London, England – July 01: Frank Lampard, Chelsea Manager reacts after the Premier League match between West Ham United and Chelsea FC at London Stadium on July 01, 2020 in London, England. Soccer stadiums in Europe remain empty due to the coronavirus pandemic, as government social distance laws prohibit fans within venues, causing all matches to be played behind closed doors. (Photo by Michael Regan / Getty Images)
For years, certain Premier League clubs have stood out as a mix of styles that just don’t go together. The reality is that Chelsea may be one of them.
A Frankenstein team has been an adjunct term to several Premier League clubs, especially Everton, West Ham (multiple times over the years), and occasionally Watford. In some ways, Manchester United can be seen as one since their last league victory. But this is not about them. It’s about Chelsea and the growing recognition that the Blues can be among the league’s mixed teams.
This is not necessarily a new notion. In 2018, it was clear. Often. But that stemmed from a very sudden and unplanned style change from where the Blues were to where they wanted to be. Frank Lampard came in and has taken great strides to save both banks of the river, but there are still problems that go beyond him.
Let’s say Chelsea had an ax. The head broke, so he replaced it. Then the handle broke and they replaced it too. Is it the same ax? Now imagine that they replaced the ax head with a hammer head because that is what the manager said was necessary at the time. The next manager saw the mango and decided they needed to replace it with a ruler. No, this doesn’t make any sense, but it has been basically Chelsea’s path, inside and out, for almost two decades.
The only coach who really moved Chelsea in a solid direction has been José Mourinho. His fingerprint at the club possibly lasted until Maurizio Sarri took over and then possibly returned (in part) with Frank Lampard. The managers between his two terms and after his second tried to put their fingerprints on the club as well. Above all, they just confused things.
Chelsea became a team of hardworking players surrounded by highly technical Tika-Taka players. In some ways, that’s totally fine. Clubs rarely want to be just one thing. The problem is when certain sections, like attack and defense, don’t work well together due to the hodgepodge.
The problem is most evident when a microscope is placed on those sections. While it’s nice to have a variation on players like Marcos Alonso and Emerson, how they fit throughout the unit is an issue. Chelsea’s bottom line consists of bruisers and players Pep Guardiola would love to have passes to spray. But it is a very delicate balancing act to bring those two types of players together.
Then there is the attack. Again, it’s nice to have options, but if a player like Olivier Giroud is looking for help, that dictates the players who can surround him. There must be scorers to feed on it. Tammy Abraham, however, needs someone to serve her well over and over again. It is not easy to build around one or the other while keeping the other player in a position to help the team.
Midfield is the only place where this discrepancy can be mitigated, although it may still be a problem. Look no further than the debate between N’Golo Kante and Jorginho. Is it better to have a midfielder who can defend, or have one who can dictate the game through the middle? And how does one or the other shape the rest of the midfield?
The solution under the construction team of Petr Cech and Marina Granovskaia (with input from Frank Lampard) seems to be to play on both sides. Players signed so far, including many of the linked, can play multiple positions, allowing them to rank on many different teams. But stylistically, they lean more in one direction than the other. Lampard is trying to build the team in his image, but to do so he will also have to dismantle it.
But not everything is pessimism. An important way to trend the club in one direction has been to use the academy. The academy has been playing in a particular way for years, so all players are well versed in it. The influx of Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, and others has helped create a foundation for the team to build around. Lampard, with Jody Morris as his assistant, has been trying to find the right top team players to include in that direction.
This summer is not just about bringing good players. Chelsea has had those summers before. It’s about attracting the right players so Chelsea doesn’t shoot in two directions at once. The inconsistency in the past few seasons is mainly because some players are fit for one form and others are fit for something completely different and try to put them together and make it work.
Lampard needs to find the right players to lead his revolution. Otherwise, the Blues face the same fate as West Ham, Everton, Watford, and others: having a team that looks good on paper but struggles to put it into practice.
