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After all the chaos of this season so far, and in particular any game involving Chelsea, they offer something more unexpected: a first 0-0 draw of Frank Lampard’s time as manager.
It’s not the ideal start to a Champions League campaign, but it’s not bad, particularly against an accomplished European team like Sevilla, and perhaps whatever it takes after so much defensive chaos.
Lampard has a rare clean blade and something to build on defensively.
Except that was also one of the angles this game presented. Lampard has yet to find a balance on this side.
As has been a trend at the time, it’s as if their side struggles to attack when looking to tense up, but then struggles to defend when they slacken anyway.
At the very least, he won’t face any questions about a porous defense again after Saturday’s raucous 3-3 against Southampton.
Chelsea started out cautiously, and that was clearly linked to that match. There were long stretches in the first half when Sevilla had them locked in their own half, making it difficult for Lampard’s team to leave.
An advantage for Chelsea was that Sevilla, despite their sharpness, struggled to do a lot with it. The best they offered were set pieces, one from a header by Nemanja Gudelj, another from a volley by Luis Ocampos.
Another advantage of Chelsea was that they had Edouard Mendy in goal. He held that volley from Ocampos in a confident way that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from Kepa Arrizabalaga right now.
It must be recognized that Chelsea himself seemed more robust. The defense remained strong, N’Golo Kante came back winning everything in the middle, Jorginho committed the most tactical of tactical fouls when pulling out an attack.
This was undoubtedly positive for Lampard, but it also took some of the positive momentum out of his game.
This highlighted a major issue he has yet to resolve on this team, which appears to be central to the broader discussions on Lampard.
When they accept it completely in attack, Chelsea are very touchy in defense.
However, when he becomes a little more controlled, it is as if he takes all the enthusiasm out of his attack. It is a balance that he has not yet achieved.
So it was that Lampard made Chelsea play much higher in the second half, and Sevilla began to find much more space.
A boring game started to get very lively, and it went from end to end.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s best chances came from one of their defenders coming up the other side, as Kurt Zouma should have scored twice from what were really free headers from the corners.
For the former, after having overtaken the Sevilla defense with such force, a meek header ended up falling directly into the hands of Yassine Bounou.
For the second, he got a lot more power, but less precision. He sailed wide.
Sevilla substitute Joan Jordan came much closer with a near-spectacular volley, deflecting the ball just above Mendy’s goal from standing on the edge of the area from a corner kick from Ivan Rakitic.
That was it in regards to the great opportunities, to play a fairly calm game, if you can say that given the sound of Julen Lopetegui at all times.
The 90 minutes were accompanied by his constant yelling, generally telling his defense to “come out.”
Meanwhile, Lampard doesn’t have to say too much to his own bottom line for once, or about them.
They haven’t gotten a first win in the Champions League groups this season, but a first 0-0 may be, oddly enough, more valuable.
They go to Old Trafford on Saturday, and that game is suddenly engulfed in a very different atmosphere.
