Cole Palmer fell wildly short of expectations in Chelsea's disappointing defeat to Sunderland, but he's not entirely to blame. The 24-year-old attacking midfielder was unusually ineffective at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, producing a solitary moment of magic before crawling back into his shell. 

Shortly before the half-hour mark on the River Wear, Palmer was mowed down by Jules Ahoka and Luke O'Nien as he burst into the opposition box. Bizarrely, Jarrad Gillet did not initially adjudge the England international to have been fouled, waving play on.

It was only once the ball had gone out of play that the Video Assistant Referee intervened to review the incident for a potential penalty. Palmer was first tripped by Ahoka as he approached the area before getting chopped down by O'Nien inside the area, with neither culprit making an attempt to win the ball.

Yet Nicholas Hopton and his assistant, Wade Smith, at Stockley Park, confirmed the on-field decision of play on and claimed that 'any contact with the Englishman occurred outside the box', despite replays showing otherwise.

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Lo and behold, a few moments later, the Black Cats were the beneficiaries of another contentious piece of officiating, when Gillet adjudged Levi Colwill, who almost had his shirt ripped off his back, to have fouled Brian Brobbey, who clipped his own ankles before going down.

The tide had suddenly turned and, for the remainder of the game, Palmer was elusive. Although the attacking midfielder had 68 touches at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon and completed 21 passes into the final third, only two of which were played into the Sunderland box.

Despite having only lost possession once he was on the deck, having been mowed down inside the area, Palmer technically failed to complete a single dribble. The Blues talisman can certainly feel aggrieved by the bizarre choice of officiating in the defeat to Sunderland, but it wasn't the first time he went missing when Xabi Alonso needed him to show his teeth.

The Chelsea manager wouldn't have been too bothered by Palmer's average position at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon, even if he did drop a little too deep to receive the ball on a few occasions.

However, without a focal point, the Sunderland backline was given a free ride. Pedro Neto was supposed to spearhead the frontline, but he drifted out wide, failing to record a single touch in the opposition area. Not only did that leave Palmer rather isolated, with no striker to bounce off, but the centre-backs had the luxury of stepping out on his every touch.

Morgan Rogers at least followed his orders. He showed flashes of promise, but, again, with no reference point up top, many of his actions were fuelled by his own initiative, dragging Chelsea up the pitch with ambitious dribbles.

Even when Danny Welbeck and Emmanuel Emegha were brought on in the second half, they had little to no impact as the Blues had grown impatient, and understandably so against a low block, bypassing the midfield with ambitious long balls.

Ultimately, as visualised in the pass map below, Palmer was overly cautious with his playmaking, with all but a couple of passes either going backwards or into wide – and risk-averse – areas. Never did the Chelsea star cut inside or receive the ball on a half-turn before attempting to pass it forwards into the Sunderland box from the right half-space.

Instead, he played backwards or into wide – and risk-averse – areas. Although Palmer could have been braver in his playmaking, he rarely had the opportunity to react to the run of a striker, such as Joao Pedro, whether it was a through-ball, a one-two, or a dribble into space created by a teammate's run.

The Blues talisman has questions to answer after the international break, but he would certainly benefit from Alonso scrapping the free-flowing frontline experiment. The system in place is hardly watertight.

Palmer is a satellite. He needs something to bounce off in order to collect data, relay information, and best position himself in the final third...