Benoit Badiashile stepped up to take Chelsea’s pre-match press conference today ahead of the game against Noah in the UEFA Europa Conference League, and he picked up on one of the topics that his boss Enzo Maresca had been asked about in the previous section of the presser.
Maresca had had to answer a lot of questions about Mykhailo Mudryk – his form, his personality, his lack of minutes, and Badiashile was subsequently asked to give a player’s view on the mysterious talent who has so far struggled since arriving almost 2 years ago.
You can see the defender speaking in the clip embedded here, with his answers on Mudryk coming after 22 minutes:
Badiashile on Mudryk in training and beyond
“Misha is a really good player, he is a good person as well. We try to help him to give his best during every game.”
Pressed for further details on what made him hard to defend against, Badiashile didn’t have to think for long:
“He is fast. Misha is fast, so sometimes it’s hard to catch him,” the Frenchman replied with a grin.
The winger’s electric speed is the first thing that anyone notices him, it’s just disappointing how rarely he seems able to use such an exceptional weapon. The game that he and Badiashile played a week ago against Newcastle was a prime example. Mudryk played the full 90, up against some pretty slow and shaky defenders, yet didn’t do nearly the sort of damage you’d expect.
If only he could bring his training form into games a little more often, we might be onto something. Maresca seems to be doing intensive individual work with the winger, and he will get plenty of minutes in games like tomorrows’. Hopefully it all adds up to improved performances.
