What the offensive game of Chelsea FC can look like was marveled at on Sunday in the 92nd minute. Within 15 seconds, the team combined from the center circle in the home league game against Manchester City: dynamic, precise, with wit and a subsequent hit. The relay with eight stations and seven players was initiated by Kai Havertz, whose assist almost almost completed compatriot Timo Werner, who was only one step slower than goal scorer Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Chelsea’s wonderful model goal after conceding three goals in the first half wasn’t even a slight coloration of the sobering result. The 1: 3 against Manchester City could prove to be essential for head coach Frank Lampard in the next few days – if he has to collect sound arguments for himself why the club should continue to entrust him with the very expensive team.
With the final whistle, the media published their inventory of the situation at Stamford Bridge, the sports portal The Athletic wrote in the first sentence that Lampard, 42, was “in serious danger” in his second season with the Blues. The other media on the island read the same: “On the day of despair” (Telegraph) Man City “showered the fighting Lampard with suffering,” wrote the Times. It is now “in the blue zone” (Guardian) the Chelsea coach, in which table position, perspective and transfer expenses are weighed against each other in an income statement.
After one win and four defeats from six league games, Chelsea slipped out of the European league table. Due to catch-up games by the competition, the gap to fourth place qualifying for the Champions League could soon increase to six points. So far, none of the top ten clubs in the Premier League has passed the coach and Chelsea, around technical director Petr Cech, former goalkeeper of the club, is not envisaging that. He would like to shape the next era of the club with his former teammate Lampard, but missing the premier class can be very expensive – and oligarch and owner Roman Abramowitsch usually has no mercy.
Thomas Tuchel would be on the market
In his 17 years at Chelsea, nobody has been responsible for such a bad point average as Lampard (1.67), not even the quickly dumped André Villas-Boas or Luiz Felipe Scolari. “We are in a difficult phase, but every rebuilding brings pain, behind the scenes and on the field,” defended Lampard. He feels “the heat, but I don’t think about what people are saying because I don’t want to be distracted”. He will not speak for the board of directors around club boss Marina Granovskaia, he is not entitled to. Contrary to the established predecessors, Chelsea would have a relatively cheap dismissal of Lampard (contract until 2022) – and above all, with the German Thomas Tuchel, released on Christmas Eve in Paris, an attractive alternative would be on the market. During his short visits to the island, Tuchel made no secret of his weakness for English football.
In any case, Lampard has so far failed to integrate the German national players into the club. For Kai Havertz, 21, and Timo Werner, 24, Chelsea put down more than half of the quarter of a billion that the club spent on six new professionals in the summer. In contrast to most of the other commitments that have found their place on the team directly (goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and central defender Thiago Silva, for example), it looks like Lampard is struggling to find an appropriate use for the Germans – he prefers to trust local talents Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount.
In midfield, playmaker Mount, one of Lampard’s favorite players after a year together at Derby County, takes Havertz away. After his corona illness, Lampard now wants to carefully build up the ex-Leverkusen player – unlike at the start of the season, when Havertz should shoulder the team’s attacks without preparation. And Werner lost his form in autumn when he was relegated to the left attacking side in favor of center forward Abraham. The former Leipzig striker has now been waiting for a goal for twelve competitive games.
Against City, Werner was allowed to attack through the center from the start after ten league games. His most noticeable act was when he kicked himself painfully on the left shin with his right foot while cornering.
Chelsea lacks a functioning axis
However, the team’s missing backbone was primarily responsible for the bankruptcy. During City’s 16-minute scoring through hits from Germany’s Ilkay Gündogan (18th), Phil Foden (21st) and Kevin De Bruyne (34th), Chelsea lacked a functioning axis of players that would give them stability. Lampard took away the few supports at the beginning of the season from the team, which was already rather weak in leadership. Without need, captain César Azpilicueta and the then defense chief Antonio Rüdiger were transferred to the second rank, as well as vice-captain Jorginho, veteran Olivier Giroud and the degraded left-back Marcos Alonso. Some players are said to complain about Lampard’s harsh behavior behind the scenes .
The last opportunity for extensive corrections is the upcoming ten-day break in the Premier League for Lampard. The inconsequential goal to 1: 3 against Manchester City has proven that the players have the quality they were hoping for – only Lampard has to show their skills.
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