I have to hold my hands up here, I am often one of those fans who cannot help but get a little impatient with players, it’s hard not to sometimes especially when results on the pitch are poor.
But my views go both ways on that as well. When looking and judging new players I always want to try and stay as patient as possible, both ways. I’m trying to be careful about overhyping a few performances in pre-season for example, because we should all be wary about those games and how different it is when the proper games begin. So I stayed relaxed and grounded with players like Nicolas Jackson during that period when others starting shouting ‘he’s the next Drogba’ and so on. Jackson by the way I think WILL come good.
But also, I have perhaps been guilty sometimes about not exactly writing players off, but perhaps not giving them the full patience and time that they might need. Some players need more than others.
Enzo Fernandez needed no time, but Mykhailo Mudryk clearly did/does.
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
For me with Mudryk the jury is staying out, I’m not getting carried away by two or three good performances, but it’s definitely very promising. The way Mudryk has been handled by the club and by Pochettino could certainly pave the way for other young players at our club who might take longer to settle and find form than others do.
Obviously in an ideal world we would have all of our new players coming in and playing to the top of their game from day one, but we know that we do not live in an ideal world. Some of these players will struggle more than others, for many different reasons. And I guess we just have to try and be as patient as possible with them all.
Mudryk has shown in the last few games that there might actually be a player in there, and I know that some of you here had already given up on him and might still be in that belief that he will just never be good enough for Chelsea. I am absolutely not telling you that you are wrong with that belief. I’m not telling anyone what to think or feel, and I know we all see things differently.
For me, I was against signing Mudryk when he arrived, and I was pretty vocal about that (probably too vocal and too harsh). But I’ve since seen signs of a player there and have been prepared to stay open-minded on the signing, wanting him to prove me wrong. The signs are there for sure. I still think there is a real player in there but can we fully bring him out? And how much patience can we afford to give?
He is clearly a confidence player and some confidence players will continue to struggle, whilst others will go on to thrive. We obviously need Mudryk to do the latter, and the environment he is in under Pochettino is clearly going to give him the very best chance to do that.
If Mudryk continues to show promise and gets better and better and keeps in good form and becomes a success, he can really then be used as the perfect blueprint at the club for other young players who might take time to find form, make an impact and become a star. And that blueprint can be looked back on by us fans, managers, owners, and anyone else who might need that reminder that not every player will come in and make an instant impact like Enzo did.
But at the same time, how many passengers can Chelsea carry in this moment? We all know that we must be winning as many games as possible, so can we afford to be waiting on too many young players to settle in and start performing? That’s another debate. But that’s why I am also so vocal about the fact that I’d have liked to have seen a couple more experienced and proven players arrive with all the youth in the summer and I hope this is something addressed in January.
Once again it’s all about balance.
Mudryk I hope goes on to prove me wrong and uses these last few games to really elevate himself to become an important player for us this season, because we really need him to do that now after coming up to being here for a year.
I’m not saying every young player will make it and prove to be a good signing, but we have good talent spotters at our club now and a new scouting and recruitment system in place, so I think all we can do is offer a bit more trust and patience due to that fact.
Sure, I have my doubts over a handful of players at our club and whether they will come good, naturally. But I am also giving them every chance to prove me wrong and get there and become important players for us. That’s all I want, I don’t care if I am proven right or wrong, I want all our players to come good, even if that means Marc Cucurella becoming a regular starter for us and ‘saving’ his Chelsea career, I’m all for it!
Patience is SO hard to preach when we start the season the way we have done, so I’d never try and preach that to anyone especially when I find it so tough myself. But for me I just think that a couple of these player’s situations could pave the way for others to come good, and under Pochettino they have the best chance possible to do so.
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