Lampard certainly had his moments when he let players know in no uncertain terms what he made of their performance. On top of the West Brom game, the 3-0 loss at Sheffield United in July, the FA Cup final reverse to Arsenal a month later and then the Premier League defeat on December 26th to the same opponents were notable occasions where he was described as “losing it”.
But perhaps surprisingly, there are insinuations from players that Lampard didn’t provide them with tactical instructions, that some were just told to simply go out on the pitch and express themselves. One doubts that is a view shared by the man in question.
Players began to grow suspicious of Lampard’s job security when one member of the backroom staff who was not appointed by him told some players: “Don’t worry, this (Lampard) will all be over in a couple of weeks.”
Even the intensity of the training sessions was raised as a point of alarm by the end. At the start and when things were going well, players responded positively to the drills. It was a refreshing change from the repetitive nature of Sarri’s exercises. However, after the impressive victory over Leeds, Chelsea notably looked fatigued in their displays against Everton, Wolves, West Ham, Arsenal and Aston Villa during the rest of December.
By the Fulham game in early January, players were expecting Lampard to be sacked if they didn’t win. A 1-0 victory courtesy of Mason Mount meant that wasn’t the outcome but after the dire showing at Leicester a few days later, the atmosphere in the dressing room, according to one source, “felt like a goodbye”.
Lampard was accused in some quarters of working players too hard, dating back to the preparations in June, ahead of last season getting back underway following the three-month postponement. Indeed, despite Chelsea’s fixture list this season regularly involving matches in midweek as well as the weekend, the 42-year-old was spotted still putting on intense drills. As one individual remarked: “There was a worry that not only were Chelsea players getting exhausted but it would take a toll with people getting more injuries.”
So this all paints a negative picture of Lampard doesn’t it? Hearing and reading this stuff makes it look like Chelsea had no choice but to act. But there are always two sides to any divorce.
To begin with, the job Lampard has done should still be looked on favourably, despite any criticisms that have emerged from the outside. Few experts backed Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League in his first season and yet the club sat in one of the top four positions for most of the schedule.
He led Chelsea to the last 16 of the Champions League for a second time in a row, setting up a knockout game against Atletico Madrid in February after finishing top of their qualifying group.
Lampard’s trust in the academy players should not be underestimated. He is the first manager in Chelsea’s history to use the club’s youth system on a regular and consistent basis. The argument he had no choice in the matter, particularly in the first season, was not entirely accurate. Graduates like Mount and Tammy Abraham have been used consistently over the past 18 months. Many others have been given a chance too — like Reece James, Billy Gilmour, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tomori — although the last two will have wanted more game time in 2020.
In total eight academy players have made their senior debut under Lampard and it is understood he was looking to add even more by giving some others like Lewis Bate an opportunity. Chelsea not only have homegrown individuals with the ability to play for the club for years to come, but have sellable assets that will command good fees in the market should they cash in. Lampard consistently showed faith in Chelsea’s homegrown youth where previous coaches did not – even when his selections of Mount and Abraham were publicly questioned by Mourinho after a 4-0 humiliation against Manchester United to begin the 2019-20 season.
Grumblings of discontent were at a minimum when Lampard was benefitting from his new signings being fit and available for selection. They were playing entertaining football but flair players such as Ziyech and Pulisic rarely performed together due to injury issues.
It has come to light that Lampard’s “dream job” was not always a joy for him. The tense environment and array of personalities with their own interests made things difficult.
Such was the awkwardness of the situation, an individual with a connection to the coaching staff says: “If it had been any other club than Chelsea, Lampard would have walked out in the summer. But obviously his connection with the fans and what Chelsea means to him meant he was always going to try to make things work.
“From what I can tell, he felt it was like pissing against the wind. He experienced difficult relationships with a lot of people and wasn’t always sure who he could trust. He would have a conversation with one person but wasn’t sure what they’d be saying about him afterwards. He found the politics hard, a constant battle.”
Chelsea’s demise as a major force began long before Lampard arrived. An indication of that is the fact they haven’t won a knockout game in the Champions League since reaching the semi-finals in 2014.
Hundreds of millions have been spent on players that no longer represent the club like Bakayoko, Danny Drinkwater and Alvaro Morata. The loss of Chelsea’s best player in Eden Hazard to Real Madrid 18 months ago has yet to be compensated for despite the summer investment.
Chelsea’s title triumph in 2017 is the only time they have competed near the top of the table in the previous five seasons. A negative culture has been allowed to fester. As one source puts it: “When things are going wrong at Chelsea, you will also find there are many people that will be happy to blame anything but their own area. It is something Lampard was trying to change, but it was going to take time. It is a deeply sad problem that has been there for many years.
“When players have been around the place for a long while and get contract extensions, you have to question what are the standards Chelsea are trying to set?”
Fortune was not on his side with COVID-19, which impacted a number of his players, preventing him from having a proper pre-season to work with the new recruits.
Chelsea used his communication skills in their successful pursuit of Havertz, Werner and Ziyech. The Englishman assured the trio that they and he were part of a three-year plan to regain the Premier League title. He worked hard to help Havertz as he struggled to settle too. But Lampard lasted only half of his three-year contract.
Lampard warned everyone, including the hierarchy, that a title bid was unlikely in 2020-21, that the arrivals would require patience to settle into a new league and country.
From the moment he returned to the club as manager in 2019, Lampard felt his toughest battle would be to change attitudes in the dressing room. There were players there who had won trophies before, at Chelsea and elsewhere, but he had noted how during Mourinho’s third season in charge and Conte’s second, as well as Maurizio Sarri’s brief tenure, players had shown a tendency to lose faith in their manager — and in each other — during difficult periods.
His concern was that too many players appeared to slip too easily into crisis mode, where he had seen too many heads drop and bad habits take hold after a bad performance or two. One source suggested that Chelsea had become “a club of self-preservation” rather than one where a powerful team spirit pushes them to greater heights.
As he pointed out last season, this was a team who had not come close to challenging for the Premier League title since the 2016-17 success and had not gone beyond the first knockout stage of the Champions League since 2013-14. There was a need to rebuild the squad, integrating new signings and (importantly) homegrown talent but also to change the culture of the team. He felt he inherited too many players who had failed to show the necessary fighting spirit consistently and were unlikely to change their bad habits. He wanted to rebuild with younger players, but that came with risks and the expectation of setbacks and “pain” as they learned on the job.
There were times when he felt he was making significant progress. In recent weeks he has continually referenced how positive things appeared as recently as December, when they beat Leeds to go top of the Premier League. That was their 16th match unbeaten in all competitions since a 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool on September 20. He felt optimistic about the way the team was evolving, which only increased his sense of alarm and exasperation at the way they succumbed to an individual and collective loss of confidence in the weeks that followed.
As the pressure intensified, Lampard became fixated on improving the collective attitude of his players, desperate for them to take more responsibility on the pitch and to apply themselves better in doing the basics of the job.
And he was worried about the balance of the squad throughout his time in the dugout. “He knew there was a lot of work still to do,” one close confidant explains. “He wanted to get players out because he was worried about the effect it would have on training and the spirit.
“On a bigger note for Lampard, it was about building a culture and a way. It’s been a process and something difficult to hit head on with no new signings last year and modern players at times can be difficult. Chelsea needed freshness in personnel and good people, which the new signings were starting to provide.”
A facet against Lampard was the defensive record last season — they conceded 54 times in the league, which was the worst record in the top half of the Premier League. Only three teams conceded more from set pieces (15). The additions of Chilwell, Silva and Mendy have seen an improvement in both departments despite the recent downturn.
But having seen nine different managers leave during his playing career at Chelsea, Lampard was more aware than anyone of the price that has to be paid if you fall short of Abramovich’s standards.
With Chelsea needing Champions League football next season in order to continue their rebuild, the latest results were putting their chances of securing it at risk, even though other teams around them have also been struggling with inconsistency.
One of his detractors insisted: “I think the job was too big and came too early for him.”
We will now never find out.
because im 100% sure a lot of players he wanted never got bought. they provided him with DVB instead lol. And he never lost his shyt publicly lmao
we don't discriminate 
useless wank but at least he’s our useless wank. 
