Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has told Noni Madueke and Levi Colwill that he needs more ‘fight’ from the pair. The Argentine has been left frustrated after feeling his team are too nice in Premier League games.
Madueke came off the bench to score the winning penalty in a 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. The winger has struggled for game time this season and has been warned by his head coach to stop complaining and fight for his place.
Pochettino has used Madueke in just 148 Premier League minutes this season and publicly admonished the 21-year-old for his conduct earlier in the season. But Madueke was the match-winner against Palace in a brief cameo appearance, netting an 89th-minute spot-kick after being introduced in the 80th minute.
Chelsea fielded their youngest-ever Premier League starting 11, with an average age of a little over 23 years old. Pochettino has acknowledged that he has an inexperienced side but wants more fight from his starlets.
Pochettino told Amazon Prime: “I was talking to Madueke and Colwill and we need to realise that we are Chelsea and have a great history. The pressure is to win. We have nice players. But you need to fight.
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“We play Palace and you need to fight. Sometimes we miss a little bit this characteristic. A team is always up and down, but we need to realise the Premier League is a step up.
“We need an impact from the bench to go and fight. The players need to come from the bench and they can’t complain and say, ‘Oh I want more game time’.”
Pochettino was disappointed with aspects of Chelsea’s performances against Palace despite a third consecutive victory at Stamford Bridge. He felt that their build-up play was often too slow, allowing the South Londoners to regroup and retrieve possession.
He added: “We didn’t play free in every single action. The players were thinking too much and the passes were too slow. We gave Palace the opportunity to recover the ball.