Chelsea’s Mykhailo Mudryk needs to stop dropping so deep in games and will be far more effective higher up the pitch.
That is according to ESPN pundit Mario Melchiot.
Mykhailo Mudryk, who’s struggling for starts this year, made a huge impact off the bench on Monday night by scoring the winning goal in Chelsea’s 3-2 league win over Newcastle United.
The 23-year-old attacker netted a fantastic individual goal, his sixth of the season in 29 appearances.
Unfortunately, the Ukraine international is still subject to some criticism for failing to live up to his mega £89m price tag (BBC).
Mario Melchiot has delivered his verdict on Chelsea’s Mudryk and urged him to alter his game by playing in more advanced areas.
“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,” Melchiot told ESPN.
“…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?”
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Mykhailo Mudryk instruction
Mudryk’s a left-winger by trade that usually plays for Chelsea out on the flank, albeit there’s times he drifts into a No 10 position.
Overall, we agree with the advice that Mudryk has to be more involved in the final third.
He’s already got the kind of pace and dribbling opposition defenders hate, so it’s about getting him into as many forward positions as possible. It’s then on the player to bring the right end product.
BBC data records that Mudryk’s only attempted 17 shots all season, which supports the claim he needs to get up the pitch. In contrast, there’s been far more shots attempted by Chelsea teammates such as Cole Palmer (65, Nicolas Jackson (52) and Enzo Fernandez (50).
Speaking via talkSPORT this week, Danny Murphy explained that he’s still optimistic that Mudryk could still come good at Chelsea.
