Frank Lampard

[The only place to be 11,313]

give essien a run out. he coped very well vs arsenal

or use kdb or oscar in lampard 4-3-3 role

but of course we will see lampard dragging his heavy legs onto the pitch to get steamrolled by wanyama and sneiderlin

There are over four days between now and the Southampton game. I think that's enough time for him to recover and put in another performance like the one he did against West Ham.

Look, if he puts in a good performance and we win people will be happy. And if he puts in a bad performance and we lose, well a lot of people will still be happy.

That's not true, Oscar could really do well there, even KdB is worth a shot.

Now we're getting into the realms of 'maybes'.

Neither of those has played there for us so I don't know if they could do a job.

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

This forum will go crazy if he starts against Southampton.Jose seriously needs to rest Lampard and Iva for the weekend game.They've played a lot and require at least one game on the bench.

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Now we're getting into the realms of 'maybes'.

Neither of those has played there for us so I don't know if they could do a job.

Not for us I know but Oscar has shown what he is capable of and he has every bit of quality to play in that position. He was excellent to play deeper for Brazil if it counts for reference.

[Styles 9,790]

There are over four days between now and the Southampton game. I think that's enough time for him to recover and put in another performance like the one he did against West Ham.

Look, if he puts in a good performance and we win people will be happy. And if he puts in a bad performance and we lose, well a lot of people will still be happy.

Now we're getting into the realms of 'maybes'.

Neither of those has played there for us so I don't know if they could do a job.

Southampton are much better than West Ham. They are very athletic and press incredibly hard. West Ham are one of the worst teams we will play all season, having that as a yardstick of Lampard's ability and importance to the team is misguided. We saw how he fared last night against an antletic and aggresive pressing team and I fear Lampard will really struggle again if he plays on Sunday.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Southampton are much better than West Ham. They are very athletic and press incredibly hard. West Ham are one of the worst teams we will play all season, having that as a yardstick of Lampard's ability and importance to the team is misguided. We saw how he fared last night against an antletic and aggresive pressing team and I fear Lampard will really struggle again if he plays on Sunday.

Unfortunately there's not much we can do about it except look for him to have a good game. West Ham might be weak but he put in a very hard-working performance against West Ham and we applied enough pressure to disrupt whatever gameplan they had. We can't approach Southampton afraid of how they might force us to play, because we're a better team than them.

It's not like the other options are markedly better either. Mikel had a shit game at the St. Marys last season, but he probably has to play as well and reach the levels he did against West Ham.

Like always, it's easy to say why we shouldn't do something but harder to say what we should do.

[Thendo 1,088]

Asbolutely. That is how he should be being utilized, but unfortunately one of the club's failings this summer was to sign the experienced, established CM we all wanted; ie. Alonso or de Rossi. Yes, we signed MvG, but the issue was he was only going to play every now and again as a young man learning his trade. I know he is hardly a midfield saviour, but I do feel we should be playing Essien more to relieve the strain on Lamps. The less he plays, the fitter he'll be; and it is when he is performing his box-to-box role that he is at his best. We can't expect him to put in the lung-busting shifts he was able to do before his lengthy lay-off in 2010/11. He's an old man, in footballing terms, and we have to respect that. Sadly, we have to play him because the club made a bad call in leaving us with just five recognised CMs this season for three positions in a 4-3-3, or two positions in the 4-2-3-1.

I agree completely, he will have much more of an positive impact on the game if we play him less often. As it is now I really hope The Bison starts on Sunday instead of Lamps if we go for the 4-3-3, shame he isn't in our CL-squad. Otherwise I would like to see Oscar or maybe even KdB trying to adapt playing alongside Ramires and Mikel because we really need a solution for this problem especially now when we go through one of the most hectic periods of the season in december.

In the January window we really need to make this our primary objective.

[Styles 9,790]

Unfortunately there's not much we can do about it except look for him to have a good game. West Ham might be weak but he put in a very hard-working performance against West Ham and we applied enough pressure to disrupt whatever gameplan they had. We can't approach Southampton afraid of how they might force us to play, because we're a better team than them.

It's not like the other options are markedly better either. Mikel had a shit game at the St. Marys last season, but he probably has to play as well and reach the levels he did against West Ham.

Like always, it's easy to say why we shouldn't do something but harder to say what we should do.

We have better individuals but I'd say they work better as a unit having watched them several times this season. Whatever game-plan we have rarely seems to work and we get by on moments of individual brilliance.

Fair enough we're short on numbers in the middle of the park so underperforming players will have to be played through poor form. The MVG injury is really starting to take its toll.

It'd be great if Jose got creative and tried to use players like De Buryne/Oscar deeper which allowed Mata more minutes.

[The Skipper 20,593]

We played what was essentially a three man midfield against West Ham and had great success, so why would you change that for Basel?

The problem then arises that we only have three men who play in that midfield role available. Essien wasn't registered and Van Ginkel is out injured so who exactly was available?

All three midfielders were awful last night, and they can't all be dropped for Southampton. I'm sure some will now say Lampard has been awful all season (as they had been doing incorrectly before the West Ham game) but there's an extended rest between now and the Southampton game and I'd back a few of those players to get back to the level they were at on Saturday.

Yeah I agree but Mourinho really should've rested the likes of Oscar, Lamps, Ramires etc.

There was no need to start them IMO especially when we have Southampton on the weekend. Jose got it wrong in that aspect and he knows it - there's no reason to play a 35 year old in every game when we have other players who are more than capable of stepping up and putting in a performance.

[robsblubot 3,222]

Not disagreeing with most of the points being made - agree with most actually.

Now, back to Basel game, he was a bit pedestrian on the ball, but it is very difficult to pass the ball when you don't have anyone to pass the football to. The off-the-ball movement of all players was sub par. We had a bad game; we were under pressure from Basel and did not cope well with that. Every player who received the ball in midfield had no other teammate close enough to play quick passes, which is the best remedy against pressure and tight spaces.

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

Direct quotes from Lampard a day or two after the West Ham game:

"We've got a lot of attacking talent in the team and the manager has got to try and get the best out of that," Lampard, who ended a 10-game run without a top-flight goal at the weekend, said.

"I'm playing pretty regularly at the minute and I feel fit and strong.

"I want to show that I am good enough to carry on playing and I'll try to do that. I don't want to be a passenger sitting on the bench not doing much, even in my older years.

"As you get older you adapt your game and you probably don't bomb up and down as much as you always did, but you can use your experience, and whether you're deeper or not, if you've got a little bit of license to get forward then you can do at the right times."

Basically his idea of being a passenger is sitting on the bench or not starting games rather than being a passenger on the pitch. It's a scary prospect to think he'll keep playing every game at this club.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Yeah I agree but Mourinho really should've rested the likes of Oscar, Lamps, Ramires etc.

So we've got three midfielders available, we got success playing a three man midfield and you want to rest two of the midfielders?

We're thin in that position so how we can rest them I don't know. There were about 5 days between the Basel and Southampton games, so resting them really wasn't an issue and was probably far outweighed by the prospect of building on the win against West Ham.

[Phil Driver 503]

Hi must be the first name on the sheet after the West Ham game where he was outstanding and dominated the midfield ,the Tuesday game came to early but now with the proper rest between games we need Lampard to carry on where he left off v West Aam .look at Giggs for Utd at 40 and man of the match yesterday preferred to Anderson I see a similar parallel at Chelsea with Lamps and Mikel ,one is older but has been world class with still mileage and Anderson and Mikel are well ,not good enough.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Hi must be the first name on the sheet after the West Ham game where he was outstanding and dominated the midfield ,the Tuesday game came to early but now with the proper rest between games we need Lampard to carry on where he left off v West Aam .look at Giggs for Utd at 40 and man of the match yesterday preferred to Anderson I see a similar parallel at Chelsea with Lamps and Mikel ,one is older but has been world class with still mileage and Anderson and Mikel are well ,not good enough.

He's had the same amount of rest between West Ham and Basel as he would have between Basel and Southampton. He shouldn't be in the squad at all tbh, give him a decent rest.

Giggs rarely plays that much, that's why he's always fresh when he plays for Man United. Lampard doesn't get such luxuries.

[Phil Driver 503]

He should have rested against Basel ? Saturday night / Tues is 2 days rest Tues /Sun is 4 days by my reckoning and perfect for recovery and Giggs is five years older.

But the whole team bar Cech Terry and Cahill looked jaded in Basle not just Lampard,him and Oscar really put in a hard days graft at West Ham and they both paid and Oscar is not 30 . Static players really should not need a rest ,Hence Terry ,Cech and Cahill did ok ,I do not know what happened to Mikel in Basle because he is a static player and should not have been tired?

[The Skipper 20,593]

So we've got three midfielders available, we got success playing a three man midfield and you want to rest two of the midfielders?

We're thin in that position so how we can rest them I don't know. There were about 5 days between the Basel and Southampton games, so resting them really wasn't an issue and was probably far outweighed by the prospect of building on the win against West Ham.

Similarly, there were only 2 days between the WHU and the Basel game - hence why I said I wanted them to be rested. I even said before the game that we should rest people and give players like KDB, Mata, Schurrle etc. some more game time which we could've easily done against Basel.

Oscar, Ramires, Iva etc. have played a lot but they're youngish enough to carry on playing after 2 days of rest. The same can't be said about SFL. Felt it was unwise for Jose to keep playing a 35 year old who obviously doesn't have the stamina to do what he did years ago - should've saved him for Southampton.

[Phil Driver 503]

Must start ,the class player on the pitch at West Ham ,Basle came to soon and the legs were not there as with Oscar ,but that effort at West Ham should not be forgotten where he was class, The game for a rest should be Sunderland away in the League cup, where fodder like Mikel can have a run when the stakes are not so high.

[lucio 5,395]

Must start ,the class player on the pitch at West Ham ,Basle came to soon and the legs were not there as with Oscar ,but that effort at West Ham should not be forgotten where he was class, The game for a rest should be Sunderland away in the League cup, where fodder like Mikel can have a run when the stakes are not so high.

your a bum bandit

[Phil Driver 503]

So you missed the man of the match at West Ham? 9.6 on whoscored.com and not a sideways pass on show .