“If you don’t punish him, he will cost you your job” – Rio Ferdinand BLASTS Enzo Maresca on what 22-years-old Chelsea star did to him
Following his “disrespectful” performance against Arsenal on Sunday, Rio Ferdinand stated that Chelsea winger Noni Madueke ought to get a two-week fine.
At Stamford Bridge over the weekend, Madueke started on the right wing but was substituted by Mykhailo Mudryk soon after Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners ahead.
But just before Pedro Neto’s equalizer gave the Blues a point, the Englishman raced down the Stamford Bridge tunnel, clearly furious at the decision.
Even though he ultimately returned to the bench, Ferdinand was not pleased with his behavior and stated that he would be inclined to punish Madueke in order to discipline the young player.
‘You think (Danny) Welbeck or Tom Cleverly or Nani are going to storm off the pitch and throw their dummy out?’ he said on Rio Ferdinand Presents. ’It’s disrespectful to your teammates as well.
‘It’s a young team. Who are the experienced players who are going to go in there and say, “Woah, we don’t accept that here”.
‘And I understand his thinking but at the same time, I don’t understand why you are doing that.’
Reacting to the incident, former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves added: ‘We would have never done it because Sir Alex (Ferguson) would have knocked your arse out.’
‘That’s where the manager comes in,’ Ferdinand hit back. ‘I think the manager protecting him is mad.
‘And that’s why I couldn’t be in there [as a manager] because I couldn’t come out and play the game where you say, “Yeah he was in the wrong but [he’s a good kid]”. Fined, that’s a two-week fine.’
Speaking after the game, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insisted he could understand Madueke’s frustration and had no problems with his reaction.
‘The problem is when you change a player, they are never happy,’ he said.
‘Probably the only way to be happy is after the Wolves game where he scored a hat-trick and we changed him, so he was happy. It’s not only about Noni, it’s about all the players.
‘It’s a good thing because they want to be there until the end. But in that moment, we thought in different ways, probably Pedro with Timber could be a little bit more aggressive – and also with Misha. So it was a tactical decision, no more than that.’