After the Southampton match on Wednesday night, Enzo Maresca was very direct in his criticism of Noni Madueke’s attitude in training and in games sometimes. Asked about it today’s press conference, the coach didn’t back down. He went into a little more detail on what he wanted from his winger, making sure there were plenty of positives in his comments to soften the blows:
“Noni, overall he is working well since we started but sometimes he drops a little bit. He is not allowed to drop. In terms of numbers, he is doing fantastic. Off the ball when we ask him to defend and press, he is doing very well. The reason I said this the other day is because I want the best for Noni and the way to do that is to push him. The moment he relaxes a little bit, it is wrong,” the coach explained.
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A generic interior view of Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Noni Madueke celebrates a goal for Chelsea (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
“I try to be close to the players. When you want to be friends, when you say something wrong to your friend, he is not happy. He needs to know that what you say is because you want to take care of him,” Maresca continued.
Noni Madueke celebrates scoring. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Noni Madueke celebrates scoring. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Questions over Noni’s place this weekend in Spurs clash
Now what will be very interesting is the team-sheet on Sunday. Madueke was dropped for the Aston Villa game a week ago, and then brought back in for the midweek game against Southampton.
The logic of Maresca’s rotation patterns should therefore dictate that Madueke drops out again, with Jadon Sancho used on the left and Pedro Neto the right. But there definitely seems like a chance that the coach puts Madueke back in on Sunday to prove he’s learned his lesson and has had a fire lit under him.