Troy Deeney has a theory on why Chelsea attacker Mykhailo Mudryk is struggling so much right now.
He’s pretty sure that the 22-year-old winger is trying too hard to impress, which is having a negative impact on his performances.
In fairness, the Ukraine international has looked really positive in the last few games. There’s no doubt a run of starts under Mauricio Pochettino is helping his confidence.
However, there’s no hiding from the fact that he’s scored zero goals in his first 23 Chelsea appearances.
Mykhailo Mudryk will hope he’s now turning a corner in his Blues career, but that first goal for the club can’t come soon enough.
Former Premier League striker Troy Deeney has noticed Chelsea’s £89million star (BBC)
“Mykhailo Mudryk looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders at Chelsea,” Deeney told The Sun.
“So it was nice to hear that his boss Mauricio Pochettino has spotted this and is working on changing that, by challenging him to a friendly game of crossbar challenge in training.
“What Poch is trying to do is loosen a player up who right now is so tense and rigid in everything he does on and off the pitch.
“He clearly feels Mudryk is trying too hard, putting too much pressure on himself and is being too serious with his own game and his own failings or mistakes.
“He wants to succeed so bad that he probably wants it too much. The tension builds and he isn’t free, mentally or physically, and that is showing in lacklustre performances.
“I have no doubt Poch will have seen things in training, like his pace, his close control, his finishing, and think: ‘Why isn’t he doing this in games?
“So, he is trying to be a bit more personable.”
Hopefully, it’s a matter of time before everything clicks for him in Chelsea colours becaue all the raw ingredients are there.
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