Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino may be losing faith in Mykhaylo Mudryk, with the winger being an unused substitute during his side’s 1-0 win over Fulham on Saturday afternoon. The Blues boss instead opted to bring on defender Ben Chilwell in the left-wing role, in a tactical switch that suggested Mudryk is slipping down the pecking order at the club.
Chelsea were, once again, rescued by Cole Palmer on Saturday. The England international. On the cusp of half-time, the ex-Manchester City star played a neat pass into the feet of Raheem Sterling, who attempted to turn into space before being brought down by Issa Diop.
Palmer converted from the spot, with Chelsea forced to dig in during the second half and hold onto their one-goal lead. Pochettino looked to his bench in the hope of sparking some life into his team during the latter stages of the match, with Noni Madueke, Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka and Alfie Gilchrist all coming on.
The subs weren’t truly able to make their mark, and the absence of Mudryk throughout the 90 minutes was notable. The Ukraine international hasn’t featured too regularly in recent matches and he was snubbed by his manager again in favour of alternative options with different skillsets against Fulham.
Chilwell was instead deployed brought on in left wing, having been tasked with learning that role during the early stages of the campaign and in pre-season. Mudryk was thus forced to watch on from the sidelines, despite having the pace and energy that could have proved useful on the counter-attack from the Blues.
The decision by Pochettino therefore throws Mudryk’s role at Stamford Bridge into question and it remains to be seen whether he is forced to play second fiddle for the remainder of the campaign.
Helping the ex-Shakhtar Donetsk star find form has been one of Pochettino’s biggest projects since his arrival at the club, and he has yet to achieve that goal. The former Spurs manager has tried numerous methods to try and help the 23-year-old perform to the level that earned him a £88.5million price tag.
Pochettino revealed previously that he has even been playing ‘crossbar challenge’ with Mudryk regularly to try and help the winger believe in himself. He explained: ” I like to play, ‘hitting the crossbar from outside the box’. He said to me today, ‘No, I’m not going to play anymore with you because you always win!’ I said, ‘Yes, because I have the belief! The balance is between belief and quality I know very well because I am 51 years old and you are still young’. ‘You still need to know yourself. You start to believe in yourself, then you start to believe in your quality because, if not, there is not a good balance between belief and quality. It is difficult but that is important.”
