London is Blue Dispatch #013

Need to Sync

Nico Jackson’s backheel dissected the space between two Ukrainians like the Dnieper. It went past a flailing Illia Zabarnyi and straight to Mykhailo Mudryk. Before Lloyd Kelly could even lift his foot to tackle, Misha’s afterburners came on; within half-a-second they had propelled him a yard beyond tackling range. Gallagher crashed the near post and Sterling waited centrally for a cutback, but Mudryk’s cross with his left was blasted at Gallagher’s hip. It cannoned off his thigh before harmlessly going over the crossbar. Gallagher’s expression was an infusion of exasperation and agony, while Sterling in the background was plain livid.

This is just one of many fragments you could use to piece together the enigma that is Mudryk. His first moment of magic in blue was similar – flashing past three Liverpool players with astounding agility, before an off-balance shot with his weaker left fizzled off target. His displays so far have left so much to the imagination that if Mudryk was a Saudi club, you would be inclined to name him Al-Most.

Late Bloomer

So, what is the issue with Misha? Let us start with the painfully obvious. At 22, around 100-odd days from his 23rd birthday, Mudryk accumulated 33 league starts in five seasons in Ukraine, playing 2,590 minutes. Conor Gallagher, a year and a month older, had 44 starts in his first season in the Championship alone; his 116 senior starts are almost thrice as many as the Ukrainian’s. Gallagher’s 9,855 senior league minutes make Mudryk’s 2,590 seem like an academy player’s tally after one good loan.

Pochettino’s benching of Mudryk through the first few games reflects this understanding. After the Bournemouth game, he stated that Mudryk “still needs to learn; the speed of the game is so fast… it's about understanding the game better, try to be more connected sometimes with the team.”

Those gaps in tactical education have been apparent since the beginning. Back in February vs. West Ham, his lack of defensive awareness/support repeatedly left the left side exposed in the first-half, with one of the mistakes resulting in Emerson’s equalizer. Seven starts from 15 games under three different managers implies that they have all been on the same page with their assessments. This is not a critique of Mudryk, just a reiteration that he requires time. Time though is counted in minutes, which, ironically, he’s struggling to get.

Present-Day Challenge

The challenge under Pochettino is far tougher for reasons beyond his control. At Shakhtar, his threat was amplified by the marauding leftback Mykola Matviyenko regularly offering support, stretching the pitch and ensuring Mudryk created a little more uncertainty in his fullback’s mind. With Poch persisting with Colwill at LB, Mudryk has been forced to run the channel in isolation – without the ability to exploit over/underlaps from a runner, without anyone giving his fullback additional headaches. Potter’s persistence with Cucurella offered similar issues.

Mudryk’s starting position is also much higher in a 4-2-3-1 than it was in Shakhtar’s 4-1-4-1. Some of his best on-ball moments, even in the Champions League against opponents like Real Madrid, came near the half-way line or from slightly deeper. Starting higher up has reduced the space he has to attack, while also amping up pressure and increasing the margin for error in his final ball.

All these factors obviously sway a young psyche. Hopeless shots from 30 yards, hastily crossing from behind the ball instead of taking half-a-second to get side-on are all signs as indicative (if not, more) of anxiety than poor form. Forget Mudryk’s tactical awareness, his defensive positioning and his other weaknesses – if a player can’t do his strengths right, then something else is going wrong.

Assimilating elements he does not have or know, like off-the-ball intelligence, reading the build up to press is a more medium/long term goal. This may sound like utterly bizarre advice to give to one of the Premier League’s fastest players, but Mudryk probably needs to slow down. Some of his best actions in a Chelsea shirt have radiated a certain degree of control – like the moment he slowed down mid-dribble, creating a little blank space of uncertainty in the Bournemouth defender, before supplying a sliced pass with the outside-of-the-boot into the box for Gallagher, who should have finished.

Too often Mudryk looks like a pianist who has never practiced with a metronome; an F1 driver determined to drive at full throttle at Monaco. This is understandable, as the 30 minutes he gets often exude the urgency to compensate for the 60 he regularly spends on the bench.

To earn his manager’s trust, he must weave discreet moments into spells, and the spells into 90-minute long charms. The regular stream of post-training gym reels leave little doubt that Mudryk is a dedicated individual in the relentless pursuit of athletic excellence. But the day he starts making those around him better is when he seals his spot in the XI. That starts with more self-belief, less haste; less me, more us. Perhaps even a little help from his manager in the form of a dynamic left back.