Chelsea has conceded 1.5 goals on average in each game in the Premier League since Frank Lampard took his managerial job last year. In a total of 43 matches, the blues has conceded 63 goals which are the worst under any manager in the history of Chelsea. But also, they are the only side which has had fewer shots on target than numerous teams.
So what exactly is the problem of Chelsea’s backline? This is although hard to say but many do think that it is Lamaprd’s tactics that have made the defence leaky.
Chelsea has a tremendous attack where the front four had complete freedom. In the match against Southampton in Stamford Bridge, it was seen that the front four were interchanging their positions at their will that heavily caused all sorts of problems and confusion in the Saints’ defence. It was as if Southampton had no option to make it all right as there were numerous exchanging of the position in Chelsea’s attacking line.
Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, and Christian Pulisic- all looked absolutely free and they had no fixed position. This enabled German striker, Timo Werner to score two goals, and all the potential talk of a goal drought in PL was dismissed.
But the backline messed up again. The Saints made it 2-2 after trailing by two goals within 75 minutes. Chelsea conceded the first goal from Danny Ings that resulted from a Havertz mistake, and the second was the most pathetic one resulted mostly due to Kurt Zouma and partially due to Kepa Arrizablaga. joint Kurt Zouma-Kepa Arrizabalaga error.
They then squandered a 3-2 lead late in the added time from a set-piece. For all their attacking potential even before Hakim Ziyech came 20 minutes prior to the final whistle – Frank Lampard’s side continuously shoots themselves in the foot.
Similar to the previous season, errors have been frequent to this season, and questions have raised on the solidity of the defence that has existed since Lampard took the job last season in summer.
The goal conceded on average per match among the current Premier League teams has seen Chelsea just ahead of only Southampton, Aston Villa, West Ham, and Brighton. But this doesn’t tell the whole picture.
The Blues has conceded only 379 shots, second after Manchester City only who have conceded the least shots amongst all teams and have just 44.7 expected goals- which is 18 goals fewer than the total. That is by far the biggest difference between expected goals conceded and actual goals conceded in PL.
This exposes the individual mistakes that have been occurring quite frequently and Lampard has been unable to fix that. Lampard’s side has conceded seven of the nine goals just because of individual mistakes in some form or another.
The coach although fully aware has asked for game management from his players, something that seems to have been abandoned across the Premier League this season.
