After such a promising campaign for Crystal Palace last season, Tyrick Mitchell has been extremely underwhelming in Patrick Vieira’s side so far in 2022/23.
The young left-back, who is a product of Brentford’s academy, has established himself as first-choice at Selhurst Park having initially broken into the first team in the 2019/20 season.
Mitchell would make 19 appearances under Roy Hodgson in the 2020/21 campaign but it was only under Patrick Vieira that the 23-year-old has become one of the first names on the team sheet, as he missed just two games last season in the Frenchman’s debut campaign at Selhurst Park.
His performances in the Premier League certainly caught the eye, as he averaged a solid 6.75 rating from WhoScored across his 36 appearances in the top flight, with his displays enough to convince Gareth Southgate that he was worthy of a call-up to the senior England team.
However, any dreams the youngster may have had of making the World Cup next month now appear to be slim, after a hugely disappointing start to the new campaign.
Mitchell has made 11 appearances in the Premier League and averaged a shocking 6.38 rating from WhoScored, which has seen Vieira favour Jeffrey Schlupp at left-back in a couple of games already this season.
The 23-year-old is averaging fewer tackles (2.9 vs 1.3), interceptions (1.1 vs 0.7) and clearances (2.3 vs 1.3) per game when compared to last season, which emphasises that he needs to drastically improve his form if he wants to keep his starting spot in Vieira’s side.
Stuart English, one of Mitchell’s former coaches in Brentford’s academy, waxed lyrical about his passion for defending and attitude towards football in an article for The Athletic, while also describing him as a “silent assassin“.
He said: “Watch when he defends, when he tracks players down, when he goes to look, he has this look in his face and he still has it now. That’s just in him. He has a real hunger, passion and desire to not get beaten.”
Unfortunately, that hunger for defending seems to have departed Mitchell somewhat this season, as his defensive statistics from WhoScored emphasise, so Vieira should drop him until he can re-focus himself and rediscover his form from last season.
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