Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca may be forced to reconsider his stance on Reece James after being shown how to extract the best performance from the Blues captain. The right-back, who earned his first call-up to the England squad in two years, produced a man-of-the-match display in the 3-0 win over Latvia in which he scored a magnificent free-kick from 25 yards out. It was a performance typical of James when he thrived under the guise of Thomas Tuchel, having spent 20 months in charge at Stamford Bridge between January 2021 and September 2022. The German tactician is now in charge of England’s national team and sought to deploy James as a right-back, despite watching him play in central midfield for Chelsea under Maresca this season.
It was no coincidence that James was heavily involved in England’s attacking play as well as defensive work. The marauding full-back loves to overlap and swing in dangerous crosses into the box. He broke the deadlock on 38 minutes with an expertly-crafted free-kick that found the very top corner of the Latvia goal and his muted celebration said just as much as it would’ve done if he’d broken down in tears. It’s been a long journey back for James and he’s no longer the spring chicken from five years ago who covered every blade of grass. He needs to be managed carefully and placed in a role that is fit for his limitations, which Tuchel understood.
Speaking after the game, the ex-Chelsea boss said: "There cannot be any doubt about Reece's quality, it's the highest level. We were in close contact in the last weeks. We were clear he'd trained without pause and if he didn't play it was the choice of the club, protecting him. We knew he was in a good space mentally.”
When asked about his decision to play him at right-back, he added: "If you play a dominant match like today he can be, like in the last 20 [minutes], a hybrid midfielder and help to create an overload because he has the quality on the ball. Once it's an open game and a lot of transitions through midfield I'm not so sure it would suit him perfectly."
If he didn’t already, Maresca now faces a huge challenge to convince not only the fans but James himself that he’s best served in midfield. Aside from a long-range strike against FC Copenhagen, the 25-year-old has struggled to influence games playing in his new role. Maresca is adamant he sees the versatile defender as a midfielder, though, and must now justify his experiment with some tangible evidence after he excelled under Tuchel.
“You can ask Reece, the day after I signed with Chelsea, I sent him a video about seeing him as a midfielder," Maresca said. “I see Reece as a midfielder, not just now but since day one. Before I met him for the first time, when he was on holiday, I sent him a clip of how he could play as a midfielder. So I imagined him playing as a midfielder a long time ago.”
It will take some effort for the 45-year-old to win the popularity race with Tuchel after James labelled him the ‘best coach’ he has worked with in an ITV interview that was oddly deleted. This was his own captain stating his preference to work with a coach that was sacked only two and a half years ago.
It’s hard for Maresca not to take that personally, but one way he could claw back some adoration and get James on his side is by playing him in his favourite - and apparently most effective - position.