🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Frank Lampard

[Magic Lamps 11,692]

Lampard's tactical approach with the high press and Kante roaming free suffocated the life out of a really poor Newcastle side. Vs the smaller teams it really seems to be enough killing their way back into the game and relying on Mendy and a quick and mobile back 4. Spurs at the weekend will be the first test of our rejunevated team since ManUre. will be interesting to see how we handle this.

[killer1257 3,282]

People still have not seen the best out of Lampard ball yet.

 

 

 

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[Fernando 6,585]

I will be surprised if we win against Spurs. 

I think Spurs are a bit more experienced and coach nice by Mourinho. 

Mourinho does good in his second season usually. 

[Jase 43,479]

25 minutes ago, Fernando said:

I will be surprised if we win against Spurs. 

I think Spurs are a bit more experienced and coach nice by Mourinho. 

Mourinho does good in his second season usually. 

Err, we already beat them twice last season...

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Err, we already beat them twice last season...

They are unfortunately a different animal now. They look like a proper team, no real weaknesses, solid defensively and have got great players who can make the difference in Son and Kane who would start in every team in Europe. If we play at our best we will still be more than capable of beating them obviously but they just seem different this season. Will be our toughest game so far I think. A good barometer to see how we’ve come on though. 

[Jase 43,479]

7 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

They are unfortunately a different animal now. They look like a proper team, no real weaknesses, solid defensively and have got great players who can make the difference in Son and Kane who would start in every team in Europe. If we play at our best we will still be more than capable of beating them obviously but they just seem different this season. Will be our toughest game so far I think. A good barometer to see how we’ve come on though. 

By the same token, we are also better than last season and have looked better over the last 1 1/2 month. As long as we play it smart again, there's no reason why we can't beat them again. 

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

6 hours ago, Jason said:

By the same token, we are also better than last season and have looked better over the last 1 1/2 month. As long as we play it smart again, there's no reason why we can't beat them again. 

Absolutely. Will be our toughest match so far this season though I think. 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[milka 3,394]

 

[Johnnyeye 7,509]

9 hours ago, milka said:

 

i love Conte ❤️🙏

[Jap Si. 50]

Conte was good but Super Franklin is goodest.

[Vesper 30,177]

On 22/11/2020 at 2:11 PM, Jason said:

 

class fucking ac  t

[Vesper 30,177]

Tomori out, Rudiger in? The latest on Chelsea’s centre-back situation

https://theathletic.com/2212518/2020/11/22/chelsea-defence-tomori-rudiger/

 

The January transfer window can’t come soon enough for Fikayo Tomori.

Sources have told The Athletic that of the five centre-backs in Chelsea’s squad, he is the one most likely to leave, and it could be on loan.

To say 2020 has not been a good year for the England defender is an understatement and Chelsea’s victory over Newcastle provided another reality check over where he stands in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.

Even with the inspirational Thiago Silva left out of proceedings — he only arrived back from playing for Brazil on Thursday — Tomori couldn’t get a place on Chelsea’s bench. It means his total playing time in the Premier League over the last ten months or so remains at 109 minutes (one start, one as a sub). The other four appearances were in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

What a contrast to 2019. He was named Derby’s Player of the Year having enjoyed a successful loan in the Championship before becoming a Chelsea regular (19 games in all competitions). He also scored a fantastic goal at Wolves to get off the mark for his boyhood club, was given a new five-year contract and earned a first England cap against Kosovo.

The Athletic first looked into his situation back in February when things had started to go awry, but it is much bleaker nine months on. There have been no major fall-outs between himself and coach Frank Lampard, who was also his manager at Derby and still regards him as a player of great promise.

Tomori made the headlines earlier this month after photos emerged of him attending a dinner with team-mate Callum Hudson-Odoi at a London restaurant, which broke lockdown rules. But it is understood the incident wasn’t deemed that serious by the club or management staff.

A combination of factors has been the cause of Tomori’s regular absence. He suffered a drop in form to begin with and when he was recalled against Bournemouth in February, he struggled during the 2-2 draw.

There was some misfortune as he suffered a muscular injury in June, just before the season restarted. By the time he had recovered, Chelsea were in a real battle to secure a top-four finish and couldn’t afford to pick someone who was short of match fitness, even though the defence was leaking goals.

The arrival of Silva as a free agent from Paris Saint-Germain in the last window was always going to make competition for places even more intense and so it has proved. After a shaky start on debut against West Brom, the 36-year-old has established himself as Chelsea’s best defender and his displays have also had a positive impact on Kurt Zouma’s form.

Lampard trusts the pair. Chelsea have kept seven clean sheets in their last nine matches and they have been the central defensive partnership for five of them. Understandably he doesn’t want to rotate too much now there are such signs of progress.

The other two clean sheets, including the one at Newcastle on Saturday, were when Antonio Rudiger was brought in for the rested Silva and herein lies another part of the Tomori saga.

Tomori had offers to leave Chelsea on loan in the last window, however moves to Everton and Rennes fell through as Lampard wanted Rudiger to leave instead. By the time it emerged that Rudiger wasn’t going to secure a switch and opted to stay, Tomori had just a few days before the deadline to look for something new. He came close to joining West Ham only to change his mind with minutes to spare because he wasn’t convinced about how much he would play under David Moyes.

Tomori must have hoped that he would stay above Rudiger in Lampard’s thoughts and he was on the bench for the three games which immediately followed the window closing, while Rudiger was nowhere to be seen. But positive talks between Rudiger and Lampard changed things. The Germany international was picked as a substitute instead of Tomori for the 0-0 draw at Manchester United. Four days later he was the one trusted to play alongside Zouma when Silva didn’t make the trip to Krasnodar.

The Athletic has been told that Rudiger’s attitude and performances in training have been a key reason why. He has responded really well to the challenge of being left out and showed much better form too. The fact he is a popular character and quite a leader in the dressing room has been to his benefit too.

It also helped that Rudiger’s two appearances were against rather weak opposition in Krasnodar and Newcastle. How Tomori and another ignored defender in Andreas Christensen would have loved that opportunity.

But Lampard was full of praise for Rudiger following the victory at the weekend. He said: “I was pleased with the performance. It’s not easy (to play well after a spell out the side). That means they have to have a good attitude through the week, how they prepare. I have confidence in Toni and his performance alongside Kurt was very strong. For Toni to come in and show what he did, for the team to keep a clean sheet, is brilliant for him, brilliant for me.”

So should Tomori start getting mentally ready to play elsewhere now? Not necessarily because there is still some uncertainty. Chelsea won’t make a definitive decision to let him go just yet because of the possibility of injuries. And with the European Championships next summer, there are no guarantees Rudiger or Denmark international Christensen, who hasn’t played for Chelsea for two months, will be happy acting as a back-up to Silva and Zouma.

It is believed Christensen is still part of Chelsea’s plans. He is regarded as the second-best passing centre-back at the club after Silva so they don’t want to lose him as an option.

When Lampard was asked about Tomori’s situation at the beginning of November, he suggested that he is a victim of circumstance rather than any major issue being at fault.

He said: “I’ve got no problem with Fikayo. I rely on him. That’s clear from when I took him to Derby and how I handled him last year. He’s been a fantastic player for me. He trains very well and when he gets his opportunity, like he had when he came on against Liverpool (in September) and in the Carabao Cup, it’s important he takes them.

“He’s still a developing player. When I say developing, he’s had a great two years. He got himself in the England team, was one of the best defenders in the Championship and then played 20-plus games for Chelsea. It’s normal for a young player sometimes, in a squad as competitive as ours, where there are periods where you maybe aren’t playing every week.”

But given his potential, it would only be normal for Tomori to make sure a loan happens so 2021 has a better outcome.

[Atomiswave 6,117]

16 hours ago, milka said:

 

I keep saying this man loves Chels but many still hate his guts. He is proper imo.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

4 hours ago, Vesper said:

Tomori out, Rudiger in? The latest on Chelsea’s centre-back situation

https://theathletic.com/2212518/2020/11/22/chelsea-defence-tomori-rudiger/

 

The January transfer window can’t come soon enough for Fikayo Tomori.

Sources have told The Athletic that of the five centre-backs in Chelsea’s squad, he is the one most likely to leave, and it could be on loan.

To say 2020 has not been a good year for the England defender is an understatement and Chelsea’s victory over Newcastle provided another reality check over where he stands in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.

Even with the inspirational Thiago Silva left out of proceedings — he only arrived back from playing for Brazil on Thursday — Tomori couldn’t get a place on Chelsea’s bench. It means his total playing time in the Premier League over the last ten months or so remains at 109 minutes (one start, one as a sub). The other four appearances were in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

What a contrast to 2019. He was named Derby’s Player of the Year having enjoyed a successful loan in the Championship before becoming a Chelsea regular (19 games in all competitions). He also scored a fantastic goal at Wolves to get off the mark for his boyhood club, was given a new five-year contract and earned a first England cap against Kosovo.

The Athletic first looked into his situation back in February when things had started to go awry, but it is much bleaker nine months on. There have been no major fall-outs between himself and coach Frank Lampard, who was also his manager at Derby and still regards him as a player of great promise.

Tomori made the headlines earlier this month after photos emerged of him attending a dinner with team-mate Callum Hudson-Odoi at a London restaurant, which broke lockdown rules. But it is understood the incident wasn’t deemed that serious by the club or management staff.

A combination of factors has been the cause of Tomori’s regular absence. He suffered a drop in form to begin with and when he was recalled against Bournemouth in February, he struggled during the 2-2 draw.

There was some misfortune as he suffered a muscular injury in June, just before the season restarted. By the time he had recovered, Chelsea were in a real battle to secure a top-four finish and couldn’t afford to pick someone who was short of match fitness, even though the defence was leaking goals.

The arrival of Silva as a free agent from Paris Saint-Germain in the last window was always going to make competition for places even more intense and so it has proved. After a shaky start on debut against West Brom, the 36-year-old has established himself as Chelsea’s best defender and his displays have also had a positive impact on Kurt Zouma’s form.

Lampard trusts the pair. Chelsea have kept seven clean sheets in their last nine matches and they have been the central defensive partnership for five of them. Understandably he doesn’t want to rotate too much now there are such signs of progress.

The other two clean sheets, including the one at Newcastle on Saturday, were when Antonio Rudiger was brought in for the rested Silva and herein lies another part of the Tomori saga.

Tomori had offers to leave Chelsea on loan in the last window, however moves to Everton and Rennes fell through as Lampard wanted Rudiger to leave instead. By the time it emerged that Rudiger wasn’t going to secure a switch and opted to stay, Tomori had just a few days before the deadline to look for something new. He came close to joining West Ham only to change his mind with minutes to spare because he wasn’t convinced about how much he would play under David Moyes.

Tomori must have hoped that he would stay above Rudiger in Lampard’s thoughts and he was on the bench for the three games which immediately followed the window closing, while Rudiger was nowhere to be seen. But positive talks between Rudiger and Lampard changed things. The Germany international was picked as a substitute instead of Tomori for the 0-0 draw at Manchester United. Four days later he was the one trusted to play alongside Zouma when Silva didn’t make the trip to Krasnodar.

The Athletic has been told that Rudiger’s attitude and performances in training have been a key reason why. He has responded really well to the challenge of being left out and showed much better form too. The fact he is a popular character and quite a leader in the dressing room has been to his benefit too.

It also helped that Rudiger’s two appearances were against rather weak opposition in Krasnodar and Newcastle. How Tomori and another ignored defender in Andreas Christensen would have loved that opportunity.

But Lampard was full of praise for Rudiger following the victory at the weekend. He said: “I was pleased with the performance. It’s not easy (to play well after a spell out the side). That means they have to have a good attitude through the week, how they prepare. I have confidence in Toni and his performance alongside Kurt was very strong. For Toni to come in and show what he did, for the team to keep a clean sheet, is brilliant for him, brilliant for me.”

So should Tomori start getting mentally ready to play elsewhere now? Not necessarily because there is still some uncertainty. Chelsea won’t make a definitive decision to let him go just yet because of the possibility of injuries. And with the European Championships next summer, there are no guarantees Rudiger or Denmark international Christensen, who hasn’t played for Chelsea for two months, will be happy acting as a back-up to Silva and Zouma.

It is believed Christensen is still part of Chelsea’s plans. He is regarded as the second-best passing centre-back at the club after Silva so they don’t want to lose him as an option.

When Lampard was asked about Tomori’s situation at the beginning of November, he suggested that he is a victim of circumstance rather than any major issue being at fault.

He said: “I’ve got no problem with Fikayo. I rely on him. That’s clear from when I took him to Derby and how I handled him last year. He’s been a fantastic player for me. He trains very well and when he gets his opportunity, like he had when he came on against Liverpool (in September) and in the Carabao Cup, it’s important he takes them.

“He’s still a developing player. When I say developing, he’s had a great two years. He got himself in the England team, was one of the best defenders in the Championship and then played 20-plus games for Chelsea. It’s normal for a young player sometimes, in a squad as competitive as ours, where there are periods where you maybe aren’t playing every week.”

But given his potential, it would only be normal for Tomori to make sure a loan happens so 2021 has a better outcome.

Tbf it seems a bit daft now because he had the offers to go to Rennes or Everton on loan and it didn't happen for whatever reason. Everton signed Ben Godfrey so won't come back for him and Rennes probably got another replacement. Fuck knows where hes going to go in January. He needs to play but again I still don't know who will sign him in the PL realistically. And a Championship loan would be a backwards step 100%. 

[Vesper 30,177]

17 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Tbf it seems a bit daft now because he had the offers to go to Rennes or Everton on loan and it didn't happen for whatever reason. Everton signed Ben Godfrey so won't come back for him and Rennes probably got another replacement. Fuck knows where hes going to go in January. He needs to play but again I still don't know who will sign him in the PL realistically. And a Championship loan would be a backwards step 100%. 

Seeing as we can only loan one player (stupid rule, it should be two) to each EPL team

and looking at the CB's on each EPL team

the options are quite few

Burnley would be the best bet, as he would be the 3rd CB (with Mee and Tarkowski in front of him aad they are often injured now it seems)

maybe NUFC

maybe West Ham

West Brom would have been ideal, but Conor Gallagher is there already

 

[killer1257 3,282]

Great subs today.

Lampard is killing it right now.

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[Fernando 6,585]

Don't worry as soon as we lose this thread gets filled. 

People just love to come out of the shed when we lose for some reason.....

[milka 3,394]

 

[Vesper 30,177]

Rooney can learn plenty from Lampard and Gerrard’s path to credibility

https://theathletic.com/2218529/2020/11/24/lampard-gerrard-rooney-derby-rangers-chelsea/

During his time in charge of the England rugby union team, Stuart Lancaster liked to share his theory about the value of credibility.

He felt that every coach or manager could be placed on a credibility scale running from zero to 100. Every match, every training session, every meeting and every decision or action, however seemingly minor, offered an opportunity to increase his credibility in the eyes of his players — or, conversely, a threat to the goodwill and credibility he had already built up.

Lancaster liked to point out that, whereas a manager or coach would typically walk into a new job at around 50 per cent on the credibility scale, his own experience was different. Having risen quietly through the ranks at the Rugby Football Union, without having played or coached at elite level, he felt he registered no higher than 20 on his own scale when he was promoted to the England job in 2011, but, from that low starting point, he was sure he would build his credibility over time, whereas a high-profile candidate could feasibly and unwittingly do the reverse.

It didn’t work out, though. Lancaster was praised for the groundwork he did to improve the culture around the England team, but results weren’t good enough and he resigned after a poor showing at the 2015 World Cup. But much of what he said still holds true. “If you arrive with a big reputation but turn out not to be good at handling people, or lose your rag under pressure, then you lose points,” he said. “And when that happens, the players eventually stop listening to you and start talking behind your back and then, suddenly, you’re gone.”

That principle applies even more in football, where the financial stakes are so high, the pressure on managers is so intense and, for whatever reason, that tendency to “stop listening” seems to take hold so much more easily. In the eyes of an unforgiving dressing room, a single incident or defeat can see credibility lost, never to return.

It is one reason why, ultimately, football management rarely works out in the longer term for those who assume, having excelled as players, that they will make a successful transition into management. A player with an illustrious reputation and, in many cases, a strong personality might start out much further up Lancaster’s scale — and any early successes will only increase that credibility — but very few great players prove as adept at the finer points of the job as, for example, Sir Alex Ferguson or Jurgen Klopp, who, after unremarkable playing careers, rose to the very top of the credibility index as managers.

Even those great players who have initially made it look easy, such as Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer, have tended not to thrive in management for the long term, for one reason or another. Zinedine Zidane, who won three Champions League titles in his first spell as Real Madrid coach, rarely comes across as someone who regards it as his natural calling.

But still they come. Indeed, they seem to be coming in ever greater numbers. Look around the top clubs in Europe and you will see several managed by distinguished but relatively inexperienced alumni. It might seem like a Premier League-centric trend — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United, Frank Lampard at Chelsea, Mikel Arteta at Arsenal — but it has gained popularity in Italy, with Andrea Pirlo at Juventus and Simone Inzaghi at Lazio. If anything, it is the success stories of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona, Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid and Zidane at Real that these clubs hope to emulate.

So many players see what Guardiola has done at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, or what Zidane has done at Real, and imagine they could do something similar with the right backing and the right talent at their disposal. If the concern a decade ago was that so many of the best minds in the game were being lost to the lure of the television studio, then these days it feels as if the managerial job market is saturated by the number of top-class players who feel they are destined to become top-class coaches. Beyond those mentioned above, there is Steven Gerrard at Rangers, Ryan Giggs with Wales, John Terry learning the ropes on Dean Smith’s staff at Aston Villa, Michael Carrick likewise under Solskjaer at Manchester United and now Wayne Rooney outlining his desire to be part of the succession plan at Derby County following Phillip Cocu’s dismissal last week.

They cannot possibly all succeed. Indeed their first challenge, at this stage of their careers, is to demonstrate to their players that they have more to offer than the credibility and authority that their playing career affords them. Take away Gerrard’s name and he would not, aged 37, have been appointed by Rangers on the basis of a season coaching Liverpool’s under-18 team. Neither would Lampard have got the Derby job or, a year later, having narrowly missed out on promotion from the Championship, the Chelsea job. And it goes without saying that Manchester United would not ordinarily have appointed a coach who had previously relegated Cardiff City — those two Norwegian Eliteserien titles with Molde notwithstanding.

Their credibility, upon taking those jobs, was based almost entirely on their reputations as players. That tends not to sustain them for long. The media, the fanbase and, of course, the board of directors might be seduced by a big name and a familiar face, but players, once they have overcome any initial sense of awe, want to see more from their managers. If they and their staff cannot bring individual and collective improvement on the training ground, or if they are clumsy or insensitive in their handling of players, they will not last long.

From the moment Gerrard and Lampard took over at Rangers and Derby respectively in the summer of 2018, there has been an unhealthy fascination with their fortunes. It has sometimes felt as if, for Gerrard, the Rangers job could only go one of two ways: 1) succeed (which means breaking Celtic’s stranglehold in the Scottish Premiership, preferably before they win 10 in a row) and he will put himself firmly in contention to succeed Klopp at Liverpool or 2) fail to meet expectations at Ibrox and find future employment much harder to come by. Such is the dichotomy faced by an inexperienced big-name manager who is so closely associated with one club.

Football is so fickle — not just the fans or the media, but players and owners too. Reputations can fluctuate wildly, sending managers can go up and down that credibility scale from one week to the next. Just as it was wrong to write off Lampard five weeks ago, when Chelsea were leaking goals at an alarming rate, so too would it be wrong to go overboard after a run of six consecutive wins against Krasnodar, Burnley, Rennes, Sheffield United, Newcastle United and Rennes again. Lately there has been more stability and composure to their defending and a far greater swagger going forward, but assessments are ongoing. The next six games (Tottenham Hotspur, Sevilla, Leeds United, Krasnodar, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton) will tell us more.

What can be said with certainty, though, is that Gerrard and Lampard both appear more credible as managers now than when they started out just over two years ago. That might seem like a statement of the obvious when, lacking experience, they were thrust into roles where they had to learn the job, but it doesn’t always work that way. Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Ruud Gullit and Gianluca Vialli, four very different characters, seemed to peak in their first year or two as in management. If Gerrard and Lampard are still improving and developing in year three, that bodes well — and perhaps it says something about the merits of taking a year or two to study coaching and build up your knowledge, rather than going straight from player to manager or, in the cases of Robson, Gullit and Vialli, player-manager.

Maybe there is a lesson there for Rooney. He sounded desperate last week to outline his candidacy for the Derby job, but, although he is studying for his UEFA A Licence and was part of Cocu’s coaching staff, that immediate transition from player to manager seems a hazardous and outdated one. Better, surely, to continue his studies and to be better equipped for the challenge when management becomes his full-time preoccupation. As it stands right now at Derby, yes, he would have immediate credibility as a team-mate and as one of the great players of his generation, but it is unlikely he has built up the knowledge, the experience and, crucially, the distance and perspective that a manager needs to thrive beyond the short term. Even with Steve McClaren returning to the club in an advisory capacity, the idea of appointing Rooney would, beyond the expectation of an initial uplift, seem risky for all concerned.

“The reality is that having a good, long playing career, which I’ve been lucky to have, doesn’t automatically make you ideal for the hot seat,” Lampard told me in the summer of 2017, having retired as a player. “Management is a long road and any manager worth his salt has been on the pitch, on rainy days, with young ones learning their trade. To switch from playing to the other side, there are loads of things you have to take on board that you’ve never even had to consider as a player — from the real basics behind the scenes to the top-end things on the pitch. Until you’ve earned your stripes, to the degree that you feel totally ready, you shouldn’t do it. I’m just not in that position right now.”

He would not have imagined back then that he would have been appointed Derby head coach a year later or at Chelsea a year after that. It has all happened far quicker than he had in mind — to the disapproval who would see it as a “silver spoon” appointment for one of English football’s golden boys — but at this point, it feels increasingly positive.

Lampard was hired with a different brief to his recent predecessors at Chelsea: to start building a younger team to challenge in the longer term. He did that last season with the emergence of Reece James, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, securing Champions League qualification and reaching the FA Cup final. This season, with the additions of Edouard Mendy, Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner, far more is expected results-wise. After a sloppy start, with far too many goals conceded, the past six weeks have brought a distinct improvement in what they are doing both in and out of possession.

Rangers’ progress under Gerrard is undeniable. It hasn’t come cheap — the wage bill has increased significantly through the expansion of the squad and the building of a support staff that is colossal by Scottish standards — but they look like a real team now. In 21 games in all competitions this season, they have won 18 and drawn three. They are 11 points clear at the top of the Premiership and, although Celtic have two games in hand, Rangers are now widely regarded as favourites.

Celtic are in a turbulent state right now, but, for Rangers, this is far from a case of standing still and catching up with a target that is going backwards. By just about every metric, they are improving under Gerrard. In 15 Premiership games this season, they have scored 41 goals and conceded just three.

That will, of course, invite familiar questions about the quality of the Premiership, but Rangers’ results in European competition under Gerrard merit recognition and praise. In July 2017, under the more experienced Pedro Caixinha, they were knocked out of the Europa League by Progres Niederkorn, of Luxembourg, in qualifying. Since then, they have played 38 Europa League matches under Gerrard, losing just five and keeping 20 clean sheets. Their draws away to Villarreal, Benfica and Porto have been characterised by a level of tactical discipline that few imagined would be a defining feature of Gerrard’s management style.

Rangers might now be seen as the perfect first job for Gerrard, in much the same way as it was for Graeme Souness in 1986, but it was far from an easy one. It is a tough gig, trying to drag the club onwards and upwards at a time when it seemed to be weighed down not just by its past — both glorious and more recently traumatic — but by Celtic’s continuing domination of Scottish football. Appraisals of Gerrard will be far less positive if Celtic end up celebrating 10 in a row next May, but the former Liverpool captain can currently be said to be raising standards, rather than merely meeting them at a club that was crying out for strong leadership.

Chelsea isn’t an easy gig either. A succession of experienced and highly qualified coaches have pitched up at Stamford Bridge and achieved far better results than Lampard in the short term, but they have usually done so without showing the slightest inclination to integrate academy players into the first team. Lampard, his hand forced to some extent by last season’s FIFA transfer ban, was willing to put his credibility at stake to look beyond short-term results in year one. These are early days in year two, but the way James, Mount and Abraham are combining with new arrivals such as Chilwell, Ziyech and Werner reflects well on his ability to manage a group as well as his planning.

It wasn’t always clear last season what Lampard’s Chelsea was meant to look like. It seems much clearer now, with a more solid-looking rearguard but also a strong emphasis on defending from the front. If you go back to the principles Lampard set out when he took over at Derby — an emphasis on young players, a desire to stretch and over-run opponents with a creative, high-energy game — they are immediately apparent in the way Chelsea are playing now. That is not always the case with those managers who tell you to embrace and believe in their philosophy.

We come back, inevitably, to the suggestion that Lampard only got the Chelsea job — indeed only got the Derby job — because of who he is. Well, yes, that is pretty obvious. When a manager is appointed in those circumstances, his playing reputation brings a certain credibility, but it also brings an increased scrutiny at the first sign of trouble. So far, Lampard has dealt calmly with that pressure and with the various challenges that come with managing a group of elite-level players. There have been few murmurs of the type of discord that crept up repeatedly during Antonio Conte’s final season in charge or Maurizio Sarri’s brief tenure.

None of this means that Lampard’s or Gerrard’s impact can be likened to that of Guardiola at Barcelona or Zidane at Real Madrid, or anything close to it, but it does suggest that, a little over two years into their management careers, the former England team-mates are going some way to justify the faith that has been placed in them. If they are only ever one or two bad results from a perceived crisis, then that is just the reality of life as a big name in a high-profile job. To this point, both of them seem to be handling that pressure more comfortably than many of us would have expected.

If initially their credibility was based almost entirely on their reputations as players, then the Lancaster theory suggests they would have struggled had they not quickly shown there was substance and ideas behind the big name. Neither has yet won a trophy as a manager, but both appear more credible now than when they started. That is one of the first challenges facing any legendary player taking his first steps into management. All too often, the first casualty of a coaching career is credibility.