🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lampard

[Atomiswave 6,117]

Nahh FL deserves credit have he set the team up these last 2 games and how solid we have been. Lightning fast too which is in our dna. Keep this up, grab that fucking CL spot and its all good......the Club has to back him then.

[Jase 43,479]

One good thing I must say and I don't think this has been mentioned is that Lampard hasn't moaned much about the injury problems we have had, especially of late! He just looks at the options we have - from the first team and academy - and try to put together a competitive squad out there for matches. It's night and day compared to what someone like Mourinho is doing at Spurs. Two key players out and he has been moaning like it's the end of the world, he can't do much more etc. Hasn't even tried to look into Spurs' academy for options. Imagine the BS he would do if he's in Lampard's position right now!

[Tomo 21,751]

36 minutes ago, Jason said:

One good thing I must say and I don't think this has been mentioned is that Lampard hasn't moaned much about the injury problems we have had, especially of late! He just look at the options we have - from the first team and academy - and try to put together a competitive squad out there for matches. It's night and day compared to what someone like Mourinho is doing at Spurs. Two key players out and he has been moaning like it's the end of the world, he can't do much more etc. Hasn't even tried to look into Spurs' academy for options. Imagine the BS he would do if he's in Lampard's position right now!

Conte aswell, he wouldn't have let us leave our box in the cup game against Liverpool.

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Jase 43,479]

26 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

[Superblue 6,372]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

One good thing I must say and I don't think this has been mentioned is that Lampard hasn't moaned much about the injury problems we have had, especially of late! He just look at the options we have - from the first team and academy - and try to put together a competitive squad out there for matches. It's night and day compared to what someone like Mourinho is doing at Spurs. Two key players out and he has been moaning like it's the end of the world, he can't do much more etc. Hasn't even tried to look into Spurs' academy for options. Imagine the BS he would do if he's in Lampard's position right now!

For Troy Parrott at present, he has to be considering his future. Yes he's only just turned 18 years old and obviously has a lot to learn and develop but he has already been capped by the Republic of Ireland.

If he can't get a game at present when Spurs have no fit first team strikers, and keeps hearing Jose Mourinho talk about no options in press conferences, you have to wonder if he'll ever get chances under him. He's not even making the bench in some games.

Lampard has placed faith and belief in a player in a similar circumstance and is reaping the rewards whilst Spurs continue to falter.

[communicate 2,703]

5 hours ago, Jason said:

One good thing I must say and I don't think this has been mentioned is that Lampard hasn't moaned much about the injury problems we have had, especially of late! He just looks at the options we have - from the first team and academy - and try to put together a competitive squad out there for matches. It's night and day compared to what someone like Mourinho is doing at Spurs. Two key players out and he has been moaning like it's the end of the world, he can't do much more etc. Hasn't even tried to look into Spurs' academy for options. Imagine the BS he would do if he's in Lampard's position right now!

Tbf, losing your only two striker is very difficult. Imagine if we have to play Michy till the end of the season or in Spurs case, we have to play mount as striker. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

23 minutes ago, communicate said:

Tbf, losing your only two striker is very difficult. Imagine if we have to play Michy till the end of the season or in Spurs case, we have to play mount as striker. 

I know Spurs fans still have issues with the way he sets them up, even considering their injuries. 

[Jase 43,479]

6 hours ago, Mana said:

To be fair on Mourinho, he had used Skipp and Parrott from their youth academy.

Define "used" here. If we're talking about Mourinho just giving them minutes, then sure he has. But if we're talking about Mourinho actually integrating them into the first team and making good use of them, then no.

In Mourinho's 25 games at Spurs, Skipp and Parrott have played only 200 and 30 minutes respectively. That's like him just handing out some minutes so that he can say "Who says I don't play young players?". 

[Jase 43,479]

5 hours ago, communicate said:

Tbf, losing your only two striker is very difficult. Imagine if we have to play Michy till the end of the season or in Spurs case, we have to play mount as striker. 

Still no excuse for Mourinho to moan all the things he has and basically do nothing to try and work around the injuries. 

Our recent game against Spurs is a good example of how both managers work around problems. We had injuries, had been in inconsistent form and yet Lampard still set us up to play on the front foot and take the game to them but Mourinho set Spurs up to sit back and defend with a back 5 and launch hopeful long balls for Bergwijn, Moura etc to chase and make something of it. 

[Jase 43,479]

8 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

For Troy Parrott at present, he has to be considering his future. Yes he's only just turned 18 years old and obviously has a lot to learn and develop but he has already been capped by the Republic of Ireland.

If he can't get a game at present when Spurs have no fit first team strikers, and keeps hearing Jose Mourinho talk about no options in press conferences, you have to wonder if he'll ever get chances under him. He's not even making the bench in some games.

Lampard has placed faith and belief in a player in a similar circumstance and is reaping the rewards whilst Spurs continue to falter.

Only the other day Mourinho said Spurs fans don't even know what Parrott look like amid all of the clamoring for him to play.  

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

That sort of approach has been welcomed by supporters, like Martyn Berridge, who has been a season ticket holder for over 30 years and views Chelsea as a "work in progress".Chelsea are 34 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool

"There has been no discontent," he told BBC Sport. "Everyone realises Lampard is doing a great job with what he's got and it's so refreshing to see so many young players coming through. That's evident from all the fans who sit around me in the Shed End.

"If we win the FA Cup and finish fourth, it would be an absolutely fantastic season."

Fellow fan Rod Hood added: "I had no expectations for anything this season. I'd have been happy with relegation because I believe we could have come back from that.

"I did expect we'd buy someone in January but what has impressed me most is the academy players coming through. It's all well and good buying success, but you have to build success too and the problem with Chelsea is there has been no continuity.

TAKE THAT YOU KNOCKERS AND HATERS

[bigbluewillie 1,930]

13 minutes ago, Mana said:

Yeaaaah, no. If Lampard relegated us, he'll be out the door (in fact he'll be out before the season ends), so this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Not to mention this will seriously damage the club financially.

I wouldn't expect anything else from you.

You have the ability to turn success, by that I mean turn our fortunes around, into defeat.

[communicate 2,703]

3 hours ago, Jason said:

Still no excuse for Mourinho to moan all the things he has and basically do nothing to try and work around the injuries. 

Our recent game against Spurs is a good example of how both managers work around problems. We had injuries, had been in inconsistent form and yet Lampard still set us up to play on the front foot and take the game to them but Mourinho set Spurs up to sit back and defend with a back 5 and launch hopeful long balls for Bergwijn, Moura etc to chase and make something of it. 

I didn't watch the game so I can't give much opinion. I am not biggest Mou fan but I have sympathy for his situation. 

[Fernando 6,585]

3 hours ago, bigbluewillie said:

That sort of approach has been welcomed by supporters, like Martyn Berridge, who has been a season ticket holder for over 30 years and views Chelsea as a "work in progress".Chelsea are 34 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool

"There has been no discontent," he told BBC Sport. "Everyone realises Lampard is doing a great job with what he's got and it's so refreshing to see so many young players coming through. That's evident from all the fans who sit around me in the Shed End.

"If we win the FA Cup and finish fourth, it would be an absolutely fantastic season."

Fellow fan Rod Hood added: "I had no expectations for anything this season. I'd have been happy with relegation because I believe we could have come back from that.

"I did expect we'd buy someone in January but what has impressed me most is the academy players coming through. It's all well and good buying success, but you have to build success too and the problem with Chelsea is there has been no continuity.

TAKE THAT YOU KNOCKERS AND HATERS

I agree with the first statement, not relegation. Lol. 

Anyhow it's what I said my expectations for this season was 7 to 10th. 

So far Lampard has gone way beyond my expectations. Especially with the youth which is what I wanted since the first time Carlo was here. We wasted so much money to get a coach for that, that in the end it was one of our own ex players that did that. 

In the end Lampard has done an excellent job. 

[Jase 43,479]

57 minutes ago, communicate said:

I didn't watch the game so I can't give much opinion. I am not biggest Mou fan but I have sympathy for his situation. 

Bless you.

People would have sympathy for Mourinho if he had tried everything (e.g. playing Parrott) and nothing is working. Instead, the second Son got injured as well to go with Kane's injury, he started moaning and giving excuses, like it's the end of the world. It's predictable and tiresome. Mourinho 1.0 would probably be ashamed of Mourinho 2.0. 

[ZaynChelsea 423]

I also believe that the young Mourinho would laugh abt the current Mou.

With regard to our changes in the dugout, it is great to see an ex player lead the youngsters. However, you can't really argue with the hire & fire mentality we established in the club. It paid off well concerning our trophy cabinet.

[communicate 2,703]

On 3/9/2020 at 7:48 PM, Jason said:

Bless you.

People would have sympathy for Mourinho if he had tried everything (e.g. playing Parrott) and nothing is working. Instead, the second Son got injured as well to go with Kane's injury, he started moaning and giving excuses, like it's the end of the world. It's predictable and tiresome. Mourinho 1.0 would probably be ashamed of Mourinho 2.0. 

I have never watched Parrot play,i only know from him from last year fm. But to start as main striker at 18 in epl, imo either you have to be physically strong or really fast otherwise you will suffer. 

[Vesper 30,182]

What is Chelsea’s best centre-back pairing?

https://theathletic.com/1665272/2020/03/11/chelsea-centre-back-tomori-rudiger-christensen-zouma/

There are just over two months left of this season and still nobody can say with any certainty which is Chelsea’s first-choice pairing at centre-back.

Kurt Zouma and Antonio Rudiger appear to be in favour after back-to-back clean sheets in the past week, but a glance at Frank Lampard’s selection policy over his first campaign in charge suggests another change will come sooner rather than later.

Not including the eight occasions when Chelsea have employed a back three, there have been six different partnerships in the middle of the defence across all competitions since that opening fixture away to Manchester United in August.

In fairness to head coach Lampard, some of the adjustments have been caused by a player sustaining an injury as well as the natural inclination to bring back a more experienced player, Rudiger for instance, after recovering from one.

But there is going to be a lot at stake over the run-in with Chelsea having realistic targets to achieve — qualifying for the Champions League via a top-four finish (or top five, depending on Manchester City’s appeal against their UEFA ban) and winning the FA Cup for a ninth time in club history. So the time has surely come to settle on one main pairing. The question is: who should get the nod?

The Athletic has studied the records of all the possible variations (when they have been played in a back four) in an attempt to find the answer…

Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori 

Stats: P 11 W 7 D 2 L 2 (all competitions)

Best game: Ajax 0 Chelsea 1. The duo combined superbly to shut out the 2018-19 Champions League semi-finalists on their own patch in October for what proved to be a crucial victory in qualification for the Champions League last 16.

Worst game: Chelsea 4 Ajax 4. While there were others at fault for some of the goals Ajax scored on the way to building a 4-1 lead in the reverse fixture just two weeks on from the Amsterdam meeting above, Zouma and Tomori were run ragged until the visitors had a couple of players sent off midway through the second half.

Arguments for: The number of positive results alone give a very convincing argument about prioritising this pair. Chelsea’s most consistent form of the season from September 25 to November 9 (W 9 D 1 L 1) came as Zouma and Tomori started together in eight of those fixtures, although Lampard had little choice but to select them because Andreas Christensen and Rudiger were out injured for almost that whole run. Zouma’s physical presence stands out — he leads the way at Stamford Bridge with an average of 2.4 headed clearances a game in the Premier League, while he has the third-most interceptions in the squad and most among defenders (2.1 a match). Tomori has the second-best tally of interceptions (1.53 per game) of the four centre-halves and his extra pace makes for a good combination.

Arguments against: Both have faults in possession, particularly Zouma. The France international has a pass accuracy of 87.29 per cent, but it dips to 75.26 per cent when attempting something more ambitious in the opposition half.

Tomori, who is in his first season as a senior player at Stamford Bridge, was strong in all departments initially but increasingly began to show lapses in concentration as the strain of the schedule kicked in. His tackle success rate of 55.17 per cent is the worst of Chelsea’s centre-back quartet.

Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen

Stats: P 7 W 2 D 3 L 2

Best game: Chelsea 2 Liverpool 2 (UEFA Super Cup). One of Chelsea’s finest displays of the season, considering the strength of the opposition. Granted N’Golo Kante was providing a lot of protection from midfield, but Zouma and Christensen defended stoutly throughout and Lampard’s side were unfortunate to lose on penalties.

Worst game: Everton 3 Chelsea 1. That season-opening 4-0 loss away to Manchester United could have been chosen too, but the pair were bullied so terribly on the ground and in the air by Dominic Calvert-Lewin that this has to be the pick. The fact they haven’t played together in a back four since that loss in December speaks volumes.

Arguments for: With Christensen’s ability to read the game, it makes for a combination of different strengths. The Dane is more consistent in possession and relieves the pressure from his partner to play out from the back. He has the highest passing accuracy (90.06 per cent) of Chelsea players with a minimum of nine Premier League appearances this season, and a healthy 80.9 per cent completion rate when he crosses the halfway line.

Arguments against: Chelsea haven’t kept a clean sheet in any of the seven matches they’ve started together and despite having good moments in games, opponents seem to find a way to exploit a weakness, especially from crosses or passes from wide into the box. Seven of the 14 goals conceded on their watch have come in this fashion.

Kurt Zouma and Antonio Rudiger

Stats: P 6 W 3 D 1 L 2*

(* Zouma shares the home loss to Manchester United with Christensen, who had to go off at half-time with the score 0-1)

Best game: Chelsea 2 Liverpool 0. Jurgen Klopp may have rotated his side, but Chelsea still restricted Liverpool to very few chances over the course of the FA Cup fifth-round tie. Significantly, the visitors didn’t have a shot on goal for the last hour.

Worst game: Chelsea 0 Bournemouth 1. Lampard’s men fell for the sucker-punch, but the manner in which Zouma and Rudiger defended on the game’s only goal from a corner left a lot to be desired. Neither seemed to be marking anyone particularly closely and it was Zouma who played Dan Gosling onside before he found the net.

Arguments for: They give Chelsea a lot more strength when on the pitch. There is no doubt that both men can provide the kind of robust tackling the crowd enjoys too. The duo have the best tackle success rates among Chelsea centre-backs in the Premier League this season (Rudiger 62.5 per cent, Zouma 57.1) and both will be full of confidence after holding Liverpool and Everton scoreless in the club’s last two matches. Their ability to offer a goal threat — they have scored 22 between them in club football (Zouma 12 and Rudiger nine, whereas Tomori has four but only one for Chelsea and all of Christensen’s seven came while he was out on loan) — shouldn’t be underestimated either.

Arguments against: The partnership is raw, having played just five-and-a-half games, and so they still give chances away. Even in the game against Everton on Sunday which Chelsea dominated, Zouma got tackled upfield and Rudiger was outpaced by Calvert-Lewin, who put a shot wide. Rudiger can be accomplished on the ball in his own half (passing accuracy 92.5 per cent) but on the whole, these two can give it away cheaply under pressure when playing it further forward. Like Zouma, the Germany international’s level drops significantly, in his case to 74.6 per cent.

Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen

Stats: P 5 W 1 D 2 L 2 *

(* Christensen shares the 2-0 loss to Manchester United with Zouma, after playing the first half)

Best game: Chelsea 3 Burnley 0. Most pundits expected the visitors to dominate up front because they had both been exposed at various times in the season when dealing with crosses into their penalty area. But Christensen and Rudiger impressed, keeping Chris Wood subdued.

Worst game: Newcastle 1 Chelsea 0. This was one of the most disappointing defeats under Lampard due to the quality of the opposition and the timing of the winner, coming four minutes into added time. The defending from a set-piece once again led to Chelsea’s downfall, with Rudiger outjumped too easily by matchwinner Isaac Hayden.

Arguments for: Besides their strengths highlighted above, they are also arguably the most experienced combination of the lot. Rudiger has played in the top divisions in England, Germany and Italy, Christensen has over 100 games in the Premier League and Bundesliga on his resume. One tackles aggressively, the other relies on neat timing to get in front of his man.

Arguments against: Despite that display against Burnley, there remains a question over how each of this pair copes with the threat from set-pieces and open play. Rudiger has the lowest duels success rate of 57.3 per cent among the four (compared to Zouma’s quartet-leading return of 66.2) and also the fewest interceptions per 90 minutes at 0.72. Meanwhile, Christensen boasts the fewest recoveries (79, compared with Rudiger’s 94, Tomori at 96 and Zouma with 117). Both are good defenders in their own right, yet there is a doubt over how good an understanding they share.

Andreas Christensen and Fikayo Tomori

Stats: P 4 W 2 D 1 L 1

Best game: Chelsea 2 Brighton 0. Lampard’s team were in control of this September win for long periods, which was partly due to the solid base provided in defence. Christensen and Tomori kept Chelsea’s first clean sheet of the season, although they were relieved when an unmarked Dan Burn sent a header against the crossbar when the score was still 1-0.

Worst game: Bournemouth 2 Chelsea 2. Unfortunately for their hopes of playing regularly, this game at the end of last month will still be fresh in Lampard’s mind as he mulls his line-up for the run-in. Tomori, who had mysteriously not played any Premier League football in the previous two months, struggled most of all and was substituted shortly after Bournemouth scored twice in four minutes early in the second half.

Arguments for: Playing at their best, both men make tackling look easy and can glide around the pitch. That one defeat on their record came against European, now world and soon to be domestic champions Liverpool. Yet their work in open play was very impressive back then, with Tomori negating Mohamed Salah to much acclaim. Both are comfortable in possession, as shown in Christensen’s passing stats (see Zouma/Christensen entry above) and the fact Tomori has touched the ball 1,348 times in the top division, which is 344 times more than the Denmark international despite playing only 36 more minutes (1,293 to 1,257) in the same number of appearances (15 each).

Arguments against: Neither is the loudest talker on the pitch, which is not ideal for your centre-backs as Lampard wants his players to communicate during games. Tomori has lost the highest percentage of aerial challenges (54.8 per cent, 28 out of 62) among our four candidates and Christensen has been beaten in 40.5 per cent of his 84 (Zouma’s loss rate in this metric is only 25.6 per cent, while Rudiger’s is a whisker better than Christensen’s at 40.3). The fact they have had just four appearances together in a back four all season suggests Lampard prefers fielding them alongside someone else.

The only other pairing used this season was Zouma and Marc Guehi, now on loan at Swansea City of the Championship, in two Carabao Cup ties — winning once and losing once. Tomori and Rudiger have only been played together in a three-man defence.

Conclusion: As Lampard has obviously found, there is no easy resolution.

It should be pointed out there have been other factors in Chelsea’s porous defence throughout the campaign like the form of first-choice goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, although he has shown signs of improvement since returning from his January benching last week.

All four defenders have strengths and weaknesses in equal measure and buying a more domineering character is on the summer wish-list. Zouma and Rudiger deserve to keep their places after successive clean-sheet victories, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the rotation continues until that final game against Wolves in May.

[Vesper 30,182]

Frank Lampard putting pressure on Chelsea chiefs to change mind on one first-team player

Chelsea head coach Frank Lampard wants Willian to stay with the Blues beyond this season.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/1253876/Chelsea-news-Frank-Lampard-Willian-contract-transfer