Enzo Maresca has just taken his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s game against Sunderland tomorrow, and he had interesting confession about Marc Guiu.
In midweek the striker started his first game since being recalled from tomorrow’s opposition in August, and according to his manager the reason he hadn’t got a chance sooner was a lack of effort in training.
Maresca admits he called out first team star for training standards
Filip Jorgensen and Marc Guiu training in USA
Filip Jorgensen and Marc Guiu training in USA
It seemed odd that Chelsea had recalled Guiu then weren’t using him at all – especially when it was clear the team needed a number 9 as a focal point. Now we know why. There had been reports of a chat between player and manager, but none of them highlighted the training criticism aspect:
“We had a chat with Marc two weeks ago, I told him that the way he was training I didn’t like and he needs to change. He changes and he got a chance, so it is like that.”
Asked what he hadn’t liked about the striker’s efforts, Maresca said he hadn’t liked the Catalan’s efforts “in all the ways.”
This isn’t the first time Maresca has called out a player for poor training performances. This time a year ago, he dropped Noni Madueke for similar reasons.
It’s an unusual move from a coach, but we do respect it, and the players don’t seem to respond badly to being challenged either. It’s good honesty all round, and if it got better results from Guiu, then it’s already paid off.
In other news…
Maresca’s other big update from the press conference was on Liam Delap, the striker who has made a rapid recovery from a bad hamstring injury and could feature as soon as next week, according to his manager. Poor Guiu’s chance is over as soon as it arrived it seems.