Mario Melchiot believes that Mykhailo Mudryk needs to stop dropping so deep in games.
The 23 year old has struggled to establish himself in Mauricio Pochettino’s team this season but did have a huge impact from the bench against Newcastle on Monday night scoring a brilliant solo goal.
That strike took his tally to six goals from 29 appearances in all competitions this season but we are still yet to see the best of him.
It’s fair to say Mudryk’s career at Stamford Bridge has yet to take off but he has shown glimpses of his quality this season and there is absolutely a player in there.
Former Blue Melchiot has urged Mudryk to play higher up the pitch and speaking to ESPN said: “Mudryk sometimes picks the ball up and he goes back that far to pick it up he has to run 40 yards before he can take someone on.”
“If the guy goes really deep and picks it up, it’s the easiest job he’s giving the defenders. He has to work on that. Where do I pick up the ball to become more dangerous?”
It’s obvious that Mudryk still needs a lot of coaching to improve his game but the raw attributes are there and you feel Pochettino just needs to give him a run of games to help build his confidence.
Mudryk will be hoping his goal scoring cameo from the bench on Monday night will be enough to see him put in the starting XI against Leicester on Sunday.
Melchiot is obviously correct in identifying this habit of Mudryk’s and he’s spot on that it needs to be addressed/corrected, but what needs to be said more broadly is that Mudryk HAS NO CLUE how to move off the ball. This is the reason he drops deep to pick up the ball directly in the first place—because he has NO sense as to how to time his runs so that his teammates will play him. His only alternative is to constantly check to it. It baffled me at first why, with his prodigious speed, he so rarely ran in behind the defence. But then I started watching his movement off the ball and it became clear that he simply isn’t reading the game well—IF AT ALL! For example, he has no clue about how to move out of a space in order to attack it when the timing is right and your teammate is ready to play you into it. It’s like watching the inverse of Erling Haaland (who’s is one of the world’s best at checking away before arriving at just the right moment in the area where he wants to receive the ball). Hopefully the Chelsea staff have Mudryk studying a lot of film because he’ll never unlock his abilities until he can read the game better!