Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has lashed out at Noni Madueke, despite the fact the Blues winger bagged a goal during his side’s 5-1 thrashing of Southampton on Wednesday evening. Madueke returned to the starting line-up and netted his side’s third goal of the evening as the west London giants ran riot on the south coast.
But the 22-year-old was guilty of missing a string of chances in the second half when his team were well out of sight.
And he was replaced by Jadon Sancho midway through the second period, with the Manchester United loanee adding the final goal of the night.
“Noni can do much more,” Maresca explained after the match. “When he scores and assists and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit.
"The reason he was not playing is because of the way he was training. When he scores one, he needs to keep trying to score and assist. Noni needs to understand he has to work more and he can be much, much, much better.”
Madueke was dropped to the bench on Sunday as Chelsea hosted Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge. He came on with 18 minutes remaining and teed up Cole Palmer for the third goal of the game as Maresca’s side ran out 3-0 winners.
He also bagged an assist against the Saints as Chelsea dominated from start to finish. But Maresca clearly feels the player has plenty of room to improve.
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