Athletic: Maresca “cannot count on” disinterested attacker who must not play again | OneFootball

Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Brentford yesterday was extremely dull – but that won’t stop people drawing some interesting conclusions from it.

In fact, perhaps dull games lead to more thoughtful post match? We certainly enjoyed Liam Twomey’s piece for the Athletic on the subject of Chelsea struggles in attack after another game where they failed to really stretch the opposition and create good chances.

He notes that after 12 Premier League games in 2025, the Blues’ top scorer is Marc Cucurella. A defender. With 3 goals. He makes the good point that Cole Palmer’s struggles are taking the focus off the failures of the rest of the team to compensate.

Nkunku must not play again in competitive games if Chelsea want to succeed

Christopher Nkunku with an Enzo Maresca inlay. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

One player who has roundly failed to do that is Christopher Nkunku, who has one league goal in that time.

Twomey agreed with us that Maresca’s defender of the attacker’s efforts didn’t ring true:

“Maresca’s post-match insistence that the Frenchman’s struggles are not down to a lack of effort felt as feeble and unconvincing as the sum of his contribution over 45 listless first-half minutes,” he wrote.

“[Nkunku’s] limitations — whether due to a lack of effort or ability — caused visible frustration among his team-mates,” something we had also noted. So it’s not just us being hysterical, even the neutral observers see a player who is basically uninterested in playing for us now. For as long as that continues, he simply cannot be in the team:

“But it could not be clearer that his best position is away from Chelsea — and that in the meantime, Maresca cannot count on him to be a helpful force,” Twomey summed it up.

He went as far as to say that the return of Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke to the squad are most useful in that they allow the former Leipzig man to stay far away from the action.