Gary Neville slammed Mykhailo Mudryk’s performance in Chelsea’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester United, claiming the winger looked ‘rigid and stiff’ at Old Trafford. Mudryk has struggled to make an impact since his £88.5 million move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January and had another performance to forget on Thursday evening, missing an excellent chance from close range to put Chelsea in front. Neville said of Mudryk during his commentary for Sky Sports, ‘Oh my goodness, how many times have we seen that in the first half? So rigid and stiff on the ball, it’s so heavy that touch its unbelievable. That is just confidence, or a lack of it. It’s like he hasn’t got a picture of what he’s going to do with it before he receives it. It’s all a bit fast in his head.’ Frank Lampard admitted some Chelsea players have struggled to perform due to the ‘instability’ in the squad and subbed Mudryk just after the hour mark. Lampard said, ‘It’s been a tough season, people talk about the squad size, things that are very valid. At the same time, coming in this short period, you can see, when a group is training and it’s really together and pushing and pushing each other, then good things come and you as an individual improve within that. At the moment, that momentum is not there, it’s clear. There isn’t a huge stability in the team and in the squad. Whereas players previous years have come in and had time to find their own way, now they’ve time to come on and make a difference and it’s not easy. There’s a lot to it rather than to say it’s not good enough. Of course results for Chelsea this season. Not good enough.’
