Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged that he was delighted with how Noni Madueke expressed his frustration in helping Chelsea record a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
Despite the absence of Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling through suspension, Pochettino opted against handing Madueke what would have been just a second Premier League start of the season.
However, having been introduced with 20 minutes remaining, the winger was involved in the match-winning moment, securing a penalty for his team that was advised by VAR and calming converting the aforementioned spot kick in the 89th minute.
Chelsea successfully came through eight minutes of stoppage time to earn a much-needed victory, one that keeps them in 10th position in the standings.
Madueke still has just 150 minutes of top-flight football to his name for 2023-24, but he is now in line to be handed more opportunities by a head coach that he has seemingly struggled to win over.
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Pochettino recently suggested that the England Under-21 international 'needed to improve his level', and Madueke was a natural topic for conversation at the post-match press conference.
While Pochettino stressed that Madueke cannot become complacent, the Argentine admitted that he liked to see the playmaker show that "he was upset" through such a productive performance.
As quoted by football.london, Pochettino said: "The difference is he did what we needed in this moment.
"Go to play and I like it showed that he was upset with me and disappointed with me because he didn't play too much, also because of his injury. But he thinks yes, now I'm going to show the coach that I can trust in myself."
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He added: "They need to show me that I can trust. The mentality is really important, more so in the Premier League. You can't only play with quality. Of course, you need quality but if you don't have the right mentality or the right approach in every single day, in training and then the games, it is difficult to perform.
"When you have a young team, it's about to realise, in the way you can perform, if you go there, don't think and you are ready to fight for yourself and therefore the team. It was so nice to receive this energy during the game of who we decided to include on the pitch. And then at the end of the game."
With Palmer and Sterling available again and Christopher Nkunku having come through an hour against Palace, Pochettino now has an increasing number of attacking options at his disposal.
Chelsea next make the trip to Luton Town as soon as Saturday lunchtime, with the expectation being that some players will be rotated for the third game in less than a week.
Darren Plant
