Enzo Maresca sends message to Chelsea star after Southampton win. He said Christopher Nkunku’s performance in Chelsea’s win over Southampton, but still ‘expects more’ from the attacker going forward.
Enzo Maresca sends message to Chelsea star after Southampton win
Chelsea put four unanswered goals past the Premier League’s bottom-placed team to end their three-game winless run and move back into the top four.
The Blues have badly struggled for form over the winter period and Nicolas Jackson’s sustained absence through injury has come as a significant blow to the west London giants.
Maresca has experimented with Nkunku through the middle to little success and the Frenchman has faced heavy criticism from fans and pundits alike for falling short of his eye-watering £65million price tag at Stamford Bridge.
But it was Nkunku who headed home the opening goal of the game against the Saints this evening, with Maresca instead opting to play him out wide and Pedro Neto up top.
Neto doubled Chelsea’s advantage 12 minutes later with a well-taken finish and goals from Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella put the hosts out of sight in front of a joyous albeit relieved home crowd.
‘We all needed that,’ Chelsea head coach Maresca told TNT Sports shortly after the final whistle.
‘We were in a bad run, a bad moment, for me, especially in terms of results.
‘In almost all games the performance has been there apart from Brighton away, even Aston Villa the performance was there.
‘We needed that, the fans needed that, the club needed that so we are happy.’
Maresca still ‘expects more’ from Nkunku despite his positive display (Picture: Getty)
Asked for his assessment of Nkunku’s display, Maresca replied: ‘I’m happy with him, I know that he can give more. We expect more from him.
‘At the same time we try to understand him in terms of he is not a nine. Many games he plays as a nine. He’s not a winger and tonight he played as a winger.
‘He’s an attacking midfielder. The problem is that sometimes to find balance… we already used Cole Palmer there so we try to use him in different positions.’
Chelsea returned to the top four with the 4-0 win
On his decision to start Neto up front, the Italian added: ‘We used Nkunku at Brighton away but every time he received the ball on the feet and we need more threat in behind.
‘So the reason why we start to use him and think about Pedro was because of that.’
Maresca said he had been left with no option but to experiment with ‘different solutions’ up front due to the club’s injury woes.
‘In this moment we have five, six, seven important injuries and I think all the clubs, when you have this amount of injuries, we are all in the same page, in the same situation,’ he continued.
‘We started the season very good, for a long period. Then four, five, six, seven injuries, especially with both strikers. Transfer deadline and both injuries.
‘So we have tried different solutions. We tried Pedro as a nine during the week, it worked well. Aston Villa away, I think it was a good game for him. Tonight again, it’s just a matter of trying to find different solutions.’
Palmer was not among the goalscorers on the night
Maresca has been pleased with how his players have responded in the face of adversity and hopes to see more of the same commitment right up until the end of the season.
‘I have pushed even more in this last month and a half to continue to believe because the process is there,’ he went on.
‘Since we started we have been almost all season in the top four, we have been there.
‘Now it’s normal to go through some bad moments. It’s how we react and how we continue to believe in what we are doing from day one.
‘This is the reason why I think the fans, especially the fans, they have to trust the players because they are engaged, they are fantastic, every day they are working hard.
‘I’m the first one that if I see something I don’t like, I don’t allow them to do it. So the players are doing well.’