Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has shared that he told one Chelsea player to be a loud voice on the pitch during the club’s pre-season friendly against Club America.
Chelsea chalked up their first win of pre-season on Thursday versus Mexican side Club America, beating them in style during a 3-0 win. There were goals from Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu during a very slick first-half performance, while Noni Madueke added a third in the second period.
This is a very young group that new head coach Enzo Maresca is trying to gel together, so it’s going to be interesting to see who emerges as his leaders.
Tosin Adarabioyo is an encouraging voice in training, so perhaps the defender can try to fill the void left behind by Thiago Silva. Meanwhile, it’s been claimed in a report by The Athletic that Reece James is leading off the pitch this summer.
Interestingly, Maresca has explained that he gave Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall instructions to be vocal in Thursday’s match.
Enzo Maresca tells Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to communicate
Dewsbury-Hall, 25, made his unofficial debut in Chelsea colours this week as he played the first-half against Club America. The advanced midfielder wasted a couple of decent chances to score himself, but he did assist Guiu’s header with a clever cross from the byline.
Dewsbury-Hall may be in a new environment getting to know his teammates this summer, but he’s in a unique position that he worked under the head coach last year at Leicester. Therefore, he’s been given extra responsibility to speak up on the pitch because he knows the tactics and system inside out.
Speaking in his post-match press conference after Chelsea’s win over Club America, Maresca said via Football.London: “From outside, you can see Kiernan is talking a different language to his teammates in terms of he knows exactly what he needs to do on and off the ball. On the ball sometimes he is going to receive it wide, running in behind.
“This is because we have worked together for one year. I asked him to speak with his teammates on the pitch because he knows exactly how we are to move and he is going to help us this season many times.”
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could be a snip at £30m
Chelsea coughed up £30m (BBC) this summer to sign Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester, which could well turn out to be an incredible piece of transfer business.
It was pretty clear from the left-footed midfielder’s first 45 minutes with Chelsea that he’s going to be such a useful addition, particularly in the opening months as the manager’s system sets in. He took up so many clever pockets with his movement off the ball and the patterns of play will be second nature to him.
Dewsbury-Hall may have a big challenge ahead of him trying to nail down a starting XI position when you weigh up the competition he’s up against, but fans are starting to see why his signing made a lot of sense.
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