'Fantastic' Chelsea star is transformed as a leader claims Enzo Maresca

Maresca was given the chance to praise his captain, but he tended more to praise his intangibles than the way he played tonight:

“[Playing with James in midfield] depends a little bit on the game plan,” Maresca explained.

“I think today we needed a little bit more physicality in the middle. We expect them to play with Sarr, with Bentancur, with Palhinha. We didn’t expect them with four midfielders, because then Bergvall also played. So we needed a little bit more physicality in the middle.

“But it depends a little bit on the game plan. I think Reece is doing fantastic when he’s playing midfielder, he’s doing fantastic when he’s playing full-back, and he’s doing fantastic in terms of leadership with the players inside the changing room.”

Speaking of leadership, it was notable that James made the active decision to call his team together to go off the pitch together as a unit at half time. That was not the sort of thing we’d have been expecting him to do a couple of years ago.

In other news…

Moises Caicedo was a machine in the game, and his manager hailed his impact, claiming that Rodri was the only defensive midfielder in the world on his level.

Enzo Maresca wasn’t the only person praising Caicedo – Joao Pedro also waxed lyrical about the midfielder after another match-winning performance.