1 day Ago
James made his first international appearances since 2022 during the recent World Cup qualifiers and scored a brilliant free-kick – his first England goal – in the 3-0 win over Latvia, but Maresca has nonetheless limited his captain’s playing time. The 25-year-old has endured a succession of hamstring problems, one of which last season required surgery and led to him missing five months. He missed the first seven matches of the current campaign, returning to play four games in October and November before a recurrence put him out of action until January.
In all he has played only 21 times in the Premier League since the start of last season. Maresca has repeatedly indicated that playing matches every three to four days is not viable and has now said the policy of swapping him in and out of the team will last for the rest of the campaign. “I still think that we need to manage Reece,” the Italian said.
“You know his history better than me, you know that he is a player that you need to be careful with him in this moment. “We want him fit until the end (of the season). The idea is to try to manage him and then we’ll see in the future if we can go every day.
But in this moment, because we need him until the end, we try to mange him. “Reece in another team is very young. In our team probably he is a bit old, but he is still very young.
” There was better news for Maresca with the return to fitness of Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson after nearly two months out. Both players – as well as Cole Palmer, who sat out the most recent match away to Arsenal in March – are available to face Tottenham at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, though Romeo Lavia has suffered a setback in his rehabilitation and misses out. Chelsea have struggled to create chances in the absence of Madueke and Jackson with the quick, transitional attacking play that characterised the first half of the campaign having given way to slow, sluggish football that has frustrated supporters.
“No matter who is playing, we want to be direct and quick when they (the opposition) press higher, but we cannot be direct and quick when they sit back,” Maresca said. “The last games at home – Leicester, West Ham, Wolves, Southampton – they are all games where 11 players were behind the ball. It’s impossible to attach quick.
“Against teams that press higher, you can attack quick, for sure. “When you have players that love to run in behind more, it’s more easy, but even when you have that and teams sit back, there is no space to attack in behind.”.
