Chelsea caretaker manager Frank Lampard said winger Mykhailo Mudryk looked dangerous on a few occasions in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton but it was not often enough.
Brighton played a high defensive line at Stamford Bridge and it worked really well as shown by their possession advantage and their goalscoring chances.
For Chelsea, it could have been a good opportunity to exploit the space behind the Brighton defenders using Mudryk‘s pace, in particular.
The former Shakhtar Donetsk ace still registered an assist, thanks to Conor Gallagher’s deflected shot, but overall, he struggled to get involved.
“Misha had these moments where he looked a real threat,” the manager told Chelsea TV when speaking about the Ukraine international after the game.
“We need to try to find ways of getting that more regularly with him.
“I like to work with him [more] as well because you have to understand he’s a new player and not that long into the league, it’s a real raw talent.
“[It’s about] how we can get that into the team.”
Mudryk had just 33 touches throughout the game, while for comparison, Conor Gallagher had 62.
Gallagher played deeper, obviously, but as Lampard pointed out, Chelsea have to allow players like Mudryk more time on the ball if they were to solve their goalscoring problems.
For now, it remains unclear whether Mudryk’s promising display is enough to secure a starting spot against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
But if Real Madrid are going to play with high pressing again, it could be another good opportunity to deploy Mudryk.
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