Jase

That was different though. We set up to play on the break then, we at least had an idea to how to play on the break. In the last 2 games, we set up more to play on the defensive by forgoing any attacking plans. I never said anything about sacking Lampard.

Everything needs time...sure...but we also don't have time in this crazy season. As I said before, I will wait till the next few games to see whether we are actually building up to anything because while it's nice to see us defend properly for a change, the sudden change in approach in the last two games feels too sudden, too drastic, too out of nowhere. It's almost as if Lampard was reacting to the increased questions, outside pressure etc he was getting after the Southampton game more than anything else. Not to mention, if he could suddenly sacrifice our attacking play to be more solid defensively, then why didn't he do it last season? We kept playing the same way last season despite all the problems and that was with worse players than this season.

But my point is we should have maybe lowered our asking price a little to get rid of the deadwoods, the unwanted players etc to make some more funds available. And had Rice been available for say 30-40 million instead of 80 million, am sure the club would have just gone for him regardless of selling players. Don't think there's any red flag about our FFP situation.

I suppose it's easy for me to say it but the club should probably have taken a bit of a financial loss and just get rid of the deadwoods - be it on loan or outright sale. Instead, the club seemed set on accepting only a certain price for Player X, Y, Z. Otherwise, no business. Between Jorginho, Kovacic and Kante, we're one injury away from being down to bare bones in that area.

But we aren't exactly even winning now...

Find it crazy that Lampard did nothing to address the midfield in the summer whatsoever, especially when you think that he played in one of the best midfields around during his playing days. He should know the importance of having a good, strong midfield and even more so after watching us having problems last season. Instead, we are having to make do with scraps again, at least until January when we will hopefully sign someone good.

Yes but it's only been 2 games and at the same time, I don't think Roman sanctioned the purchase of new attacking players worth around 150 million this summer to see us play boring football and produce less than 0.5 in the xGs...

Not sure what to make of Lampard's comments about our attacking play. On one hand, he seems almost nonchalant about it, like he's thinking the players will sort themselves out. On the other hand, he knows he has to sort it out but is putting a brave face on.

This is only our 2nd clean sheet in 22 Premier League away games under Lampard.

The stats seem to suggest they were on the wrong end of a smash-and-grab... https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1492044/Live/Spain-LaLiga-2020-2021-Sevilla-Eibar

They will help improve us but there are still question marks over the team structure, especially when the midfield is still a problem. And the absence of Mendy and Silva, for example, weren't the reason why we got dominated or couldn't deal with Southampton's press last weekend.

Are you really gonna say our approach against Sevilla and Man United were not very defensive, more defensive than usual? We restricted them but we also barely created any chance of note compared to previous games. That Palace game is not a great example simply because they are always very pragmatic and defensive under Hodgson. We also kept them up with ease in the same fixture last season and that was without Mendy, Silva and Chilwell.

Because he's a year older? Because Ligue 1 isn't the same as the Premier League in terms of the pace and intensity? Moreover, it's not like he had a clean bill of health last season - https://www.transfermarkt.com/thiago-silva/leistungsdaten/spieler/29241/plus/0?saison=2019. And Lampard already said last week that he knows he'll have to manage his game time carefully. Not sure how you can confidently say that after seeing all the games we have had under Lampard...but since you're making this game sound very easy, then why play Silva at all?

No. We have Burnley away on Saturday and it's a 3pm kick off.

One would hope so but I have my doubts based on how things have gone so far. The last 2 games have been a step in the direction in terms of defensive improvement but that came at the cost of sacrificing our attacking play almost completely - and that despite boasting Havertz, Werner, Pulisic, Ziyech etc. Jury still out, IMO.

Yes, the process will take time but at the same time, it's only 3 wins from 9 games in all competitions this season and 1 in the last 6 and while we have suffered only 1 defeat in that run (or 2 if you include the penalty shootout loss at Spurs), results are needed to buy us that time, to buy Lampard time to do what he wants. But we aren't seeing that at the moment because for one reason or another. As Ziyech said, "it will take time but we also don't have time". Again, I get that implementing a cohesive attacking unit will take time but have we seen any semblance of that this season? In fact, have we seen any of that throughout Lampard's tenure? Last 2 games were better in terms of team structure but on a whole, we don't have really have a team structure, we don't really have any patterns of play or attacking patterns under Lampard. So many things have been chopped and changed - some times unnecessarily - by Lampard throughout his time here and it's hard to pin-point exactly what he wants to do.

TBH, I would wait and see the next few games and results before we start proclaiming about any sort of progression under Lampard based on the last 2 games. Our main problem has been having the right balance between defence and attack without sacrificing one or the other. All fine playing defensively against Sevilla and Man United but it also meant we posed next to no threat whatsoever against them (0.4 and 0.21 xG against Sevilla and Man United respectively). The upcoming games against Krasnodar, Burnley, Rennes, Sheffield United, Newcastle and Rennes again will tell us more because I don't think any of us are going to accept similar defensive setup/approach in those games.

Still doesn't necessarily Mourinho's over cautious approach in those kind of games.

Man United away in 2013/14. Man City away in 2014/15 and 2015/16. Same manager who also went and parked the bus at Basel!

All fair points. It's like what Ziyech said recently - "it'll take time but we also don't have time". Team progression and getting results are definitely needed in the coming weeks if Lampard doesn't want the pressure to be even more on him. Same also applies to his backroom staff. It's all like the blind leading the blind at the moment and don't think we can afford that at a club like ours for too long.

Any chance our xG will be better in this than the last 2 games? Asking for a friend...

Mendy is really one of few players who can't afford to get injured (or miss games basically) until we get another reliable GK as his backup!

Don't think Kante has been helped by the fact he's being run into the ground by Lampard...

The problem is, we don't dominate games enough, like really impose ourselves on the opposition for players like Havertz to shine. With the exception of the Palace game (and I guess the Barnsley one as well), we have either been playing too defensively or been involved in basketball games with next to control for players like him to hurt the opposition.

I don't know if Lampard will go to 4-3-3 at some point but since he hasn't done it so far this season, then it's all the more stupid that we did not address our midfield problems and allowed some to leave. Because we pretty much only have Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic and Gilmour for the midfield two. Jorginho and Kante are getting run into the ground. Kovacic not getting many minutes for whatever reason. Gilmour is injured and still young. EDIT: Oh wait, he did against Liverpool but only 1 game...