🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lampard

[Tomo 21,751]

12 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

And to make it more super fun we have Spurs 22nd December and Arsenal 29th December.. 3 league games in between that first Arsenal game before we play them again in January 

Unless something drastically changes within the next month I will be very disappointed if we don't take minimum 8/9 points from the games vs the North London clubs.

[Jase 43,479]

14 minutes ago, Laylabelle said:

And to make it more super fun we have Spurs 22nd December and Arsenal 29th December.. 3 league games in between that first Arsenal game before we play them again in January 

All the more important to rack up the points against the other sides. 

[!Hazard! 3,394]

Apparently there's a chance Lewis Hamilton is getting knighted as soon as at upcoming New Years Honours. When is Lampard gonna get it? 

[Milan 17,958]

6 hours ago, !Hazard! said:

Apparently there's a chance Lewis Hamilton is getting knighted as soon as at upcoming New Years Honours. When is Lampard gonna get it? 

Sir Lewis Hamilton  You've got to be kidding...

[LAM09 7,056]

No idea if this has been posted, but it's nice to see Lampard making sure the players stay in line.

[Jase 43,479]

How Chelsea beat the low block: Frank Lampard has devised clever way to beat defensive teams without being hit on the counter 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/11/11/chelsea-beat-low-block-frank-lampard-has-devised-clever-way/

An early season hammering by Manchester United raised a few concerns about the way Chelsea play, over-committing in attack at the expense of defensive stability, but with the club sat in second place in the table before Liverpool vs Manchester City, something is clearly working.

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea are getting results by playing entertaining football and opposition teams are so concerned about this they sit deep against them to prevent being opened up by slick forward play. It’s a conundrum Liverpool and Manchester City often encounter - how to beat a defending team sat in a compact block without being hit on the counter. 

Roy Hodgson opted for exactly this highly defensive setup in Crystal Palace’s 2-0 defeat on Saturday. By staying compact in a low block, Palace’s plan was to frustrate and tease Chelsea into sending players forward in an attempt to gain numerical superiority, leaving spaces to exploit on the counter as a result. It worked well in the first half, with Chelsea limited to few chances.

“We’ve had a few teams come here who are tough to break down and it is a test,” said Lampard after the match. “It’s about how do you break them down with the ball at your feet, it’s also switching on not to get hit with the sucker punch. Palace are absolutely setup to do that with Andros [Townsend] and Zaha.” 

However, Lampard appears to have devised a clever way to overcome this problem - overloading the wide areas.

Although nominally a 4-2-3-1, Lampard’s team attack in a front four with the forwards covering each others’ positions to keep a diamond shape in attack. Christian Pulisic, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Willian did this throughout, and it’s no coincidence that the majority of Chelsea’s play came down the left where the electric Pulisic was positioned. 39 per cent of Chelsea’s attacks were focused on this side.

For the first goal, Kovacic and N’Golo Kante both were both in the left half-space behind the front four. Emerson is wide left and Reece James right but the sheer number of bodies in the final third means Palace’s attackers must drop back to help, limiting their ability to counter.

Fluid movement off the ball ensured Chelsea maintained a forward diamond shape throughout and by positioning themselves in a four across the Palace defence, they kept every Palace defender busy.

The yellow line above is the run Willian makes to take a pass from Kovacic. In doing so, he restores the Chelsea forward diamond shape, drags a centre-back with him and is able to flick a brilliant pass through to Abraham.

Abraham runs at goal and slots into the bottom corner. 

A goal down, Palace now needed to open up a bit to get back in the game but Chelsea kept sending players forward, buoyed after taking the lead. Reece James was kept busy minding Wilfried Zaha - Palace's main counter-attacking threat - which meant Willian needed to pull out wide right to ensure Chelsea kept their width.

With three forwards on one half of the pitch and Willian free on the other the attack took a lop-sided shape, and it is precisely this that allows Chelsea to gain numerical advantage against a team sat in a block.

Chelsea created overloads in the wide left channel and left half-space as Pulisic, Mount and Abraham attacked in a three against two Palace defenders. By loading players in wide areas Palace were unable to block the centre of the pitch due to being constantly outnumbered on the wings. 

In the buildup to Chelsea’s second goal, Matteo Kovacic runs with the ball on the right with four players occupying the left half of the pitch in a diamond.

The play is moved to the left, Pulisic gets on the ball in the final third, and Chelsea have an overload. Three Chelsea forwards occupy two Palace defenders with Michy Batshuayi (on for Abraham) pulling away to create a gap between the central defenders.

The ball is sent into the area and Batshuayi controls it. Palace’s defence has been pulled apart and scurries to get into a solid line.

Pulisic reads the play though and ghosts in behind the Palace defenders, whose attention has turned to the ball and the threat of Batshuayi…

And this allows him to arrive in space inside the six yard box to head past the goalkeeper. Willian has stayed wider on the right to offer another option in space and keep the Palace left-back away from the centre-backs.

"One can always hope you can meet an opponent who’s a bit jaded or not playing to their full potential," Hodgson said after the match. "We weathered the early storm well, the shape of the team [was good], the players worked hard to control an opponent in great form. I have no criticism of them in any shape or form."

Chelsea are great fun to watch when they flow forward like this but whether it will work against teams like Liverpool and Manchester City, their next opponent, is another matter. City will be wise to the wide overloads and built to hit Chelsea in transition, just as Manchester United did at the start of the season, and it could lead to an end-to-end goalfest or a pummelling for Lampard’s side. 

It’s a high risk, high reward strategy but at the moment few teams can cope with Chelsea’s attacking might.

[Jase 43,479]

59 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

No idea if this has been posted, but it's nice to see Lampard making sure the players stay in line.
 

I know football players earn a lot of money but those fines are brutal.

[LAM09 7,056]

I know football players earn a lot of money but those fines are brutal.

Once bitten, twice shy. [emoji1]

[Atomiswave 6,117]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I know football players earn a lot of money but those fines are brutal.

Sure are....but hey if it works it works.....last thing we want is our youth going the spurs and utd way. They are more like celebs than ballers, more like clothing line sellers than ballers.

[manpe 10,861]

4 hours ago, LAM09 said:

No idea if this has been posted, but it's nice to see Lampard making sure the players stay in line.
 

Makes me wonder how much money the club has collected already  Also makes you realize the rich do live in a different world.

[LAM09 7,056]

Makes me wonder how much money the club has collected already [emoji3] Also makes you realize the rich do live in a different world.

Probably quite a bit. It does make you rethink life, though.

Hope a wage gap is introduced eventually tbh

[NikkiCFC 8,324]

13 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

They are more like celebs than ballers, more like clothing line sellers than ballers.

Speaking of this why the hell Lingard thought someone would want to buy his clothing!? He has his own brand 😂

[Atomiswave 6,117]

5 hours ago, NikkiCFC said:

Speaking of this why the hell Lingard thought someone would want to buy his clothing!? He has his own brand 😂

Gods knows man....just cashing or trying to cashing in on their so called famousy. But if im not mistaken his line has crashed and burned.

[manpe 10,861]

6 hours ago, Atomiswave said:

Gods knows man....just cashing or trying to cashing in on their so called famousy. But if im not mistaken his line has crashed and burned.

Lingard is a horrible player, I never understood the hype around him other than a few good games he's had throughout the years. Willian is king of consistency compared to him.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

On 12/11/2019 at 1:56 PM, LAM09 said:

No idea if this has been posted, but it's nice to see Lampard making sure the players stay in line.
 

If there was a fine for being late for the ball Alonso would be skint !

[Atomiswave 6,117]

1 hour ago, manpe said:

Lingard is a horrible player, I never understood the hype around him other than a few good games he's had throughout the years. Willian is king of consistency compared to him.

Beacuse he is a utd player.....and he is English. Enough material to make him look big.

He is a crappy player earning huge amounts.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[LAM09 7,056]

 

I thought VAR was "gifting" Liverpool the title? [emoji848]

[!Hazard! 3,394]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

 

Spurs in relegation form regardless of VAR being there or not. Enjoyable

[Jase 43,479]

Welcome to life under Lampard at Chelsea… just don’t be late

https://theathletic.com/1375805/2019/11/14/welcome-to-life-under-lampard-at-chelsea-just-dont-be-late/?source=shared-article

Amid the many eye-watering sums involved in the leaked fines system that Frank Lampard has implemented at Chelsea this season, one particularly large number stood out.

The £20,000 penalty for any late arrivals to training represents around a quarter of the average Chelsea first-team player’s weekly wage. It is intended to be a powerful deterrent, and it is working: sources have told The Athletic that no one has fallen foul of it yet this season.

In reality, any first-team player late for the start of training at Chelsea — which generally begins at 11am under Lampard — would have an even bigger fine waiting for them. Players are actually expected to arrive at Cobham no later than the specified ‘report time’ set by the manager, normally 30 minutes to an hour before the session starts.

This is in place to enable Lampard’s coaches to make sure the players are present and fully prepared for the start of training, rather than turning up at Cobham with only minutes to spare and rushing to get changed.

As made clear by Lampard’s fine system, there is an immediate £2,500 penalty for missing the ‘report time’ and a further £2,500 for every subsequent 15 minutes that passes before the player’s arrival. This means anyone late for the start of training would actually be required to fork out between £25,000 and £30,000.

It only takes a glance at the fines list to realise the biggest point of emphasis: seven of the 12 infractions begin with the word ‘late’. Like many other managers, Lampard considers punctuality to be an indicator of respect — and not just for his authority.

When he gathered his Chelsea players together at Cobham during pre-season, Lampard stressed the need for them to show the same respect for the less heralded employees at the training ground — the canteen workers, the ground staff, the security guards and so on — as they would for him, his backroom team and each other.

Preparations for training begin early in the morning, with facilities staff carrying out countless tasks including pitch maintenance and making sure all necessary equipment is in working order. If players are late those efforts are undermined, and Lampard considers it a slap in the face for everyone who plays a role in the team’s success.

If they want, Chelsea players are welcome to arrive at Cobham early and have breakfast in the canteen. On any given day the majority of the squad do this while the rest eat at home, valuing time with their families. But the food service closes no later than one hour before training starts, with no exceptions; Lampard does not want his players training with full stomachs.

On the wider subject of nutrition, Lampard trusts his players to look after themselves. Antonio Conte brought his own nutritionist, Tiberio Ancora, to Chelsea and banned a host of foods while emphasising seeds, sliced fruit and nuts. Nothing is explicitly off-limits under the current regime, but players are still required to meet ‘body composition targets’ set by the sports science department.

Lampard’s approach to maintaining discipline has been well received by the squad, in part because it is clear that he has always practised what he preaches. As a player his reputation for consistently being last to leave the training pitch was well earned, and he would religiously spend 20 minutes in the steam room after sessions.

As a manager he remains a stickler for routine, to the point of superstition. “I walk the dog at certain times and on certain days,” he said last week. “I will walk her at a certain time, for a certain route.

“I take her out in the morning. I go out early before I leave, I take her down to the local coffee shop, get my takeaway coffee, walk around, pick up her s**t, put it in the bin, walk her home then go to training.

“I like going to the gym as well — that’s another one of my superstitions. I have to do exactly the same amount of time on the bike — 50 minutes — or the exact route that I run. Things like that. If I don’t do them, then I can feel like, ridiculously, it might have an effect on results.

“If it was something that was painful I would probably try and get rid of it, but it actually fits nicely. I like going to the gym, I like walking the dog, I like eating pasta as a pre-match meal, so I stick with certain things. We are all different, and I don’t completely rely on it. I joke a little bit, but I think it shows how much you want to do well and win sometimes, whether it has an effect or not.”

Lampard did not devise Chelsea’s fines system. Every permanent manager at Stamford Bridge in the last 10 years has run an equivalent, with many rules remaining consistent across regimes and a few being tweaked rather than replaced. Some managers are more controlling than others; Andre Villas-Boas personally monitored the sign-in sheets at Cobham to find out which players were late.

Those at Cobham speak of a self-policing culture in the squad, where players encourage each other to stick to the rules laid down by the manager. Having worked under nine different bosses in his own 13-year career at Chelsea, Lampard seems to have struck the right balance between laying down the law to his players and empowering them to behave as adults.

Phones are to be put away for the duration of team meetings and meals, and all players must travel back on the team coach after away matches unless they have a very good reason. There can be no special cases, and the well-being of the group is prized above any individuals. It is an extension of the approach Lampard has taken to picking his team — with merit the only guiding philosophy.

Other rules on the leaked list are included to uphold club policy. Players informing management if they want to use days off to travel abroad, for example, is standard because their whereabouts must be passed on to the Football Association, who conduct random out of competition drug tests and can either turn up at training grounds or players’ private addresses at any time.

In the modern age of marginal gains in elite football, it is also important for Chelsea’s medical staff to know if a player has been on a long-haul flight during their time off, so that their programme of recovery and physical preparation can be tweaked accordingly.

The leaked list states that all money generated by fines “goes towards team activities and charitable bodies” but, in practice, sources have told The Athletic that the funds generated are entirely funnelled into programmes affiliated to the Chelsea Foundation; if the squad go on a team bonding day, they will pay for the activity out of their own pockets.

Any affected Chelsea player also has the right to contest their fine, but what follows is not a formal process — merely a conversation with the manager in which the issue can be resolved.

The mark of any effective fines system is the maintenance of discipline without negatively impacting unity or morale. All the evidence so far suggests Lampard has got it right; at Cobham the mood is overwhelmingly positive, and on the pitch Chelsea keep winning.