Chelsea must support Mudryk and stay positive after latest failure to fly against England
Just before he ceremoniously left the Wembley pitch in the 61st minute of England’s 2-0 comfortable win over Ukraine, it was clear beyond doubt that this would not be the day for Mykhailo Mudryk to really announce his arrival in English football .
The last of Mudryk’s two box touches of the evening had come barely a minute earlier; He only managed to intercept a sharp pass from Oleksandr Zinchenko from under his feet before slamming it straight down Declan Rice’s barrel to pocket the ball. Over the course of a game that flowed around him rather than through him, it was hard to imagine another, better opportunity that would come his way.
All told, there were 30 touches for Mudryk, a significant number of which were piled in his own half on Ukraine’s left as England pushed back their visitors. Gareth Southgate compounded the new Chelsea winger’s misery by basing his attacking game plan on overloading his side of the pitch, while Jordan Henderson intelligently backed up a wild Bukayo Saka.
Arsenal supporters will have been particularly pleased with England’s opening goal, which came from Saka as he effortlessly pushed the ball past Mudryk’s stunning defense and rolled in a cross that Harry Kane converted into his 55th international goal. Many of them have taken every opportunity to smack the Ukrainian over his slow start in life at Chelsea in retaliation for agreeing to move to Stamford Bridge in January, especially as Arsenal’s backup signing Leandro Trossard has had an immediate positive impact on their Premier had league title charge.
Chelsea fans can take heart from the fact that Mudryk isn’t the first gifted attacker at their club to be criticized for poor defense; Some may recall that Jose Mourinho denounced Eden Hazard for failing to pursue Atletico Madrid right-back Juanfran after being eliminated in the 2013/14 Champions League semifinals at Stamford Bridge. The Belgian responded by getting so good with the ball at foot that his weaknesses were more than worth countering without him.
Mudryk has the talent to follow a similar path, although it’s fair to say it has rarely flashed since his electric debut against Liverpool at Anfield in January and confidence now seems to be an issue.
Perhaps the most galling moment of his personal struggle yesterday came in first-half injury time: receiving the ball in the middle third with room to collect, his attempt to run towards Rice fizzled out with a timid step-over well before he reached the penalty area and Kane , who caught up with the slowing winger, simply took the ball away.
His has probably always been the most difficult adaptation of Chelsea’s eight winter signings. This lively display against Liverpool was particularly surprising given that it was Mudryk’s first competitive appearance in almost two months. It covered the cracks, not only for him but for the team he had joined; In the midst of a job-threatening crisis, young head coach Graham Potter was trying to find a coherent identity for a bloated team in flux.
The beginnings of that identity have been forming in recent weeks in a 3-4-2-1 formation that doesn’t include a natural position for Mudryk, further complicating the already predetermined jump in the Ukrainian league’s difficulty level.
Despite being eight months younger than Chelsea’s new £62million man, Saka has 6,000 more minutes of league football to his credit and has played them in the world’s toughest domestic competition. That one of the two is a cut gemstone and the other is still a diamond in the rough shouldn’t come as a surprise.
“Hopefully he can benefit from the time he’s had,” Potter said of Mudryk earlier this month. “It’s not easy for him to arrive in the middle of the pre-season (Shakhtar Donetsk has been on a winter break since November). Coming to a new country, new club, new league and hitting his max level… I know people pay attention to the fee but it doesn’t change the situation he’s in.
“We’re positive about him, we’re positive about the future for him. But we have to help him find his way around and help him understand what he needs to do to help us.”
Chelsea have no choice but to remain positive on Mudryk; The nature of his signing before Arsenal makes him a particularly important acquisition for new co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali and he is under contract at Stamford Bridge until the next decade. They also have no reason to be overly negative about a winger who lit up the Champions League group stage this season with Shakhtar against high-profile opponents like Real Madrid and RB Leipzig.
Understandably, Ukraine remains at the forefront of Mudryk’s mind; In an interview with UK broadcaster Sky Sports ahead of the England game, he revealed his parents are still in his war-torn homeland and he speaks to them every day. Both the man and the footballer will have to adjust to this new situation and the complicated nature of the situation he has left could make this aspect of his adjustment the most challenging of all.
Club-mate Ben Chilwell’s decision to wait for the Ukrainian players to thank their fans at Wembley after the final whistle before escorting Mudryk off the pitch was a small sign of sympathy at Chelsea.
He will need plenty of support over the coming months to weather this early turmoil and become the superstar he could be – especially with so many in north London and around the world looking to cheer on his failures.
(Photo above: Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)