Chelsea collected a valuable three points in the Premier League on Sunday against Newcastle United, and one of their players managed to send a huge message to Enzo Maresca with his individual performance.
The Blues temporarily moved up to fourth in the league table after winning 2-1 at home to Newcastle this afternoon.
Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer were on the scoresheet this weekend to clinch the victory. As a result, Chelsea are up to 17 points from their opening nine Premier League games this season.
Reece James gives perfect response to Enzo Maresca
Blues captain Reece James, 24, has been in the headlines this week. While there’s a lot of excitement from supporters that he’s back playing again, it was actually comments from the Chelsea manager that have been particularly newsworthy.
Enzo Maresca publicly admitted that the right-back has to show more leadership in his role as a senior figure within the squad.
Speaking via Football.London earlier this week, Maresca shared he’s “expected more” from James as a leader for Chelsea.
If that doesn’t light a fire in you as a player, we’d be really surprised. Based on James’ performance against Newcastle, he’s listened to the Maresca criticism and fuelled it in a positive way.
James, who completed 90 minutes, showed all the signs of a great leader to help guide his team to victory at the weekend. It takes tremendous courage and application to respond that way to a public call-out, too.
Chelsea captain leads by example
In fairness, James doesn’t lead in the traditional way on the pitch as a loud leader. We’re confident that Maresca has given him the perfect nudge to help him step up, though.
He showed his value and attitude in defence to make three goal-line clearances in a single match against Newcastle. In particular, he prevented Joe Willock’s headed effort in the 98th minute with a clearance in his box.
Kyle Walker described James as “complete” back in May via the BBC. There’s never been any doubt about his individual quality as a player.
Now he’s fit again, can James lead this young Chelsea side on and off the pitch to get them back where they need to be?
He showed his class out of position at left-back against Newcastle. If he can keep himself available, we think he will grow in stature and become a pivotal figure for Maresca’s XI in defence.
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