Frank Lampard is under a lot of pressure, as Chelsea faced yet another defeat to Leicester yesterday. Will Chelsea’s legend face the sack?
The Blues are currently 8th in the league, after losing 5 of their 8 league matches. In addition, both Southampton and Aston Villa have games in hand on Chelsea, meaning they could be as low as 10th by the time the league returns.
Chelsea FC Vision
Spending around £222m this summer on high profile players, such as Werner, Chilwell, Ziyech and many others, we were not expecting to see them struggle so much. Not to mention that they have won ZERO games against the current PL top eight this season, you have to start questioning the coach’s approach and tactics.
How come the new signings are not performing well? Is it on an individual level or the whole system is not working well? In a night where Lampard was in desperate need of a win, he left his top signing Werner on the bench, which was for the 3rd time in 4 games.
The German striker was in prolific form before joining Chelsea, as well as Havertz and Ziyech who were having a breakthrough season with their respective clubs. So what is the issue exactly? Some might argue that the Premier League is tougher than the other leagues. However, not only one, but almost all of the new signings that Lampard requested himself are failing to perform, which is a bit worrying for the club.
Lampard’s Methods
Frank said after yesterday’s defeat: “There are players who are not playing as well as they should do. That was clear tonight. They are the only ones who can deal with that.”
Now some might ask, after so many bad performances and results, should the coach blame his players in public or take the blame himself and try to work out the rest in private? Especially after getting all the players he wants, on papers Chelsea should easily fight for the title not just a top 4 finish.
Furthermore, if you watch Chelsea you can tell that there is no proper build up or even a clear vision on their style of play. With so many talent in the squad, you have to get better results! You can try to criticize the players in public with a hope that it will make them do better. However, you have to ask yourself as a coach, if these players are performing so badly what are we doing in the training grounds to address that?
Regardless if the players are new to the club, or even to the league, you can’t expect them to struggle that much without questioning your training methods and game plans. The players are having difficulty in passing, finding room to create, and most of them look confused on how to play. Could it be that they are doing everything right in training and are just not able to replicate it in real matches?
What To Expect
Chelsea has had 10 managers in 12 years, Abramovich is not known for his patience with the men in the dugout. Something that Chelsea fans are frustrated about.
So what was Roman really expecting when he hired Lampard and gave him so much transfer money to spend? A title? top 4 finish? playing good football or just getting results no matter what? Because at the moment, he’s not having any of these. The owner might feel like he must make a change quickly, before the top 4 finish is out of grasp. Missing out on that could be deadly to Chelsea and with their current form they are nowhere near that.
Will Chelsea’s legend face the sack? We all remember when Mourinho was sacked in 2015 after losing to Leicester, will history repeat itself now? Or should Chelsea have more faith and patience with Lampard? Some might also wonder for how long will these players keep their trust in him before they stop playing? And if Chelsea were to sack him, who is the best candidate to replace him?
Feel free to leave your comments and opinions.
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