Enzo Maresca has already shown his tactical versatility so far this season, coaching his Chelsea side to three away victories on the bounce, including last week’s 3-0 win against West Ham United.
Many Chelsea fans were worried Maresca would be tactically stubborn, opting to stick to the same formation and team he started with. However, already this campaign, the Italian has proved he is not shy to make early changes, hooking players at halftime and switching team dynamics.
The Blues sit fifth in the Premier League after five games played, winning three, drawing one, and losing one. Chelsea face Brighton and Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge this weekend, in their bid to make it three league wins in a row.
Why Madueke could be dropped
Noni Madueke has started the season really strongly for Chelsea, scoring four goals in six appearances so far, playing 423 minutes. The 22-year-old winger is seen as a perfect Maresca-style winger, who can hug the touchline, provide the team with width, make runs in behind, and get himself in 1v1 isolations with the opposition fullback.
His best performance came in Chelsea’s demolition of Wolverhampton Wanderers, winning 6-2 at Molineux, with Madueke scoring a hatrick in the second half. A devastating link-up between himself and Cole Palmer saw the Blues tear through the Wolves’ defence on multiple occasions.
Madueke provides the team with a real balance, doing his job on both ends of the ball, and putting in big defensive shifts on the wing, although he wasn’t exactly at his best against the Hammers last week, having been restricted to just 33 touches on the day – fewer than teammate Robert Sanchez recorded in the sticks (55).
Maresca therefore has a selection headache on his hands, as many of his attackers continue to perform. He is challenged with finding new ways to implement them together, one option being to drop Madueke, move Palmer to the right, and insert Christopher Nkunku into the number ten role.
The player to replace Madueke
Nkunku has been playing more of a bit part role for the Blues to start this campaign, starting UECL Qualifiers and EFL Cup games, and coming from the bench in Premier League games. This has seen the Frenchman score six goals in eight games, playing 320 minutes of football so far.
In recent weeks, Nkunku came from the bench against Bournemouth to secure a 1-0 victory, and started against Barrow in the EFL Cup, scoring a hatrick in that game.
This gives Maresca the issue of trying to get him into the team, as he continues to score goals whenever he is on the pitch – having been described as a “monster in the making” in the past by talent scout Jacek Kulig.
Stats (per 90 mins)
Nkunku
Madueke
Goals
2.00
0.77
Assists
0.00
0.26
xG
0.83
0.36
Progressive Carries
2.50
5.00
Progressive Passes
3.33
1.67
Shots Total
3.00
4.36
Goals/Shot
0.67
0.18
Shot-Creating Actions
6.67
2.22
Touches (Att Pen)
8.33
4.44
As you can see from the metrics above, Nkunku is performing at an exceptional level with his per 90 stats, generating a whopping 0.83 xG per 90, and scoring at a 0.67 goals to shot ratio. It is hard to leave a player in such a rich vein of form out of the side, especially when they are converting chances at an elite conversion rate.
In order to get Nkunku into the side, Chelsea would have to drop Nicolas Jackson to start him upfront. However, with Jackson also in red-hot form, scoring a brace against West Ham last weekend, he has also made himself undroppable for Maresca’s side.
This leaves Maresca with the decision of whether to drop Madueke, losing some initial team balance, moving Palmer to the right-wing, and starting in Nkunku in the number ten, alongside Jackson, or to keep Nkunku on the bench, and look to turn to him in the second half against Brighton. On the evidence of his midweek display, however, unleashing the former Leipzig man may be the best solution.
Whichever way Maresca goes, it is a good problem for him to have currently, with a wealth of attacking options, all staking their claim to be in the starting XI each week.
Maresca must offload Chelsea flop who earns nearly 2x more than Madueke
His time at Stamford Bridge has been a disaster.
1 ByEthan LambSep 27, 2024
