Maresca Emphasizes Madueke “Must Work More”

This season, Chelsea has achieved a total of 57 goals across 22 matches in all competitions, surpassing their 2022-23 total by seven goals. According to Enzo Maresca, winger Noni Madueke needs to “work more” to solidify his position in the Chelsea team, even after his goal in the 5-1 victory against Southampton. Prior to the match at St Mary’s, the England international Madueke had only registered one goal since August and was excluded from the starting lineup against Aston Villa the previous weekend. At Southampton, he netted an impressive angled shot and also set up a goal for Christopher Nkunku; however, Maresca expects further contributions. Maresca stated: “Noni can do much more. He can do much more. The moment he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit and the reason why he was not playing is because I do not like the way he trained.” He continued: “He has to understand that he has to train every day good. He has to be ambitious. He scored one tonight, he has to go for the second one and the third one. He has to give more assists.” Maresca added: “But overall, he is doing great, he is doing fantastic. He is doing even better in terms of numbers. Noni has to understand he has to work more because he can be much, much, much better.” The attacking quartet for Chelsea at Southampton comprised Madueke, Joao Felix, Cole Palmer, and Nkunku, as Maresca implemented seven alterations to the starting lineup that defeated Villa. This meant Pedro Neto, Nicolas Jackson, and Jadon Sancho were among the players on the bench, underscoring the considerable depth within Maresca’s squad. The manager commented: “There are players in behind that are ready. We have four wingers that are all very good.” He elaborated: “Pedro and Noni for the right side, Jadon and Misha [Mykhailo Mudryk] for the left side and in the moment one of them drops for whatever reason, there is one in behind that is ready.” Maresca continued: “Noni is not allowed to drop because Pedro is there and doing fantastic. If Pedro drops then Noni is there.” He concluded: “This is what they have to understand if we want to be there or be close for something important.” The victory maintains Chelsea’s second-place standing, seven points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, with an upcoming match against Tottenham scheduled for Sunday.