Mauricio Pochettino says Mykhailo Mudryk needs to ‘understand the game better’ after the £88.5million Ukrainian struggled again in Chelsea’s goalless draw at Bournemouth.
The winger has yet to find the net in 21 Chelsea appearances since joining from Shakhtar Donetsk on an eight-and-a-half-year contract in January.
He was substituted for Cole Palmer in the 63rd minute at the Vitality Stadium, but Chelsea were unable to make a breakthrough after another disappointing result.
Pochettino suggested Mudryk is still aware of the Premier League.
“He’s improving. He still has to learn; the Premier League is very fast, the speed of the game is so fast,” the Chelsea manager said Air sports.
Mykhailo Mudryk struggled to impress again as Chelsea drew 0-0 at Bournemouth
Mauricio Pochettino removed the Ukrainian winger in the second half for Cole Palmer
Your browser does not support iframes.
‘I think it’s about understanding the game better, trying to be more connected to the team sometimes.
“We have to give him the time and resources to improve throughout the season.”
The Blues are fourteenth in the table with just five points from five games as the expensively assembled players struggle to perform.
They have scored just five goals in the Premier League so far – the lowest result after five games in a season after 1992 since 1995-96, when they also scored just five.
The poor form comes despite spending more than £1 billion on new players since Todd Boehly took over the club last year.
Pochettino called on fans to be patient with new signings, pointing out that even the great Zinedine Zidane struggled initially when he joined Real Madrid.
‘At Chelsea the expectations are always huge. “When you arrive at Chelsea as a player or as a coaching staff, people expect you to win, to lift some trophies, to perform and to score,” he said.
‘We now have a very young team, players who are a good investment for the club. We need to know that they are young and need to adapt to the circumstances and remain calm.
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino criticized supporters who booed his team
Ben Chilwell held his hands up at the Chelsea supporters but was met with abuse
Pochettino’s side were disappointing as they failed to score in the 0-0 draw against Bournemouth
“It’s not fair to judge after one game, two games, three games and say he’s not performing.
‘I always use the same example: Real Madrid paid 70 to 80 million for a player called Zinedine Zidane.
‘He was a great player, but after six months you can ask the fans at the Bernabeu and they say: ‘Oh, what have we bought?’
‘After seven or eight months he started performing. Zinedine Zidane was 26 or 27. When you buy players who are 20 or 21, you have to be careful.
‘They’re not machines. They have to settle for all the circumstances of the past few months. We have to give time.’
The stalemate led to some traveling Chelsea fans on the south coast booing the team on Sunday, with Pochettino keen to point out that twelve players are currently sidelined through injury.
“When you invest money there is expectation,” Pochettino said. ‘If you don’t win, it’s normal that the fans are not happy.
Mudryk awaits his first Chelsea goal after 21 games following his £88.5 million January transfer
“But what I can tell the fans are the circumstances, we cannot change them. We cannot change reality. We have too many players (injured).
“We are a team that will be strong when we are all together. If the entire team is fit, we can compete for anything.
‘Why is it different with us? That’s because we don’t have the entire selection available from the start of the season. What can we do?
‘For me there is nothing to say. The fans can do whatever they want. We know what to do. We are strong in our conviction, but we have twelve (players) injured today.
‘Then we have three or four young boys on the bench. I’m gonna cry? Am I going to complain? I have to accept this challenge and stay positive.
‘We are not going to change. We have our opinions, we have our reality. We judge our team according to our opinion, according to our reality and with all circumstances.
‘We are doing very good things, more than people can expect. But Chelsea’s expectation is always to win.
‘I can understand the emotion, the emotion is of course complaining because we want to win. The fans will certainly help the team win the match at Aston Villa on Sunday.’