Mighty Mount is on the rise again under Potter
GRAHAM POTTER has rarely been the sort for a loose remark or dramatic gesture. With this guy, sometimes a grin is as far as it goes and one was stretched across his face when Mason Mount was brought into the post-match conversations on Saturday evening.
Specifically, he was asked just how good he might become. ‘That’s the exciting bit,’ said Potter, and yes, it is again. If recently there have been stirrings in Mount’s form, then against Wolves there was an outright demonstration of the revival by this most talented of midfielders. And not before time.
Chelsea has never been a place for standing still, and more so for an England international when a World Cup winter is coming. But after what could be termed an underwhelming opening to the season, the 23-year-old appears to be out the other side of his warm up: against AC Milan last week he was good, and against Wolves he occasionally touched on the sublime in creating the first two goals for Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic.
One was a long, driven ping that passed fractionally above six opposing heads before dropping into the tiniest corridor for Havertz, and the other was a delicate nudge through a crowd to Pulisic. They were match-winning acts made to look easy, and each was timed magnificently, a little like his return to prominence, given this would be a bad moment to slip in Gareth Southgate’s estimation.
While he was always close to Thomas Tuchel, it would appear for now that he is among those most sharply improved under Potter. For all the manager’s rotations — 18 different starters and four systems in four games unbeaten — Mount is evidently in favour, having been in the XI on each occasion.
‘I really liked his performance (against Wolves),’ said Potter. ‘He made lots of runs in behind, sacrificed himself for the team, worked hard when we didn’t have the ball — a really good performance.
‘I’ve no doubt about Mason Mount at all. It’s just like anything — sometimes the team doesn’t function as well and so the individuals don’t function as well. Any young player knows you have moments when it doesn’t go your way and it’s about what you can learn from that. He’s got that personality to continue to develop. He’s a delight to work with.’
Wolves, under the care of Steve Davis until they appoint their new manager, offered only marginal threat and faced 20 shots across the game.
Diego Costa, back at Chelsea five years after his acrimonious departure, was warmly received but appeared a long way short of match conditioning prior to his early substitution.
Armando Broja, one of his successors in the lineage of Chelsea strikers, scored his first goal for the club to make it 3-0, before giving the credit to his father for the hours spent encouraging him to watch old videos of the Brazilian legend Ronaldo.
The 21-year- old said: ‘Ronaldo was my dad’s favourite player — he would always show me clips on YouTube and we would sit and watch games of him. I try to take tricks and stuff he did.’
CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Arrizabalaga 7; Azpilicueta 7, Chalobah 6.5, Koulibaly 7; Loftus-Cheek 7 (Kovacic 65min, 7), Gallagher 7 (Chukwuemeka 87), Jorginho 6, Cucurella 6.5; Pulisic 7 (James 71, 6), MOUNT 8 (Broja 71, 7); Havertz 7 (Ziyech 87).
Scorers: Havertz 45+3, Pulisic 54, Broja 89. Booked: Azpilicueta, Jorginho.
Manager: Graham Potter 7.5.
WOLVES (4-2-3-1): Sa 7.5; Semedo 6, Kilman 5, Toti 5, Otto 6 (Ait Nouri 71, 6); Nunes 6, Moutinho 7; Traore 5 (Campbell 71, 6), Podence 6, Guedes 4.5 (Hodge 46, 6); Costa 4.5 (Hwang 55, 6). Booked: None. Interim manager: Steve Davis 6. Referee: Simon Hooper 7.
Attendance: 39,940.