Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has admitted that he expected better leadership from captain Reece James.
The full-back made his long-awaited return from a hamstring injury in last Sunday's 2-1 Premier League away defeat against Liverpool.
After being handed a surprise start at Anfield, James played 53 minutes before he was replaced as part of a triple substitution.
Chelsea were reluctant to take too many risks with his return, and they are expected to exercise caution with James in the coming weeks as he looks to build up his match fitness.
© Imago
Maresca challenges James to show more leadership
While Chelsea is pleased to have James available for selection, Maresca has admitted that he expected more from the club captain in terms of leadership.
The Chelsea head coach also revealed that he has spoken to the skipper in private as he looks to create leaders in the dressing room.
"I spoke with him and I expected from him more in terms of leadership, inside the changing room and for different kinds of things," Maresca told reporters ahead of Sunday's meeting with Newcastle United.
"He is on the way, he is doing well, he is progressing, but from Reece, I expected more also in terms of leadership.
"Most of the time when they are captain, they think that because they are captain they have more. 'Because I am the captain, I expect that you give me more.' For me, because you are the captain you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest.
"And sometimes: 'OK, I am the captain, I can give less.' No. He is one of the captains and I expected from him, and his team-mates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general."
© Imago
Who does Maresca view as potential leaders?
While Maresca has bemoaned Chelsea's lack of leaders, he has claimed that Tosin Adarabioyo, Levi Colwill and Marc Cucurella all have the attributes to be key figures in the dressing room.
Maresca added: "When you don't have a proper leader, you need to build that. I think we don't have a proper leader.
"Probably Tosin is one of the guys that is. So the rest, we need to build them. Reece is on the way but he is not there, so he needs to make an effort in that one.
"The one that is doing fantastic in this kind of thing is Levi. Levi probably at the beginning of the season was not a leader but now you can see that he is one of the guys that is always speaking. We need to build that. Marc Cucurella is one of the guys. We need more and more."
Maresca is currently preparing his side for back-to-back games against Newcastle, with the two sides set to face off in Sunday's Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge, before they go head-to-head in Wednesday's EFL Cup tie at St. James' Park.
No Data Analysis info
