The Blues winger did not have the desired impact on this afternoon’s 3-1 loss to West Ham at the London Stadium
Mykhailo Mudryk was unable to produce any real quality as Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by West Ham
Chelsea winger Mykhailo Mudryk’s style of play has been questioned by Chelsea legend Ashley Cole after his lack of impact in the 3-1 loss against West Ham at the London Stadium this afternoon.
The Ukrainian international replaced injured midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka at half-time but failed to make any impact ahead of Ben Chilwell down the left-hand side throughout the second half.
It was the perfect start for the Hammers, who took the lead after just six minutes thanks to Nayef Aguerd’s header from a James Ward-Prowse corner but Chukwuemeka managed to find a half-yard of space with some fancy footwork before a fantastic curling effort from inside the box found the corner to level the score after 28 minutes.
Raheem Sterling used his pace to get behind the hosts’ defence more than once in the first half and saw his mazy run be enough to draw a penalty out of Thomas Soucek, who chopped him down just before halftime.
However Blues midfielder Enzo Fernandez saw his spot-kick saved by Alphonse Areola, who dived down to his right and palmed the ball away leaving Mauricio Pochettino’s side rueing their chances in what had been a dominant first half.
In the second half, it went from bad to worse for the Blues as Michail Antonio got his first goal of the season eight minutes after the break before a horror cameo from marquee summer signing Moises Caicedo saw him give away a penalty in added time, which Lucas Paqueta dispatched with ease.
After the match, Blues supporters, many of whom that called for Mudryk to start the game, shared their anger at his performance with some claiming they’d ‘lost their patience’ following his lack of production from last season.
Others called one of his efforts on goal ‘absolutely shambolic’, with a third saying they’re ‘slightly concerned’ by the star’s performance on the afternoon.
And Chelsea legend Cole highlighted those feelings when he claimed that he wasn’t sure if Mudryk gets into the best position to get shots on goal and make up for lost goals due to injured players.
“I really feel it is going to be a problem, in terms of goals,” he admitted on Sky Sports after the game. “Whether [Christopher] Nkunku comes back quicker than we think I don’t know, I think he’s a big loss.
“Then you are looking at other players around, Mudryk sometimes is a little bit too far away from the game. Is he arriving in the box enough?
“When we were there, that is what you want – penetration and runs in behind that cause defences problems.”
Soucre: football.london
