Simon Johnson was at last night’s demolition of FC Noah by Chelsea, and while it was pretty difficult to conclude anything about a second team beating a 7 year old side from Armenia, one could draw some interesting conclusions about individual players.
Johnson picked out Mykhailo Mudryk who scored a superb goal as part of a dangerous performance. This competition is starting to see the best of the winger – he also shone against Panathinaikos, and will get plenty more chances against weaker teams to show what he can do.
In the stadium the reaction to the goal was immense, and that wasn’t just because it was such a beauty. Johnson reckons that the fans have decided to take the inconsistent Ukraine star under their wing, rather than making him a figure of hate.
Mudryk falls on the right side of the line
There are two very distinct camps, as Johnson points out:
“Every so often over the years, Chelsea buy a player for a lot of money and the crowd decide to stand by them no matter what. It does not apply to everyone,” he wrote in his piece in the Athletic.
“For example, while two previous club-record buys Andriy Shevchenko (£30.8million) and Fernando Torres (£50m) had seemingly unwavering support despite limited returns, Alvaro Morata (£60m) and Romelu Lukaku (£97.5m) soon heard moans and groans after failing to build on a good start.
“Mudryk is more in the Shevchenko and Torres camp in how he is being treated and this backing is much needed.”
We’ve heard no shortage of moans and groans when Mudryk is playing, but it’s true there does seem to be more patience and affection towards him than towards some others in the past. We’re reluctant to say he’s turned a corner, but playing like this in the Conference League is only going to endear him more.
