Mason Mount has never been shy in admitting to his own flaws or wanting to go up to another level. The start to this season has been challenging for most Chelsea players, particularly Mount, who regularly shows his disappointment and frustration on social media when results turn sour.
Following the Newcastle loss, the 23-year-old took to Instagram to apologise for recent results. "We haven’t played to the level we expect of ourselves as Chelsea." he said in a post. "When we’re back from the World Cup, we are getting straight back to it and pushing ourselves to a higher level. We have the best fans in the country and we will make you proud this season."
Despite a brief upturn following Graham Potter's arrival, Mount has slumped into a run of poor form like a lot of his teammates have.
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Seeing the Arsenal and Newcastle games pass him by feels like a far cry from the player who deservedly won player of the season in 2020/21, excelling under both Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel, scoring big goals in the Premier League and Champions League, along with providing a creative spark and relentless energy.
It is little surprise that energy might have dwindled given the number of games he has played since making his senior breakthrough at Chelsea in 2019, however. He has become a regular for club and country, which reflects his quality at a young age but may be doing more harm than good in the long run.
The questions over Graham Potter have multiplied in recent weeks as his positive start at Stamford Bridge spiralled into a run of three straight league defeats heading into the Premier League break for the World Cup.
One of the big questions for Potter to answer over the next few weeks is how to rediscover Mount's best form. It does not feel like a coincidence that the last league win at Aston Villa came with a Mount double, one stunning free-kick included. That had followed influential displays against AC Milan and Wolves where he offered craft in a more central attacking midfield role.
That influence has lessened and so has Chelsea's quality on the ball. Mount has become a vital cog for every Chelsea coach he has played under so far. His intelligent movement and decision-making has maintained his starting spot, but there could be some justification in saying his development is being harmed by the perception of him being a jack of all trades.
Under Lampard, Mount was mostly deployed in a midfield three, deeper than the inside forward role he would go on to play in Tuchel's 3-4-2-1 formation. In one of his better performances in the last run of games, Mount looked freer as an eight in a 4-3-3 formation that Potter used against Dinamo Zagreb. It was in that game that Mount created the winning goal for Denis Zakaria and executed some delicate flicks and touches to link Chelsea's play together.
In the following two games, Mount was back to playing a more defensive role, shuttling around as Chelsea struggled to gain a foothold against confident opposition, more content to sit behind the ball. Mount's influence is currently limited and with Reece James out injured, the Blues look blunt from a creative aspect.
For Potter, finding Mount's best role in this team for the long term will be a challenge, as will be finding a consistent setup that revives a season that is rapidly in danger of falling apart.
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