“I felt sorry for him” – Pundit sorry for Chelsea star after bizarre Pochettino decision on player
TalkSPORT’s Jason Cundy has explained why he feels bad Chelsea winger Mykhaylo Mudryk after a “strange” decision by manager Mauricio Pochettino.
It’s safe to say there have been better days at Stamford Bridge. European champions just two years ago, the fortunes of Chelsea have dramatically transformed for the worse despite serial-spending and a major squad overhaul.
In the summer transfer window, they spent £397 million in total on the signings of Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi, Nicolas Jackson, Lesley Ugochukwu, Robert Sanchez, Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, Djordje Petrovic, Angelo and Deivid Washington.
While the west Londoners have had to cope with mounting injury problems, you could argue that they should be fairing far, far better.
Looking to challenge for a Premier League top four place and potentially silverware, Chelsea have dropped points in four of their opening five games.
Losing to both West Ham and Nottingham Forest, their only win of the season has come against newly-promoted Luton Town. Pochettino’s men were also booed off against Bournemouth in a 0-0 draw at the weekend, but Chelsea’s new manager is adamant the wins will come.
“I think the fans know if you invest the type of money, there is expectation,” said Pochettino. “What I can tell the fans is the circumstance, I cannot change the reality. With all of the squad fit we can compete, we don’t have all of the squad available, what can we do?
“For me, nothing to say, the fans can do this. Twelve injured today, three of four youngs guys, two keepers on the bench, I am going to cry, I am going to complain, to who? I have to accept this. That is the circumstance and we need to accept.
“We have our opinion, our reality. I think we are doing good things, more than people can expect but I told you before the season, Chelsea is about the win.”
Their latest game at Bournemouth has attracted criticism from sections of the media, like former Chelsea and Spurs star Cundy, who moved to question a “strange” call from Pochettino which hamstrung Mudryk.
He says playing Levi Colwill at left-back nullified any overlapping threat which the Ukrainian would have benefited from. Indeed, he wonders why Ben Chilwell wasn’t deployed to provide that attacking edge.
“There’s a couple of strange things that are going on. He’s playing Levi Colwill left-back and he had [Ben] Chilwell on the bench. I don’t know whether Chilwell had a knock,” Cundy told talkSPORT.
“Chilwell naturally gives you that balance, he’s an attacking full-back. I felt we were lopsided at the weekend [against Bournemouth].
“Down our left, there was just nothing. I felt a bit for [Mykhailo] Mudryk because there’s no back-up, nobody is overlapping him.”