Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has admitted he was “not happy” with Mykhailo Mudryk’s performance against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Ukrainian international was rewarded with a place in the starting eleven at Molineux, but was substituted at half-time and replaced by summer signing Pedro Neto.
Chelsea eventually won 6-2 and Neto provided an assist for fellow countryman Joao Felix, who crowned his second debut for the Blues with a fabulous finish.
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After the game, Maresca revealed why he substituted Mudryk after just 45 minutes. “Because I wasn’t happy,” the Italian admitted.
“I think in some moments we can handle certain situations better. He worked very hard without the ball and that was very good. But in terms of performance with the ball, I expect a little more quality from Misha.”
“For me he had some good moments the other day and some good moments today and the reason for that was simply that we had to make changes and give Pedro (Neto) a few minutes.”
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Mudryk moved from Shakhtar Donetsk to Chelsea in January 2023 for an initial fee of €70 million, but only scored seven goals in 59 appearances for the West London club.
Noni Madueke plays the lead role
While Mudryk was deceptive, Noni Madueke shone, scoring his first hat-trick for Chelsea after a sensational performance at Molineux.
The Englishman scored three goals in just 14 minutes of the second half, with Cole Palmer providing an assist for all three goals.
“I can judge Noni’s performance – it was fantastic,” said Maresca during his post-match press conference. “Not only in the second half, but also in the first half, he always played one-on-one and created something.”
“From day one I’ve said he’s the kind of winger I really like. He works really well for us. The best thing about Noni today wasn’t his hat-trick, but the way he defended. For 90 minutes he showed the right mentality that I demand from the players.”
