Jase

I know managers say diplomatic things all the time but that doesn't mean they don't say the truth from time to time. With Kante, it feels to me like you're the one who strongly thinks he will be sold and wants to stick to that agenda even when Lampard has said he doesn't want to lose him. Moreover, Lampard has also gone beyond and above to praise Kante every single time when he doesn't need to and if you compare the comments about him not wanting to sell Kante and the ones on the CHO-Bayern rumors last week for example, there is a bit of a contrast there. He pretty much said "No, Kante isn't for sale" but somewhat left the possibility open about CHO potentially leaving. As for Kepa, well, Lampard didn't say Kepa is his No.1 keeper. He just said he is our keeper and that we are bringing in competition. That was it.

Yes, it is not a secret that we want Rice but I was merely making the point on whether Lampard knows himself where he actually wants to play Rice because it was only not too long ago that he reportedly wants him as a CB and he supposedly wants him as a DM now. Am sure you may have seen the debates here about Rice in the CB role some weeks ago. Also, Lampard ruled out selling Kante less than 2 weeks ago - https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/lampard-kante-fundamental-chelsea-inter-rumours/kikd377ff8b196044jhsaej4. As for Jorginho, well, it's all just rumors at the moment even if we want him gone. Lampard hasn't spoken anything about him in the public.

Based on what has been reported by The Athletic...

Starting to wonder if Lampard actually even knows himself what he wants...

According to The Athletic's Simon Johnson, CHO's representatives are considering setting up a meeting with the club within the next week to discuss about his future.

Lampard's presser tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:30pm UK time.

Silva's press conference tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4pm UK time.

I wonder if we will ever get out of this pragmatism loophole that we are seemingly stuck in. Playing a functional player in the XI is one thing, but playing a functional player out of position just to combat the opposition just screams inferiority complex. I remember when Mourinho played Ramires on the RW with Ivanovic at RB against (freaking) Basel!

Why do I feel like you're holding back on this matter?

It wasn't as bad as the game at City but it was still close to it. I shall say no more though...

Yup, agree to disagree indeed...

Fair point but the fee issue aside, Bravo was a problem for them and Guardiola was ruthless enough to just ditch him altogether. With Kepa, we might suffer some repercussions in terms of losses but if we want to succeed, then we need to be ruthless and bin him off. Yes, I am aware of that but mind you, am not calling for Lampard's head. Merely only judging his work at the club so far.

That is you. Apologies if I am expecting a little more from Lampard, even with some players missing, especially when this is his second season. Agree to disagree.

Guardiola somewhat had the benefit of most of his current attackers were already at the club when he took over. But anyway, it is not like we haven't spent money ourselves either. As for him not having a problem like Kepa, well Claudio Bravo says hello.

You are not answering the question I asked about Guardiola. The Guardiola-Stoke bit is irrelevant considering he would never go there. He has his ideas, principles and style of play. He would only go to a club that can match that. Am not drawing definite conclusion about Lampard yet but does not mean we cannot evaluate his work in the team, especially when he's been in the job for over a year.

But look what happened in the following seasons. Guardiola had some bad lows in the first season but he stuck to his guns. He laid the foundation, his ideas and style of play in his first season and once he got his signings after that, they took off to a completely different level. Same can be said for Klopp at Liverpool as well.

I know I know. I am not finding excuses for Kepa at all here. But in some ways, should we be surprised that he can't even do the basics now when his confidence has been shot to pieces by say the dodgy defending in front of him? He wasn't even this bad, hopeless, pathetic, abysmal, shocking in his first season. Anyway, let's hope Mendy will help solve (some?) problems at the back.

It isn't about Man City and their resources. It's about Guardiola. With the exception of him going all weird in European matches, are you really gonna say that he is someone who will deviate from his ideas, his possession-attacking style of play? Do you really believe or think that he will change from that to say Tony Pulis-style football because of missing personnel?

Surprised no one has tried to say we only bought Havertz just to make Werner comfortable considering how happy they are to be playing together...

I guess Mendy will test this theory... https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/sep/21/kepa-arrizabalaga-confidence-shot-way-chelsea-play-doesnt-help-him-frank-lampard-liverpool?CMP=share_btn_tw

You are not wrong there but we should not also forget about a caveat here - Guardiola goes all weird when it comes to European football and changes things for no reason. Otherwise, he always sticks to his guns and plays his way, which is the point I made.

THANK YOU!

Oh for fuck sake! The point is Lampard has been in the job for over a year now. This season should be a continuation of the work he started last season. It should not be a reset just because it is a new season or because there are new signings. He has had plenty of time to implement his ideas, instill a defined style of play, a structure into the team and all he needed was better players to make it work, to make us better. The final pieces to complete the puzzle so to speak. He has got the players he wanted but is that defined style of play there? What is his style of play? I mentioned earlier, he went from trying to implement progressive, attacking football to suddenly making us pragmatic and even a one man team again after last season's restart. Not looking for a right or wrong answer here but I want to know, how does Lampard want us to play? What kind of identity does he want to instill? What kind of manager he is? Does he want to play attacking football or does he want to play pragmatic football? You look at Liverpool under Klopp and Man City under Klopp, you know what you will get from them, you know how they will play and the kind of things they will do. They have a defined style of play, an identity. No one is saying or expecting us to be the finished article right now but we should be seeing signs of that under Lampard, signs of what he actually wants in the team. Instead, we are flip flopping from one thing to another game to game and we are guessing the lineup week in week out under Lampard, which should be some sort of alarm bells especially now that we are into his second season here. You think Guardiola will move away from his possession, attacking football if he has a few players missing? Okay...