"Expected more from him" - Enzo Maresca makes bold comments about Reece James' 'leadership' in Chelsea squad
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca expected more from club captain Reece James in terms of leadership. The manager made scathing remarks about the English full-back's leadership abilities.
Speaking at a pre-match press confrence, Maresca acknowledged James was still recovering but at the same time urged him to step up as a captain. He said (via Metro):
"I spoke with him and I expected from him more in terms of leadership, inside the changing room and for different kinds of things. He's on the way, he's doing well, he's progressing, but from Reece I expected more also in terms of leadership. Most of the time, when they are captain, they think that because they are captain, they have more – 'Because I am the captain, I expect that you give me more'.
"For me, because you are the captain, you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. And sometimes it's, 'OK, I am the captain I can give less.' No. He's one of the captains and I expected from him, and his team-mates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general."
Reece James has played once this season, featuring just over an hour against Liverpool in the Premier League. The Englishman had picked up an injury in pre-season after undergoing surgery last season and has just regained full fitness.
Reece James and Chelsea players need to express more, claims Enzo Maresca
Enzo Maresca also lamented the lack of leaders in his team. He revealed Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill were the only two players who were making an effort to be vocal in the dressing room.
The Chelsea manager added:
"He [James] is a reserved guy, as you said, but not only him. When you don't have a proper leader, you need to build that. I think we don't have a proper leader. We don't have those guys. Probably Tosin [Adarabioyo] is one of the guys that is.
"So the rest, we need to build them. Reece is on the way but he's not there. So he needs to make an effort in that one. The one that is doing fantastic in this kind of thing is Levi [Colwill]. Levi probably at the beginning of the season was not a leader but now you can see that he is one of the guys that is always speaking. We need to build that."
Enzo Maresca went on to name Marc Cucurella as another player he wanted to be a better leader at Chelsea. He also believes that players who are still young will do a lot better in two to three years.