Jase

Also forgot to mention, Lampard then compounded his weird selection at Everton by playing Abraham and Werner out wide, on either side of Giroud later in the game and we went nowhere with it (surprise surprise!).

Desailly on why Giroud will never be as important for us as he is for France... https://www.goal.com/en/news/giroud-will-never-be-as-important-for-chelsea-as-he-is-for/v0sc4yyb9ovn1f0832e0fpgmg

Lampard doesn't deserve to get the benefit of the doubt on this one, because it's common sense. If you don't have the players to play a certain system, then you should look to change it to fit the players available and not try to fit square pegs in round hole. If we as fans could sit here, pre-game, and talked about changing formation because we didn't have wingers available, then surely Lampard should have been able to see that too and done that, no? Plus, it's not as if our absentees were like Everton's at the weekend, where their full backs were out injured and they had to play CBs in FB positions. A change of system in their case is impossible but ours? Playing under successful managers obviously doesn't guarantee that person will go on to be a successful manager but I some times wonder, did Lampard learn nothing from playing under some of the most successful and tactically astute managers - e.g. Mourinho, Ancelotti and even Benitez? Because some of his decision making and game management decisions are just difficult to understand at times.

Admittedly, Lampard did go to the extreme last season by changing formation almost every game but it's just kinda bizarre that he has gone from that to not even changing it at all this season. I understand the need to have some sort of consistency but then we have games like the one at Everton where we had no wingers and Lampard decided to put square pegs in round hole instead.

Over the last few years, I some times wonder why I even torture myself by watching football and that's not because of the controversies either.

He's also trying to get Giroud to stay in January...

Giroud has started upfront in the same amount of games as Werner (5), while Abraham has started 10 games upfront. As you have alluded to, because Giroud is not quick and doesn't move well enough, that can become a problem in creating spaces in tight areas for others to operate in. If we can't play off him upfront, then we would probably become predictable by just dumping crosses for him to score. Everything becomes too focused on him to score and not enough variation in our play. If he converts everything like he did at Sevilla, then that's great but we know that will only happen once in a blue moon.

Put it this way - if we don't win the title, then a Top 4 finish every season is a must. We shouldn't be celebrating it but that should be a bare minimum for a club like us. Can't be yo-yo-ing between being in the Top 4 and being outside the Top 4. As for this season, I suppose everyone is free to have their own expectations but at the same time, there's a case of expecting far too much, having unrealistic expectations and then being disappointed because of those unrealistic expectations in the first place.

Has anyone noticed that United's home and away form are the opposite of Liverpool's?

There is something I've been curious about. Maybe there are some perks of being an English manager but have noticed that there have hardly been stories about Lampard being in danger of getting the sacked, players questioning the manager's methods, players being unhappy etc whenever we have a bad run of results ever since he took over. Compared it to previous managers, there were always some stories from journalists on one of those at some point but there's been none under Lampard, as far as I remember. Now, maybe the club have really changed tact from the past and trying to be more patient, the players still believe in Lampard etc (though I really wonder if any of them is having doubts considering we are all here debating about issues within the team) and nothing is gonna happen during a bad run. At the same time though, also can't help but feel that some of the journalists who cover the club, having listened to them on podcasts and read their articles, are rather pro-Lampard/Lampard apologists and try not to publish any negative stories on him, even when they have some inside info on what's happening behind the scenes.

After 13 Premier League games: 2019/20: W - 8 D - 2 L - 3 Pts - 26 Pos. - 4th 2020/21: W - 6 D - 4 L - 3 Pts - 22 Pos. - 7th

Provided Nagelsmann doesn't wear that fancy suit again...

Apart from Pulisic, all the other attacking players were bought by Lampard (Pulisic is now part of the plan anyway). Different circumstances have meant we have not been able to have Werner, Pulisic, Ziyech, Havertz all available and fit at the same time but Lampard has gotta find a way of making this work since he got what he wanted. If not, questions will be asked, if not already.

This isn't about Lampard but judging by your constant and relentless moaning about things, I don't think you will ever be happy with any manager unless he wins every game and every trophy available. Experienced manager at the helm or not, you always have something to moan and cry about and heck, maybe even want him out after a loss or two.

Having space to shoot is one thing. Having chances to shoot is another, which is more the main point here. He's barely even getting any opportunities to get a shot away - be it blocked, off target etc - especially in the last few games. Instead of you know, passing the ball to him on the ground to get a shot off, we would rather put a high cross in for him to win in the air! Then there's also of course the fact that he's being used further out wide than he was at Leipzig, meaning he's getting even less opportunities to link up with the striker, get a shot away etc.

9 players now allowed on the bench but subs remain at 3, making the Premier League the only major competition around to not have 5 subs.

Tim Sherwood.

Just going back to this, did a breakdown of the goalscorers and number of different goalscorers based on who starts upfront and it is rather interesting... WHEN ABRAHAM STARTS AS ST Abraham **** Werner **** Havertz *** Jorginho *** CHO ** Giroud ** Chilwell ** Zouma ** Mount * Barkley * Ziyech * Silva * WHEN GIROUD STARTS AS ST Giroud ****** Zouma * Pulisic * Werner * WHEN WERNER STARTS AS ST Werner *** Jorginho * Zouma * James * Havertz * CHO * Ziyech * Pulisic * (* = number of goals scored)

Probably so but just going by Lampard's explanation last season, he should try to do the same with Havertz. Unless Havertz starts to pick it up, trying to shoehorn him now doesn't help anyone's cause.

F THEM.

Fair sentiment but Klopp had achieved success and had a track record of building a successful team over time back in Germany before going to Liverpool. Hence, there was likely the trust by their board that he will get things right eventually when he joined them. But with Lampard? He hasn't had the same or even similar achievement before managing us. So, we have nothing whatsoever to fall back on and have to judge him and his work based on what he's doing right now. He is still a relatively inexperienced manager and he's learning on the go. Whether it's fair or not on him, we're basically being "forced" to judge him based on his current work because he hasn't done anything of such in the past. I don't think Lampard has failed in this job but I also don't think he has fully convinced yet. Moreover, giving a manager time is one thing but we also do not want to give it for the sake of it. Otherwise, we could easily end up with a situation like Solskjaer at Man United, where he has been there for like 2 years and they are still yo-yoing between being good and bad on a regular basis.

That's assuming the others don't win theirs this weekend.