Frank Lampard has appreciated the efforts of Mason Mount who has recently emerged as the most trusted player of the coach. This is his second season and he is already in the good books of the coach.
The 21-year-old midfielder was a revelation last season, breaking through into the first team as a product of Chelsea academy. He has continued his progress by featuring in all the five games of Chelsea despite the new arrivals in the attacking third- Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, and Timo Werner.
In the Carabao Cup defeat against Tottenham Hotspurs, Mount missed the decisive penalty in the tie-breaker which eliminated the Blues form the League Cup. But still, faith has been kept by coach, Frank Lampard on the youngster. The young attacker caught Lampard’s eyes since Lampard’s debut season as a manager when Mount was on loan at Derby.
Lampard expressed how impressed he has been with the player’s talent and attitude, whose dream is to play for the Blue shirt. He praised how the way he has gone and attacked that dream to make it through pure hard work. This sums up that the best is yet to come with the determined mindset and continuity in actions.
The 21 years old midfielder featured in 53 games for Chelsea in the previous term and hasn’t missed a single minute this season. This has irritated the Chelsea fans and they accused the coach of favouritism towards Mount.
Further, the Chelsea legend thinks the mentality with which he has approached the game has taken him into the position he has got so far and has nothing to do with favouritism.
The fact that he gets minutes in the England national team backs his opinion. Not only Frank Lampard but England’s Gareth Southgate and Steve Holland have admired the way Mason Mount approaches the training and games.
All the accusations of favouritism were denied calmly by the coach and refused to speak on difficult conversations with his players about team selections. There has always been a difficult situation where a manager needs to pick the right guy for the team although not-the-right ones are hoping to play.
The coach’s mentality should be to have an open conversation with the players and what he expects from them. There should be a clear message in the squad and it has to be done as honestly as possible to maintain team integrity.
This does not mean Mount will continue to play 90 minutes every game as Lampard emphasized to the media. He also assures that given the quality and competition in the attacking positions of his team, there might be games when he does not start or is not involved.
He makes it clear that these decisions won’t change his opinion towards the player. The decisions will be taken based on opponents and players available.
The addition of Mason was a big part of the previous year as he brought energy and youthful abilities in the squad when Chelsea didn’t have any opportunity to alter the squad. This season saw the absence of two crucial wingers Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic while Kai Havertz came into Stamford Bridge this summer with no pre-season training before the first game.
With Timo Werner debuting in the new League, Mount became a natural fit in the team which certainly helped Chelsea at the start of the season. What Lampard talks about things going to change is true as the two wingers are almost back but it is also true that Mason Mount will undoubtedly be a big part of Lampard’s project this season.
This can be due to the fact that sometimes a homegrown player with such an early career trajectory has a natural soft-spot from the club. His becoming established and gaining regular minutes in the first team despite so many competitions can arise many questions. All these decisions solely remain in Lampard’s hands as he is the manager and time will say if this affects the club in a positive or negative way.
