Cole Palmer called out his Chelsea teammates in an honest interview following the Blues' Champions League loss to Bayern Munich.
The Conference League and FIFA Club World Cup champions started their new campaign in Europe's premier club competition with a 3-1 defeat away at the Allianz Arena.
It was Chelsea's first Champions League fixture since 2023 and Enzo Maresca's men found themselves 2-0 down in 26 minutes after Trevoh Chalobah put from his own net and Harry Kane doubled the lead with a penalty.
Palmer pulled one back with a fine finish after a flowing Chelsea move minutes laters but England colleague Kane added a second in the second half from a Malo Gusto mistake to ensure a comfortable victory for Vincent Kompany's men.
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For Chelsea it was their first defeat of the new season and Palmer was frank with his assessment of the performance as he called out "mistakes" and a "lack of concentration".
Speaking to TNT Sports, Palmer said:"Yeah [frustrating]. I feel like we deserved more. We started well, had early chances but when you make mistakes at the highest level it's difficult.
"There was a lack of concentration, not managing the moments correct.
"We showed we can play against one of the best teams in the competition. We deserved more to be honest. The manager said to us before we can go toe-to-toe and I think it shows tonight despite the result.
"It's a good learning curve and to be back in the competition is nice. I don't even know [what happened in the second half]. We're not coming here to be a learning curve. We showed we want to compete and we want to do as best as we can."
Palmer showed his importance to Chelsea again with his second goal of the season, after opening his account for the new season against Brentford in the 2-2 draw at the weekend.
He had been struggling with a groin injury which ruled him out of England's World Cup qualifiers over the international break and also forced him out of the starting XI against West Ham.
Fans expressed concern after he appeared to be holding his groin following the Bayern game, but Maresca was positive on his fitness.
As per Football London he said: “Cole, I think he’s okay. I asked him after the game, he said that he’s okay.”
Chelsea look to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they travel to Old Trafford to play struggling Manchester United in an evening kick-off.
Topics: Cole Palmer, Chelsea, Bayern Munich
Josh Lawless