Enzo Maresca has already proven his tactical versatility thus far this season, teaching his Chelsea aspect to 3 away victories on the bounce, together with final week’s 3-0 win in opposition to West Ham United.
Many Chelsea followers have been frightened Maresca can be tactically cussed, opting to stay to the identical formation and staff he began with. Nonetheless, already this marketing campaign, the Italian has proved he’s not shy to make early adjustments, hooking gamers at halftime and switching staff dynamics.
The Blues sit fifth within the Premier League after 5 video games performed, profitable three, drawing one, and shedding one. Chelsea face Brighton and Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge this weekend, of their bid to make it three league wins in a row.
Why Madueke may very well be dropped
Noni Madueke has began the season actually strongly for Chelsea, scoring 4 targets in six appearances thus far, enjoying 423 minutes. The 22-year-old winger is seen as an ideal Maresca-style winger, who can hug the touchline, present the staff with width, make runs in behind, and get himself in 1v1 isolations with the opposition fullback.
His finest efficiency got here in Chelsea’s demolition of Wolverhampton Wanderers, profitable 6-2 at Molineux, with Madueke scoring a hatrick within the second half. A devastating link-up between himself and Cole Palmer noticed the Blues tear by the Wolves’ defence on a number of events.
Madueke supplies the staff with an actual steadiness, doing his job on each ends of the ball, and placing in large defensive shifts on the wing, though he wasn’t precisely at his finest in opposition to the Hammers final week, having been restricted to simply 33 touches on the day – fewer than teammate Robert Sanchez recorded within the sticks (55).
Maresca subsequently has a range headache on his palms, as lots of his attackers proceed to carry out. He’s challenged with discovering new methods to implement them collectively, one possibility being to drop Madueke, transfer Palmer to the best, and insert Christopher Nkunku into the quantity ten function.
The participant to switch Madueke
Nkunku has been enjoying extra of a bit half function for the Blues to begin this marketing campaign, beginning UECL Qualifiers and EFL Cup video games, and coming from the bench in Premier League video games. This has seen the Frenchman rating six targets in eight video games, enjoying 320 minutes of soccer thus far.
In latest weeks, Nkunku got here from the bench in opposition to Bournemouth to safe a 1-0 victory, and began in opposition to Barrow within the EFL Cup, scoring a hatrick in that sport.
This provides Maresca the problem of making an attempt to get him into the staff, as he continues to attain targets at any time when he’s on the pitch – having been described as a “monster within the making” prior to now by expertise scout Jacek Kulig.
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Nkunku vs Madueke comparability |
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|---|---|---|
|
Stats (per 90 minutes) |
Nkunku |
Madueke |
|
Objectives |
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 |
|
Pictures Complete |
3.00 |
4.36 |
|
Objectives/Shot |
0.67 |
0.18 |
|
Shot-Creating Actions |
6.67 |
2.22 |
|
Touches (Att Pen) |
8.33 |
4.44 |
|
Stats taken from FBref |
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As you may see from the metrics above, Nkunku is acting at an distinctive stage together with his per 90 stats, producing a whopping 0.83 xG per 90, and scoring at a 0.67 targets to shot ratio. It’s laborious to go away a participant in such a wealthy vein of type out of the aspect, particularly when they’re changing possibilities at an elite conversion fee.
With the intention to get Nkunku into the aspect, Chelsea must drop Nicolas Jackson to begin him upfront. Nonetheless, with Jackson additionally in red-hot type, scoring a brace in opposition to West Ham final weekend, he has additionally made himself undroppable for Maresca’s aspect.
This leaves Maresca with the choice of whether or not to drop Madueke, shedding some preliminary staff steadiness, shifting Palmer to the right-wing, and beginning in Nkunku within the quantity ten, alongside Jackson, or to maintain Nkunku on the bench, and look to show to him within the second half in opposition to Brighton. On the proof of his midweek show, nonetheless, unleashing the previous Leipzig man could also be the very best answer.
Whichever means Maresca goes, it’s a good drawback for him to have at the moment, with a wealth of attacking choices, all staking their declare to be within the beginning XI every week.
