Gus Poyet has issued a stern reminder to Noni Madueke and insisted the Chelsea forward must keep improving to avoid going ‘quiet’ in games.
The Chelsea winger enjoyed a strong start to the season under new manager Enzo Maresca, netting four times in his opening two appearances against Servette and Wolves in the Europa Conference League and Premier League respectively.
And while Madueke has added just one more goal to his tally this term, a second-half equaliser against Nottingham Forest a month ago, Maresca has keep faith with the 22-year-old on the right side of his attack.
Two impressive appearances for England during the international break offered another reminder of Madeuke’s potential, but former Blues midfielder Poyet warned that the 22-year-old needs to remain humble if he is to make good on that potential.
‘Noni Madueke will always be a player who has 30-minute spells where he’s incredible, but then he can go quiet in games,’ Poyet told BetVictor.
‘He has been starting games very well but sometimes his performance declines throughout the game. That said, he is very direct and he is influential to the way that Chelsea play.
‘I don’t think there’s anything to worry about with him. He shows confidence and he likes to take defenders on one-on-one, and he creates chances as we saw during the international break.
‘It’s just a matter of him continuing to improve and believing in himself. He must make sure to keep himself humble and down to earth and keep doing what he does best. He can be very influential when he’s at the top of his game.’
Prior to the international break, Madueke was criticised by Rio Ferdinand after appearing to storm down the tunnel during Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal.
The former Manchester United centre-back labelled the actions as ‘disrespectful’ and suggested he would have given the winger a two-week fine if he was manager.
Madueke, however, hit back at Ferdinand’s comments last week, explaining that he simply needed the toilet and swiftly returned to the bench as soon as he could.
‘I literally went down the tunnel to go to the toilet and I came back 30 seconds later,’ he said.
‘If you watch a lot of games when I come off, I always going straight down the tunnel to go to the toilet. It is nothing major at all.’
Chelsea and Madueke are back in action after the break on Saturday when Maresca’s side travel to face Leicester City in the league.
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