10. Mykhaylo Mudryk

[NikkiCFC 7,950]

 

[NikkiCFC 7,950]

Slowly growing. Looked much better when moved on LW after Pulisic sub. 

[DDA 9,690]

Was baffled at him playing Central for soo long in today's game... the lad is a winger.... not a a striker/false 9.

 

 

 

 

 

[DH1988 1,273]

Slow and steady, glad to see him not so wasteful today with unnecessary skills.

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

What I liked about him were his passes and layoffs. He is not a mere eyes on the ground  speed merchant winger but has some playermaker abilities. So would not be totally wasted if we continue 343

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

On 11/03/2023 at 19:07, Magic Lamps said:

What I liked about him were his passes and layoffs. He is not a mere eyes on the ground  speed merchant winger but has some playermaker abilities. So would not be totally wasted if we continue 343

Not entirely sure how a LW is wasted playing LW

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

1 hour ago, YorkshireBlue said:

Not entirely sure how a LW is wasted playing LW

There is no LW in 343. The width is provided by the lwb, the left and right in the front 3 are offensive playmakers/AMs

[YorkshireBlue 3,122]

3 hours ago, Magic Lamps said:

There is no LW in 343. The width is provided by the lwb, the left and right in the front 3 are offensive playmakers/AMs

What? A 343 is LW ST RW.

Edited March 14, 2023 by YorkshireBlue

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

44 minutes ago, YorkshireBlue said:

What? A 343 is LW ST RW.

Not really. The way we play it we have a box midfield of 2 dms/cms and 2 AMs to help create overload in midfield and facilitate breaking lines. You can tell by Felix and Havertz often dropping deep yet centrally to pick up balls instead of running up and down the touch line like wingers would . 

Edited March 14, 2023 by Magic Lamps

[OneMoSalah 8,777]

14 hours ago, Magic Lamps said:

Not really. The way we play it we have a box midfield of 2 dms/cms and 2 AMs to help create overload in midfield and facilitate breaking lines. You can tell by Felix and Havertz often dropping deep yet centrally to pick up balls instead of running up and down the touch line like wingers would . 

But the way Mudryk played at Shakhtar he often came in off the left after starting there, cutting in and ended up centrally more often than not so its not as if he’s an out and out winger who would get wide and stay there.

I get the point with Felix & Havertz being more as 10s or second strikers but Havertz is often playing centrally as what is supposed to be the 9. Maybe suits them more as the front 3 is a bit narrower but can’t just say that it wont suit Mudryk. He’s definitely someone who’s strengths are coming inside as opposed to being out wide the whole game. Could give us nice variation as he can go both ways but he’s not looked very effective outside hugging the touchline and keeping the width for us when we have played a back 4, its more when he gets inside and closer to in and around the box.

But even then hes still got a lot to prove. I think he was a buy that wasn’t necessarily needed.

Edited March 15, 2023 by OneMoSalah

[Tomo 21,733]

On 14/03/2023 at 08:48, Magic Lamps said:

There is no LW in 343. The width is provided by the lwb, the left and right in the front 3 are offensive playmakers/AMs

Not necessarily. Chilwell likes to tuck in a lot in the buildup play so a "wide" winger could actually be the perfect compliment to him.

[robsblubot 3,504]

On 11/03/2023 at 12:07, Magic Lamps said:

What I liked about him were his passes and layoffs. He is not a mere eyes on the ground  speed merchant winger but has some playermaker abilities. So would not be totally wasted if we continue 343

Yup he does seem to have the vision and the ability to act on it. On the other hand, his game is WAY too unpolished for this level, so that's what he needs to work on, and do it quick.

I'm also unsure if he's capable of helping with high press -- does not seem like he's good at that, at least not right now. That can be improved on, but it requires a certain competitive demeanor.

[Vesper 28,801]

Chelsea tread familiar path by asking Mudryk to play outside his comfort zone

https://theathletic.com/4307223/2023/03/15/mudryk-Chelsea-havertz-lukaku/

If you love someone, should you try to change them?

It is a question that has been exercising relationship experts for decades. It is also one that has carried a peculiar relevance in recent years at Chelsea, where a series of high-profile, high-value, highly gifted attacking footballers have seen their dream moves to Stamford Bridge degrade into loveless marriages.

The experience of watching Mykhailo Mudryk battle his own apparent confusion as well as the Leicester City defence as an experimental No 9 on Saturday should have felt familiar to Chelsea supporters — not least because his positioning was in part designed to keep Kai Havertz, a unique attacking midfielder who has spent much of the last two years being deployed as a striker, in his best role in Graham Potter’s 3-4-2-1 system.

Until recently, Havertz had looked in increasing danger of being remembered as a disappointment at Chelsea, despite that Champions League winner in Porto in 2021; the image of him rounding Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson being slowly but steadily eroded by his more recent status as the point and the symbol of Europe’s most expensive toothless attack.

Chelsea bought Havertz at the height of Roman Abramovich’s opportunistic final spending spree in the pandemic summer transfer window of 2020 — mostly because they could, not because they had a clear plan for him as Bayer Leverkusen had done. Frank Lampard deployed him as a No 8, a No 10, a right-winger and a false nine. Thomas Tuchel seemed to understand his nature as “a hybrid player” better than most, but defaulted towards playing him as a No 9 for the second half of his tenure. Only now, under Graham Potter, is he once again being used in a role that maximises his qualities.

Not every Chelsea attacker is fortunate enough to get the chance to bring an unfulfilling story full circle. Just look at Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, the men Havertz effectively replaced as Tuchel’s preferred No 9.

Werner attracted the attention of Liverpool and Chelsea as a prolific scorer at RB Leipzig in a bespoke tactical role crafted for him by Julian Nagelsmann — most often playing behind and to the left of a focal point No 9, a position from which he could pick up the ball between the lines and run at goal, drift out towards the left flank, arrive late in the box or run in behind.

It quickly became clear Chelsea would not use him in the same way. Lampard deployed him either as a left-winger or as an alternative No 9 to Tammy Abraham in a 4-3-3. Tuchel initially fielded him much like Potter is using Raheem Sterling and Mudryk now, as the speedy striker tasked with stretching opposition defences and creating space between the lines for Havertz.

Tactics were far from the only factor in Werner disappointing at Stamford Bridge. His blistering speed in big spaces and technical limitations in small ones always made him a more natural fit for the more transitional style of Bundesliga matches than for navigating the low blocks fielded by many of Chelsea’s opponents in the Premier League.

But he also never felt entirely comfortable in the team. “The coach’s system of play didn’t suit me perfectly,” he said of Tuchel’s approach after returning to Leipzig.

Then there is Lukaku. Cast your minds back to that notorious unsanctioned interview with Sky Italia in December 2021 that effectively ended his relationship with Tuchel and set him on a path back to Inter Milan on loan — what was his main source of frustration?

“I’m not happy with the situation and that’s only natural,” he said. “The head coach has decided to play a different system and I mustn’t let up. I need to keep working hard and be professional. I’m not happy with the situation but I am a grafter. The coach can get me playing more but I have to respect the choices he makes. All I have to do is keep working and wait for my moment.”

Lukaku appeared to have taken his game to another level in the two seasons before rejoining Chelsea under Antonio Conte at Inter, thriving alongside Lautaro Martinez in a counter-attacking 3-5-2 system that afforded him plenty of opportunities to do what he did best: receive the ball on the run in transitions and wreck scrambling opponents with his rare blend of direct speed, skill and overwhelming physicality.

“Let me tell you why he’s so good,” Conte said of Lukaku during his own appearance as a pundit on Sky Italy three months earlier. “He’s a threat in the penalty area and you have to try and keep him away from it. But he’s also able to come into midfield and unleash his speed: he can be a focal point in the box but also break from midfield with his pace and quality.”

Chelsea instead tried to re-cast Lukaku as a lone striker at the point of Tuchel’s attack, tasking him with pressing from the front and frequently linking play with his back to goal in a slower, more patient possession style not attuned to picking out his more direct runs. The results that followed a deceptively bright debut against Arsenal were at best underwhelming and at worst catastrophic, epitomised by a seven-touch disasterclass against Crystal Palace.

There is almost always a significant period of adaptation for attacking players joining elite clubs. It is also true that the best attacking structures are rarely built around one star — unless that one star happens to be a Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or Kylian Mbappe-level talent. The ability to succeed in different contexts, and sometimes even different positions, is what can separate the attackers who have real staying power at the highest level from those who do not.

Sometimes that challenge can come from a change in circumstances; Christian Pulisic was signed to replace Eden Hazard on the left of Maurizio Sarri’s 4-3-3, only for the Italian to be gone by the time he actually arrived at Stamford Bridge. Hakim Ziyech was acquired to play on the opposite flank in the same formation for Lampard, but has spent much of his Chelsea career since trying to find a clear role in a 3-4-2-1.

Chelsea signing attacking players without a coherent idea of how best to use or fit them together is a tradition that dates back to the £50million signing of Fernando Torres from Liverpool in January 2011. Injury problems and a confidence crisis precipitated the Spaniard’s rapid decline at Stamford Bridge, but asking him to morph from the transition terror latching on to Steven Gerrard through balls into Didier Drogba’s target man successor hardly helped.

Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are adamant that they will not follow Abramovich’s scattergun approach to recruitment and squad building. Potter’s recent return to 3-4-2-1, however, poses similar questions about their January transfer business. Noni Madueke at least played as a No 10 for much of his youth career in England before switching to the right flank at PSV Eindhoven, but Mudryk is as natural a modern winger as they come. Does either fit cleanly into this system?

Perhaps the long-term outcome is that Potter will have a high-end chameleon of a squad capable of matching his tactical versatility, fielding different combinations of personnel in very different formations depending on the nature of the opponent, with no drop-off in performance. Or perhaps it will simply be incumbent upon every member of the squad to adapt positionally and tactically to a more consistent, clearly defined approach.

Mudryk already appears to be in this situation as he navigates a mid-season adaptation to a new team in a new country. Potter offered some public words of encouragement after the Leicester win. “We’re positive about him,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “We’re positive about the future for him. But we need just to help them settle and help him understand what he needs to do to help us.”

Understanding what Mudryk needs to do to help Chelsea might well require him to provide different things from the qualities that first marked him out as special at Shakhtar Donetsk — but that would be nothing new at Stamford Bridge.

 

[Blues11 213]

Might be to thank for Potter getting the hook this early.

Still playing like a headless chicken with no awareness. Easy tap in for Havertz if he passes and terrible shot on goal when he had loads of space with the keeper not able to challenge him in time. 

In the prem you're going to need some technical qualities, not just speed....Not sure he has enough to warrant the price tag. 

 

 

[lucio 5,418]

he'll be ballin under Nagelsmann

[robsblubot 3,504]

Not going to lie, he's been shit so far.

This is the time, we fans, can't help all that much and it's up to the well-paid professionals at the club to ASSESS talent. Is it worthwhile to invest on him? does he have the potential?

If we are indeed a club in disarray, then the guys who scouted him have no connection with the guys doing ☝️ which would be a very big fucking problem.

Let's see what happens here.

Edited April 4, 2023 by robsblubot

[Cosmin 2,484]

1 hour ago, lucio said:

he'll be ballin under Nagelsmann

Yeah, just like Havertz and Werner were supposed to be ballin under Tuchel. 

It's too early to judge, but with some players you just feel that they don't have what it takes to become elite.

I know that people like to talk about Mudryk's work ethic, but I just cannot see it in him.

He seems way too shy to succeed. It's gonna be impossible for him to build up confidence, with the attitude that he has on the pitch.

My prediction is that he will flop. Just like with Potter, the board made a horrible mistake by signing him. 

Edited April 4, 2023 by Cosmin

[lucio 5,418]

2 hours ago, Cosmin said:

Yeah, just like Havertz and Werner were supposed to be ballin under Tuchel. 

It's too early to judge, but with some players you just feel that they don't have what it takes to become elite.

I know that people like to talk about Mudryk's work ethic, but I just cannot see it in him.

He seems way too shy to succeed. It's gonna be impossible for him to build up confidence, with the attitude that he has on the pitch.

My prediction is that he will flop. Just like with Potter, the board made a horrible mistake by signing him. 

They both did well in the CL under tuchel tbf