Chelsea’s acquisition by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich before the 2004/05 Premier League season changed the fortune of the club and there has been no looking back ever since. With their almost accurate recruitments and acquisition of players backed by heavy investment, Chelsea became a prominent club not only in London but the whole of Europe. Since their financial takeover, Chelsea have been the joint-most successful Premier League team with 5 titles to their name along with Sir Alex’s Manchester United.
Over recent years, the club’s dominance in the Premier League has come to a halt. Even though they won the title just three seasons ago they’ve not yet managed to genuinely contend for the title since. With their ex-manager Sarri leaving them for Juventus and their ever reliant Eden Hazard seeking a dream move to Real Madrid, the club was bound for a setback. That’s when Chelsea took the decision to hire their club legend and fan favourite, Frank Lampard. For the people who have been living under a rock, the England International is regarded as one of the greatest Chelsea players of all time and is also their top scorer in the Premier League era with 177 goals despite playing as a traditional midfielder for the majority of the games
Lampard’s Managerial Career
Derby County 2018/19
In the summer of 2018, Derby County hired Lampard for their vacant managerial role. The expectations from Lampard were high and he succeeded with a 2-1 win on his first game in charge, thanks to a late winner from Tom Lawrence. Lampard’s attractive attacking football style combined with his ability to get results established his identity as a promising football manager. Eventually he announced himself to the world when he knocked out Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United out of the EFL League cup. Under his guidance, Derby had a stellar season finishing 6th in the championship, knocking out Marco Bielsa’s Leeds United for the promotion race, only to lost to Aston Villa in the playoff finals. At end of the season, Lampard’s Derby had won 27, drawn 17 and lost 16 of their total 57 matches. This was convincing enough for Abramovich to offer him his dream contract, the Chelsea managerial role.
Chelsea 2019/20
Lampard’s competitive debut for Chelsea was a disaster, where his team conceded 4 goals away from home despite having a promising start. After a rocky start to his first couple of games, Chelsea started adapting to his tactics with players like Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount etc stepping up their game. There came a phase when the London blues were on a dream run, where they won six consecutive games in the Premier League and two in the Champions League. On 23rd November Manchester City emerged victorious against them with a 2-1 scoreline and that’s when it all went haywire. Since then Chelsea have been extremely inconsistent, chipping out victories against their London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal but losing to bottom half teams like Newcastle and Southampton. In their last 5 competitive games, Chelsea have Drawn 2 and lost 2 games with just win over their rivals, Tottenham.
Statistics
Attack
On the attacking front, Lampard’s Chelsea have been quite decent with an average of 5.6 shots per 90, 1.7 goals per game with 52 big chances created (4th best in the league). They’ve averaged 60% possession per game with 508 accurate passes avg. per 90.
Defence
It is clearly implied that their main problems lie in their defensive phase. With their main man N’golo Kante sidelined for the majority of the games, Chelsea have managed to keep just 5 clean sheets in the 28 games they’ve played till date. They’ve conceded an average of 1.4 goals per 90, one of their worst records in the past decade. Kepa Arrizabalaga, who set a record for being the most expensive keeper in the world, has hardly justified his price tag this season. Chelsea have had the least save percentage this season with an avg. of 1.8 saves per 90, which eventually lead Kepa to the bench and gave Caballero the opportunity to start games.
Having signed the extremely talented Hakim Ziyech from Ajax shows that Chelsea is in the right direction to challenge for the title next season. If Lampard manages to stay at the club, he’ll need to revamp certain positions at the club and bring in some major signings.
To summarise their Premier League season in a statement, Lampard has lost as many home games as Jose Mourinho during his two spells at Chelsea, with the latter having played 97 more home games than the former. With the uncertainty over Manchester City’s ban, the race for the 4th spot is heating up with the likes Manchester United, Tottenham, Wolves and Sheffield United breathing down their neck. At this given time, Lampard is under pressure at Chelsea and if this inconsistency persists for long, the sack for Frank Lampard would be inevitable.
