The Blues continue to struggle despite their best efforts to demonstrate improvement throughout the Boehly-Clearlake era.
Mykhailo Mudryk’s first-team involvement has come with a caution from Mauricio Pochettino, who also defended Chelsea’s point total this season.
After 22 games, Chelsea has 31 points in the Premier League, which puts them in tenth place—exactly the same spot they held during Graham Potter’s tenure.
After losing 4-1 away to table-toppers Liverpool in midweek, the Argentine will look to upset Wolves on Sunday afternoon in an effort to get things back on track.
In the meantime, Mudryk has fallen in the wide positions pecking order after spending £88.5 million to join Chelsea.
When asked why the Ukrainian is getting less and less attention, Pochettino responded, “He began the semi-final match against Middlesbrough, which is one of the most crucial games for us.
Sure, he’s on the bench right now. See, it all comes down to form during the season—whether you maintain your form and perform at your highest level each and every training session. We are a meritocracy as a coaching staff, and we will play with the guys who will give it their all on the field.
“I believe he is a young man who came here a year ago. We are aware of the background to [the transfer]. He needs to get better, of course. Though it’s a [team] game rather than tennis, he has incredible quality and promise.
“Some of our players have group performances to complete. It’s incredible to see him, but afterward, you have to adjust and play for the team; he has to adjust, and that takes time.”
The Chelsea manager also gave an explanation for why, given the number of new players that have joined the team, he feels his team cannot be compared to the squad from the previous campaign.
“I wasn’t here last season,” he remarked. There are perhaps 15 or 16 players on the team who are new this season. How are you able to compare?”
“If you compare with this cup and another cup, that is completely different, so how can you compare?” Pointing to two separate water bottles on the table, Pochettino said. “Last season was different from this one, but perhaps you could compare if you had the same cups.
“There are a lot of [different players] here, starting with the two keepers who won the Champions League last season—Kepa and [Edouard] Mendy. In addition, we have two young keepers who came from other clubs—one who wasn’t playing at Brighton in the past few months and the other from the Major League Soccer.
“Only you [people on the outside] can put it into context – you cannot ask me to compare this season with last season, whether it means today we are not in the position we should be or last season they didn’t perform – the players who three years ago won the Champions League.”
Regarding the reason behind the costly squad’s inability to perform, he continued, “We need to quit making this excuse about the money.”
“Obviously, we are investing in players who we think will be at the level we expect them to be for the upcoming years in order to construct a team for the future.
“At this point, building a team doesn’t require a magic touch; rather, we need to put everything in perspective and bring everything together.
“It is easy to say, ‘Oh we spent money or we have amazing names,’ but when you build a team with 16 or 17 new players, you all need to ask yourselves to look at all the circumstances from the beginning.”
“After seven months, is Nkunku still performing the way we want? No, why not? because we’re not that adept at player management? [no] The situation is the reason for my extreme calmness and relaxation.”
“At this stage, assembling a team doesn’t call for a magic touch; instead, we just need to bring everything together and put everything in perspective.
“It is easy to say, ‘Oh we spent money or we have amazing names,’ but when you build a team with 16 or 17 new players, you all need to ask yourselves to look at all the circumstances from the beginning.”
“Is Nkunku still performing the way we want him to after seven months? No, why not? because our skills at managing players are lacking? [no] My exceptional tranquility and ease are a result of the scenario.”
