Enzo Maresca says winger Noni Madueke “must work more” to secure a place in the Chelsea side, despite scoring in the 5-1 win at Southampton.
England international Madueke had only scored once since August before the trip to St Mary’s and was left out of the XI against Aston Villa last weekend.
He scored a fine angled shot at Southampton and also created a goal for Christopher Nkunku – but Maresca wants more.
He said: “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 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.
“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.”
Madueke, Joao Felix, Cole Palmer and Nkunku were the attacking quartet for Chelsea at Southampton – with Maresca making seven changes from the XI which beat Villa.
That saw Pedro Neto, Nicolas Jackson and Jadon Sancho among the substitutes – highlighting the depth in Maresca’s squad.
The manager said: “There are players in behind that are ready. We have four wingers that are all very good.
“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.
“Noni is not allowed to drop because Pedro is there and doing fantastic. If Pedro drops then Noni is there.
“This is what they have to understand if we want to be there or be close for something important.”
Chelsea’s win keeps them in second place, seven points behind leaders Liverpool, with a trip to Tottenham to come on Sunday.
