The final whistle went at Villa Park and Noni Madueke could no longer contain his anger.
Chelsea had just been denied a late winner after referee Craig Pawson was told by the VAR, Chris Kavanagh, to go to the monitor and review Benoit Badiashile’s challenge on Diego Carlos in the build-up to Axel Disasi’s headed goal. Despite having a perfect view during live play and deciding not to take any action at the time, Pawson ruled it out.
Madueke’s frustration was clear as he approached Pawson at the end of the 2-2 draw and aimed some angry words in the match official’s direction. He was shown a yellow card and had to be dragged away by team-mates, as well as assistant manager Jesus Perez, to avoid further sanction.
This is the kind of incident upon which most head coaches frown. It was futile and arguably unprofessional. But, for Madueke, it could prove a positive. Maybe now, Chelsea supporters will discard their notion that he does not care.
A week earlier, Madueke’s behaviour in the immediate aftermath of their FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City had drawn focus among sections of the fanbase. Footage circulated on social media of Madueke laughing and joking with Manchester City’s Jack Grealish on the Wembley pitch. Veteran Chelsea defender Thiago Silva, in contrast, was seen in the foreground with tears streaking down his face.
Thiago Silva in tears after the game whilst Madueke is dying of laughter with Grealish 😭😭
pic.twitter.com/kIbehtFoUN— Footy Humour (@FootyHumour) April 20, 2024
Here was a serial winner upset at seeing a chance of claiming silverware gone versus a youngster appearing not to take the significance of the result seriously. To many, Madueke’s reaction was unforgivable. Coming so soon after he had argued with Nicolas Jackson and regular penalty taker Cole Palmer over who was going to take a spot kick during the 6-0 win over Everton, it was one faux pas too many.
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There were even demands for him to be sold.
Left-back Marc Cucurella certainly feels what happened at Wembley gave people the wrong idea. “It (the picture) was out of context,” he told The Athletic. “A lot of players have different personalities. For sure, Noni was not happy because he always loves to win. He wants to win every game in training. (In) every action he shows it.
“I understand why the fans are not happy because we lost and he maybe showed he was happy. But, for sure, he was not happy. We know him.”
While Madueke’s fit of pique at Aston Villa helped demonstrate he does ‘play for the shirt’, it was his performance on the right flank, particularly in the second half, which should truly win over the doubters.
Not only did the 21-year-old score the goal that thrust Chelsea back into the game — a neat guided finish with his left foot — it was his constant running down the right flank that caused Villa most of their problems. At no point did opposition left-back Lucas Digne know if the winger was intent upon heading to the byline or cutting inside into the box.
This was Madueke’s fifth start in a row, his best run in the side since joining from PSV Eindhoven for €33million (£28.3m; $35.3m) in January last year. There were three cameos as a substitute before that to take it to eight successive appearances overall. One of those games off the bench included a late introduction against Manchester United, which helped turn a 3-2 loss into a 4-3 victory — he won a penalty after a fine dribble into the area tricked Diogo Dalot into a clumsy challenge. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has taken a lot of convincing but is beginning to trust him a lot more.
Cucurella has no doubts about the England Under-21 international’s ability.
When asked if his display against Villa demonstrated he has plenty to offer Chelsea, he replied: “Yes, for sure. He is a really good player. He is a player I like a lot. He is good one-on-one and can score a lot of goals. This is the way he needs to stay. He is doing a good job and can help the team in this way. We all need to improve a lot because we play for Chelsea and we need to win every game. But we are very happy with Noni.
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“He helps the team, but he has to stay at this level.”
Madueke is not the only Chelsea player struggling for consistency as well as popularity. In some ways, he has a similar status to Jackson. Theirs is raw talent that can shine one minute, then underwhelm the next.
A return of seven goals and two assists from 29 appearances this season, a goal involvement every four matches, is respectable. The number looks even better when taking into account his minutes on the pitch — 1,234 this season (not including added time). That is a goal contribution every 137 minutes.
His work-rate defensively definitely needs to improve. Trevoh Chalobah became the latest Chelsea right-back left isolated too often by Madueke due to the winger’s failure to track back. But that recognition will come. If Madueke did not want to succeed at Chelsea, he would not use some of his time off to work on his game with personal skills coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst. His commitment to improvement is clear.
Former Chelsea and England manager Glenn Hoddle watched his display against Aston Villa while covering the game for TNT Sport. “I thought he was brilliant,” Hoddle said. “In the second half, he had the full-back on toast. If I’m the manager I’m saying to him: ‘You have shown us what you can do, you can do that time and time again’.”
If Madueke steps up at Stamford Bridge on Thursday against former club Tottenham, the team Chelsea fans want to beat more than any other, then he really will be held in much higher esteem.
(Top photo: James Baylis – AMA/Getty Images)