet don’t do it when it’s 4-0 in an unpressurised situation.

“It’s a shame because they did have an amazing night, and it’s a shame that this is what’s happened and people are talking about this rather than just their amazing performance,” the midfielder concluded, rather than just talking about their amazing performance.

“But I’m sure they’ll settle it; I’m sure Pochettino will talk to them about it.”