Former Chelsea star William Gallas has slammed Noni Madueke and has urged Mauricio Pochettino to drop him for Tuesday’s clash against Arsenal.
Gallas has been left furious at Madueke for what he did after the Blues’ FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City on Saturday.
The west Londoners return to action against Arsenal at the Emirates and Gallas is hoping that Pochettino will kick Madueke out of the squad entirely.
‘Behind Thiago Silva, [he] was joking with Jack Grealish,’ Gallas told Lord Ping when quizzed about Madueke’s actions at Wembley this weekend.
‘Someone needs to explain to me how Madueke can behave like this. Someone tell me why Madueke was smiling.
‘You’ve just lost the semi-final. You don’t share a joke with your friend on the pitch after you’ve just lost a game of this magnitude
‘I was shocked by Madueke’s reaction. It upsets me a lot. The Madueke incident just shows you that this Chelsea team lacks maturity.
‘I’m sorry. I don’t understand it. You’ve just lost your last chance of a trophy and you’re smiling? Don’t you care?
‘Thiago is a 39-year-old – he’s won it all – and he’s in tears. Then you see a young boy who is 22 and he’s making a joke!
‘It’s difficult for me to understand [how a player can do this]. Noni Madueke should know better.
‘I don’t know what is going to happen with Noni Madueke after this. I think the club and the manager have to stand up and take the responsibility and discipline the player.
‘I’m sorry. He shouldn’t be in the squad for the Arsenal game. There are so many cameras that film absolutely everything on the pitch.
‘After losing a semi-final, it was not the time to have a joke with your friend on the pitch. I’m sorry. Noni Madueke has already faced heavy criticism from Chelsea fans this season for his attempts to take penalties off Cole Palmer.
Chelsea supporters were furious with the winger’s reaction after the FA Cup defeat to Man City with one fan posting on X: ‘Look at Madueke. Silva is literally in tears because he’s hurt and you’re sat there laughing.
‘The fans travelled to watch you play, you put in an awful performance & you think it’s a good time to laugh after missing out on an FA Cup final? Get out of our club.’
Another Chelsea fan posted: ‘I’m seething at this video. Madueke was pushing his own teammates last game out of ‘passion’ for wanting to take a penalty.
‘Now he’s laughing just 30 seconds after a semi final defeat. Joke of a player.’
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‘This isn’t about older generations or new generations of players and the differences between them. There will be a lot of people who were offended by his actions, it won’t just be me.
‘Thiago Silva has won everything! This was one of the few trophies he hasn’t won, and he wanted to win it. That is why he was so upset.
‘Madueke hasn’t won many trophies in his career and he is smiling because of a joke with Grealish. It shows the difference in mentality between Thiago Silva and Madueke – one has the warrior mentality and the other less so.’
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