“We need offensive players” – Enzo Maresca doesn’t seem convinced by Joao Pedro return | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has just taken his press conference after Chelsea’s win over Tottenham, and he was asked about the match winner, Joao Pedro.

Joao Pedro has had a bit of a rough spell of late, struggling to even get as much as a shot away in recent stars.

“He has problems” – Maresca defends injured striker

Joao Pedro celebrates after a win. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

But Maresca was quick to jump to the defence of his striker:

“Joao has never been a problem. The problem with Joao is that he’s not training every day, because he has problems,” the manager said.

“He has some problems that we are trying to manage. So it’s normal that then the consequence is that you cannot be 100% and fit every game. But I’m not worried about Joao, because Joao is a good player, he’s going to score goals. Even when he didn’t score, he had some good games. For instance, against Liverpool, I think he was also very good. Now we have Liam [Delap] back, that also can help us as a striker. So we have already a different option, that is a good thing for us, because since we started we are without Cole [Palmer], we have been two months without Liam. So we need offensive players.”

Frankly, today did little to convince us that anything with Joao Pedro has been solved. Yes he scored one, but he should have scored more, and he continues to look a little lost and isolated up top. We’re sure his injury is affecting him, but a lot of the thing we see are things you could have pointed at last season or the season before.

In other news…

Reece James played in midfield in the game and got high praise for his showing. His manager was really positive about how the captain had done, both on and off the pitch.

Moises Caicedo was a machine in the game, and his manager hailed his impact, claiming that Rodri was the only defensive midfielder in the world on his level.