Inside ‘powerful love’ plan of Chelsea’s gesticulator within the gilet: Enzo Maresca has axed Noni Madueke after three strikes and is warning stars about their behaviour – however now the warmth’s on him

Enzo Maresca has carte blanche as Chelsea‘s head coach to select his squad how he sees fit, without any undue influence from the impresarios upstairs, and in the curious case of the missing Noni Madueke, the expression ‘three strikes, you’re out’ comes to mind.

Strike one arrived in August, a verbal warning after a Conference League win over Servette. Madueke scored, but Maresca told the 22-year-old England international that he must train better.

Strike two followed at the start of this month, as Madueke’s levels dropped in training and so Maresca retaliated by dropping him to the bench for their game against Aston Villa. He had started their last 11 Premier League matches but was a substitute for that victory, once more told by his boss that coasting through sessions at Cobham will not be tolerated.

And now to what we can only assume was strike three, the punishment increased again with the winger excluded entirely from Chelsea’s match-day squad for their Boxing Day defeat by Fulham, a game in which Maresca named two goalkeepers on his bench as if to prove a point.

While Maresca refused to reveal precisely why he axed Madueke – he was not in the mood to say anything other than it was ‘technical decision’ made by himself – it was enough to convince the 44-year-old Italian that the £30million attacker should be sidelined altogether.

What we do know for certain is Maresca is a coach who demands complete professionalism at Cobham, sources talking of a ‘fair but firm’ culture being created.

If a player is not performing as he should, Maresca will tell him privately, and then tell the world, as he did with Reece James in October when he criticised his captaincy by saying he craved a ‘proper leader’. That revelation, after a Conference League victory over Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece, took us all by surprise in the reporters’ huddle.

Just last week, Maresca jumped on the permanent promotions of Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George from the academy to the first team by delivering a speech to the entire squad as the 18-year-olds were assigned their lockers, on either side of Joao Felix.

In summary, Maresca told Felix and everyone else that he will be watching to see who shows Acheampong and George how they must act. Maresca ordered: ‘You convince them that they have to defend that, and “defend that” means every day working in the right way.’ He finished his address with: ‘Creating the right culture, it is important. Work, and welcome to both of you.’

Maresca places significant stock in what he sees in training. Pulling into Cobham for a recent press conference, the car park resembled a drive-in cinema as a gigantic screen was sitting there on wheels, eating up real estate on the tarmac. Its traditional home is on the field where it is used during sessions to show the players clips from games for them to then work on. Maresca is hands-on, the gesticulator in the gilet, forever trying to extract that extra percentage.

Maresca is confident his tough love with Madueke will work. It did the last two times he showed his teeth, after Servette and Villa, with the youngster responding well. He was at Stamford Bridge to take in the 2-1 loss to Fulham as a spectator, one of Maresca’s rules being that those sidelined from the squad must attend in support of their team-mates. Madueke was not alone, as Renato Veiga was also axed due to a ‘technical decision’ while Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was injured.

Yet as Ruben Amorim has found with Marcus Rashford at Manchester United, such strictness can come under scrutiny if you do not then win. For the first time since taking over at Chelsea, Maresca is feeling some of that heat for himself, accused of cutting off his nose to spite his face.

Anybody who watched this lacklustre loss – Chelsea’s first in the Premier League since October – could see how useful Madueke might have been from the bench. As impressively as they did their defensive duties, Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto finished the full 90 minutes without ever creating enough chances from either wing, as only one substitute was used overall when Christopher Nkunku replaced Nicolas Jackson after 73 minutes.

Madueke will be back in contention for Monday’s trip to Ipswich, a clean slate ahead of Chelsea’s bid to return to winning ways. Maresca had told his team multiple times that if you add to the competitive nature at Cobham, you will be named in the squad, maybe even as a starter.

Madueke joined from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023. He is tied down until 2030 with the club able to extend his stay by an extra year. Newcastle were among those interested in signing him in the last summer and soon, he will have further competition when another right-wing option arrives in Brazilian wonderkid Estevao Willian, who turns 18 in April.

There are no plans to try to move on Madueke this January as Chelsea still believe in his abilities, Maresca included. They are already without the services of one £89m winger in Mykhailo Mudryk – still temporarily suspended after failing a drug’s test – and the club’s full focus is on securing a top-four finish this season in order to return to the Champions League.

Speaking ahead of facing Ipswich, Maresca touched on the standards he wants to see being set in training: ‘For sure, the competition has to be higher. Not only for Noni Madueke, but also Renato Veiga was not in the squad and the reason is exactly the same for both of them. There is not any different reason, it’s just a technical decision.

‘He (Madueke) responded very good at that time (when he was dropped for Villa) so there is no more than that. I expect the same this time. We never thought we were going to win every game but now we’ve lost and they just said to me that we lost on August 18 (to Manchester City) and then after two months (to Liverpool), and then after another two months (to Fulham). We know the reality is that you don’t lose a game every two months. Now it is a matter of how we react.’

Maresca will be watching for that reaction closely, this not being a man who wears his eyes as decorations. With the Premier League’s youngest squad, Chelsea need strong leadership. Certainly, nobody can accuse this head coach of being a pushover.