The international break is coming to an end, and we’re about to reach a really interesting stage of the season for Chelsea fans.
It feels like the honeymoon is over for Enzo Maresca – he’s got his feet under the desk, he’s got a good idea of what the players in his squad are all about, and he’s had a chance to get his ideas across. His selections are no longer tinged with an experimental air, they’re well informed at this point.
So players like Jadon Sancho are facing an uphill battle to get into the team after falling out of favour – in part due to form and in part due to unavailability – in the last month.
Sancho with a tough battle to get back into Maresca’s team
Speaking in quotes for Grosvenor Sport, former Premier League player Jamie O’Hara accused the winger of already having slipped back to the form which saw him flop at Manchester United:
“Jadon Sancho’s been given an opportunity at Chelsea to prove people wrong, but it hasn’t happened yet. Manchester United spent a lot of money on him and it didn’t work out, so he’s gone to Chelsea and showed signs of brilliance and confidence at the start, but he seems to have fallen back into his old ways since then<” the pundit claimed.
“I think the problem with Sancho at Chelsea is that there are better players than him in that squad – Pedro Neto and Noni Madueke are more influential than him. He needs to try and produce moments when he gets the chance to impress, or he’ll stay where he is in the pecking order.
“It’s always going to be difficult when there’s a big group of attacking players in the same squad, but I think Enzo Maresca has worked out that Sancho isn’t as good as a lot of them.”
