Popular dressing room leader is the shock accomplice to punished Madueke admits Maresca | OneFootball

All the focus last night was on Noni Madueke not being in the squad. Sure enough, in the press conference after the game, that’s what Enzo Maresca was asked about.

It wasn’t until the second part of his press conference, where he previewed the Ipswich game on Monday night, that he was asked about another absence who had gone under the radar a little.

With so much fatigue, illness and injury around at the moment, it was assumed that Renato Veiga had fallen victim to one of them. But in speaking about Madueke, Maresca revealed that Veiga’s absence was down to the same “technical decision – which refers to poor performance 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.”

Maresca sticks his neck out – and know the risks

Renato Veiga scores for Chelsea.

Veiga has seemed like a real dressing room leader and a good character – we’re surprised to see him punished like this.

Although when we signed him back in the summer we remember there were some hints about personality troubles in the past. Let’s hope both he and Noni take this in the right way and really get their heads down for the rest of the season.

Marc Cucurella is well established as first choice, and Veiga really can’t afford any slip ups in the battle to supplant him. The club will also be looking for tweaks to the squad in the summer – if you’re a versatile glue guy, you can’t be training at anything less than 100% or you risk being replaced.

If being a disciplinarian gets the players in line, it’s great. But we all know the risks of it backfiring if results turn sour.