Joao Pedro put in a really disappointing showing against Sunderland at the weekend, the latest in a pretty disappointing run for him. It was bad enough that his form became a talking point in today’s press conference.
Maresca defends struggling striker
Asked if persistent injury issues were the Brazilian’s issue, Maresca admitted they were at least part of it:
“For sure the physical part is important. When you are not 100%, it’s difficult to compete, especially in this league. But I think Joao is not a problem at all. He’s going to score goals with us. He’s going to give us assists, knowing that Joao Pedro is not a No.9 that is going to score 20 goals each year.
“It’s not Joao, he’s a fantastic player, he’s going to score goals for us, he’s going to give us assists. But it’s a different kind of nine, like this kind of nine that they score 20-25 goals each year like Lewandowski, Mbappe or Haaland. This is a different kind of No.9.”
Hmm. We’re not sure about these quotes at all. We understand that JP is built more as a support striker than a pure goalscorer, but this really feels like lowering standards. Even a player focused on team play and link up should be aiming for 20 goals. That’s what we’re going to need, unless Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho are suddenly going to be putting up Mo Salah numbers.
This feels like letting him off the hook.
In other news…
Chelsea are expected to make major changes for the game tomorrow, with Joao Pedro one of the most likely to miss out while he tries to recover from his persistent injury problems.
The biggest piece of team news from the presser was all about JP’s striker partner, Liam Delap, the striker who has been out for 2 months but is now fit to play some minutes. Just don’t expect a Premier League start anytime soon.
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