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Frank Lampard did not hit his Chelsea players after their Boxing Day loss to Arsenal, describing their first-half display as “lazy” and saying “all the basics were wrong” in the way they approached. the game.
The comments were meant to provoke a reaction from his squad, but not this one. Sunday’s performance at Stamford Bridge, where Manchester City won 3-1, was even worse. “When you start questioning the pace of work and desire, no matter how good a team you are, you’re going to make a mistake,” said Sky Sports expert Roy Keane.
Add in your 1-1 draw with Aston Villa last time out and Chelsea are winless in their last three games. Go further back than that and it’s one in six. Lampard’s side topped the Premier League after their 3-1 win over Leeds in early December. They now sit in eighth place.
It has been an alarming slippage and while Lampard has questioned the contributions of his players, the spotlight is now on him.
Despite all the investment in the summer, Chelsea are three points and four places worse than at the same stage last season. “Last year he had a free pass,” Keane added, “but they have spent money and that brings additional pressure.”
Lampard is certainly feeling those pressures now. You may complain about your players’ application, but what hope is there when they are as poorly prepared as they were against City?
In preparation for the third goal, just in the 34th minute, Raheem Sterling met the goal in the middle of his own half. It was a strange sight, but it was not the first time that Lampard’s Chelsea had been exposed in this way on their own turf. Think of Gabriel Martinelli in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal last season.
The first two goals were equally ugly, with Chelsea giving City just as much time and space to move the ball up the flanks as they did Arsenal on Boxing Day. Once again, the lessons were unlearned. “Try to shoot him down,” Keane added dumbfounded. “Nobody from Chelsea tackled today. Nobody approached anybody.”
Lampard asked his players to redouble their efforts after the Arsenal game, but City outscored them by four kilometers at Stamford Bridge, according to Premier League tracking data, and the coach’s conversation at half time from the team seemed make little difference.
City continued to cut them. Callum Hudson-Odoi’s final consolation goal came from his second shot on goal.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. City entered the game without a large number of senior players following a COVID-19 outbreak at their camp. It felt like an opportunity for Chelsea to take advantage of. But instead, they did not meet expectations and it was not the first time.
Indeed, Lampard’s side have failed to win any of their six games against the top seven in the Premier League this season.
Liverpool, Everton and Manchester City have beaten them, while Manchester United, Tottenham and Aston Villa have kept them tied. It is a record that reflects badly on the man on the bench.
There are issues to be tackled across the field.
At one extreme, they have sent in more goals than relegation-threatened Burnley and just two fewer than Fulham. In the other, new hires are struggling to make an impact. Lampard favored Timo Werner over Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham against City, but the German has not scored a goal in his last 12 appearances for Chelsea.
Is Lampard the man to solve those problems?
“I was expecting difficulties and I know that becoming title contenders is not easy,” he said in his post-match press conference.
“A month ago, people asked me if I was going to sign a new contract, but now we have lost four games. The pressure is always there. I knew it when I took the job. But we have to move on.”
The 42-year-old will hope to have enough credit in the bank to finish this period after leading the club to a Champions League final under difficult circumstances last season.
But he knows better than anyone that Roman Abramovich has fired Chelsea coaches for less.
Suspecting eighth near the middle of the season is not what Abramovich had in mind when he sanctioned a £ 226 million spend over the summer.
And while Lampard is correct when he says that new players need time to adjust, it is much easier to ask for patience when relying on academy graduates rather than costly recruits.
There have been extenuating circumstances over the course of his 18 months in charge, but his overall record doesn’t look good in the context of what came before. In fact, his average of 1.67 points per game in his 55 Premier League games in charge is the lowest of any coach in the Abramovich era.
No wonder you are feeling the heat.
“I will always feel warm,” he added. “I felt the heat when we were on our hot streak because I knew something negative could have been around the corner. We are striving to get to the level of the teams that won things here during the Roman Abramovich era, but we” haven’t yet. you are in that stage.
“I cannot speak for those on the board. I cannot answer what they are thinking about the difficult streak of results as I could not answer for them when a new contract was discussed a month ago.
“But there was never going to be an absolute trajectory that was going to go up and down. I saw failures in my team even during the 16 games [unbeaten] to run.”
Lampard still hopes to correct those flaws, but it remains to be seen if he gets the time he needs to do so. The criticism of his own players on Boxing Day felt dangerous at the time. Two games and no wins later, we’re closer to finding out if there’s any way back.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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