Mason Mount is only 21, has played 33 of Chelsea’s 34 matches this season and has been carrying injuries for four months – give him a break
https://theathletic.com/1553056/2020/01/23/chelsea-mason-mount-minutes-rest-midfield-england/?source=shared-article
There are many Chelsea players who have good reason to look forward to the winter break next month but Mason Mount needs it more than most.
Mount is in his first full season at the club he adores and only turned 21 recently, yet has increasingly found himself one of the scapegoats for Chelsea’s ailing form.
Just as fellow academy graduate Callum Hudson-Odoi has been targeted on social media, an issue discussed by The Athletic last month, Mount also finds himself the subject of similarly negative scrutiny on a weekly basis.
Search his name on Twitter and you are instantly met with an array of abusive and critical comments from many members of Chelsea’s global fanbase.
Here are two examples from the past few days:
“Leave my club. Probably the most useless player I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching. You are out of your depth and stealing millions for your worthless and disgraceful performances.”
“Mason Mount is the most limited number 10 I’ve ever seen. Lampard deserves to be sacked just for giving him his debut let alone playing him week in week out.”
Of course seeing this kind of vitriol is commonplace for players at all clubs following a bad result. It is the nature of the beast, however it is still surprising Mount is getting so much, so soon when you consider this is an academy graduate who was only given a senior debut back in August.
It has been a remarkable turn of events for the England international, who was being heralded by all and sundry at Stamford Bridge earlier in the campaign. A run of four goals and two assists in his first 10 Premier League games for Chelsea, having impressed in the previous two years on loan at Vitesse Arnhem and Derby respectively, rightly generated a lot of praise and excitement.
It was always going to be an almost impossible task to sustain such a streak, but a return of one goal and one assist from the last 14 appearances in the top flight (or 19 games in all competitions) is obviously not good enough.
While the level of outcry seems over the top, it is understandable why Mount’s drop in end product has provided cause for concern.
There have been mitigating factors in the relative demise though. The Athletic understands Mount has been playing with various knocks and injury problems over the past four months. This isn’t that unusual. Given the physical demands of the sport, professionals struggle to be 100 per cent fit all of the time. But Mount has been on the receiving end of some tough tackles earlier in the season that he is still feeling the effects of now.
For example, Valencia midfielder Francis Coquelin ended his first Champions League game in September early with a terrible foul on his right ankle.
He confounded expectations by being passed fit to face Liverpool in the following fixture, although with the benefit of hindsight, sources now suggest Mount would have been better off being rested.
Mount sustained a painful blow to the very same ankle, which also forced him to come off, in the next home Champions League contest against Ajax a few months later. Yet once again he started the following weekend.
While the ankle injuries didn’t result in missed time, the numbers suggest that they have taken a physical toll. His shots per game in the Premier League plummeted from 2.4 per game prior to the Valencia injury to just 1.5 after, and 1.1 since the game against Ajax on November 5.
The same comparison reveals that his chances created per game have also dipped from 2.2 to 1.4, and he is running with the ball half as much — 3.2 dribbles per game down to 1.6.
General fatigue is another factor. It is to Mount’s credit that his desire to impress and not let Lampard down means he has played in more Premier League games than any Chelsea outfield player. He has started 21 of their 24 matches, with three outings as a substitute.
In fact he has only missed one of Chelsea’s 34 matches in all competitions — when he was left on the bench for the Carabao Cup victory over Grimsby Town in September.
It does raise questions over Lampard’s handling of him. Even in the recent FA Cup victory over Nottingham Forest, a chance to give Mount a rest was ignored. Chelsea were leading 2-0 with 21 minutes to go and yet Mount was still brought on for an unnecessary cameo.
Mount took steps to improve his conditioning last summer, including hiring a personal chef to help his diet. But his high workload is concerning for a young player whose game is founded on hard, energetic running with and without the ball.
Last season at Derby, who were also coached by Lampard, he experienced a first year of senior football without a winter break. On January 26, he limped out of an FA Cup fourth-round victory over Accrington Stanley with what Lampard initially described as hamstring tightness. He did not play again until March 30.
Derby struggled badly in Mount’s absence, only reviving their Championship play-off charge once he returned. He has become as important to the Chelsea team Lampard is building, particularly in light of the fact that Ruben Loftus-Cheek remains a long way off a first-team return and Ross Barkley has failed to earn regular playing time.
Mount played 3,321 minutes in the Championship last season. He has already clocked 2,222 in all competitions for Chelsea, as well as 119 for England.
If he continues to feature regularly in the Premier League and in next month’s Champions League round of 16 tie against Bayern Munich, this will become the most physically taxing campaign of his young career by some distance.
Speaking to Sky Sports before the trip to Newcastle, Lampard did seem aware that the junior talent in general might be feeling the pace.
With Mount clearly one of the players he was referring to, he said: “It’s tough and it will be a tester for the younger players. I’m not an advocate for ‘the players get tired’, they are professional and that’s how it has to be. But mentally, to jump from competition to competition after being in the Championship last year or not getting many games to playing regularly, there are different stresses and strains.
“They have to deal with that, I have to help them deal with that, their team-mates have to help them deal with that.”
The fiercest critics should also bear in mind that while Mount has been selected frequently, his role has regularly changed so no wonder form has become a bit more inconsistent.
Mount has found himself at left wing, the left of a three-man midfield, in the No 10 role and even on the right at times. Not exactly conducive to building rhythm or understanding.
Only last month, Mount put in arguably his best display of the season when Chelsea won at Tottenham 2-0. On that day Lampard used him as an attacking option on the left in a 3-4-3 formation and he combined very effectively with Willian and Tammy Abraham.
Observers noted how much he benefited from receiving quick ball from Chelsea’s midfield — it was a day when the more pedestrian Jorginho started on the bench.
Another more promising display recently was in the 3-0 triumph over Burnley. Like the Spurs contest, Chelsea had a full week to prepare and Mount spoke excitedly afterwards of how the lengthy preparations at training had helped.
But with Chelsea’s grip on fourth spot looking unconvincing after a run of six defeats in 12 Premier League matches, Mount is being judged as harshly — if not more so — as the more experienced and expensive team-mates around him.
Despite having a Twitter account, it is believed he has been advised by those closest to him to stay away from reading the level of abuse on the platform.
One source of inspiration has actually come from a former influential member of the dressing room. Former captain John Terry may now be plying his trade as assistant manager Aston Villa, who have pressures of their own to stay in the division, but The Athletic has learned he has been sending Mount words of encouragement and advice throughout the season via text messages.
As far as Chelsea’s schedule next month is concerned, they face Manchester United 16 days after taking on Leicester City on February 1.
Lampard will not be giving his squad the whole period off as there is an opportunity to benefit from a solid week of training before the United game but it looks like players will be granted up to six days away from their Cobham base and Mount is planning to travel abroad in search of some sunshine, plus some much needed peace and quiet.
It might give others the opportunity to realise they should give him a bit of a break too.
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