Super Frank Thread

[milka 3,308]

'I'd be shocked if they don't win the Premier League': Paul Merson backs Chelsea to topple Liverpool in the next 'three or four years' with Frank Lampard set to be boosted with Timo Werner and Co next season 

 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8474785/Paul-Merson-backs-Chelsea-pip-Liverpool-title-three-four-years.html

[MoroccanBlue 5,198]

 As of now, a comfortable top 4 finish and a trophy expected for next season. 

However, expectations can change. We win every game in the league, plus the FA Cup, and/or our rivals fail to strengthen next season whilst we get Chilwell and Havertz, I think its safe to say we should be expecting a title challenge. 

[Vesper 27,310]

Five subs and Chelsea depth aiding Lampard’s knack of turning tide in matches

https://theathletic.com/1901908/2020/07/01/chelsea-frank-lampard-substitutions-management/

The decisive Frank Lampard substitutions that have powered Chelsea’s perfect start to English football’s resumption will come as no surprise to those familiar with his work at Derby.

Lampard’s first season in coaching was bookended by examples of how to positively impact matches from the dugout. In the 73rd minute of his very first game, poised at 1-1 away to Reading on the opening day of the 2018-19 Championship after Mason Mount had cancelled out Jon Dadi Bodvarsson’s opener, he replaced veteran striker David Nugent with young winger Mason Bennett, who subsequently provided the cross for Tom Lawrence’s 94th-minute winner.

The most memorable example of all came at Elland Road in May 2019. Trailing 2-0 on aggregate against Leeds United in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final, Lampard introduced striker Jack Marriott for midfielder Duane Holmes a minute before half-time. He scored with his first touch and netted again after the interval as Derby roared back to win the tie 4-3 on aggregate.

But the moment that will probably resonate most with Mount, Reece James and Billy Gilmour after Sunday’s triple half-time hook away to Leicester City in the FA Cup can be found in the third round of Derby’s campaign in the same competition last season. Four minutes after Nathan Redmond had put Southampton 2-0 up early in the second half at Pride Park, Lampard took off teenage academy graduate Max Bird and replaced him with Nugent.

The introduction of a striker for a midfielder galvanised Derby. They came back to earn a 2-2 draw and force a replay, which they won on penalties at St Mary’s. “For Max Bird, he will play many more games,” Lampard insisted afterwards. “I feel bad for him because I had to change something to get us back into the game but it’s a great experience for him. He’s a really good young player and he will get more opportunities.”

Lampard delivered a very similar message after Chelsea’s win at the King Power Stadium last weekend. “Reece James hasn’t played for a long time, since lockdown,” he said. “Billy (Gilmour) was the same. These are contributing factors around it. They are going to be top players for this club no matter what. They are going to have top careers in football. They will have really, really top careers because of the players they are.

“Whether you can call it a learning experience; it was just a factor of how I saw the game. They can take it on board. They are all good lads, all train well and all have a good work ethic. I’ve never had a problem with the three of them at all. I’ve got no worries. It was just the circumstances today.”

Previous Chelsea managers would have faced more scrutiny for singling out three players aged 21 or younger for substitution, to be replaced by experienced internationals, at the end of a first half in which none of Lampard’s starters did themselves much credit. Yet it’s also fair to ask whether those same previous Chelsea managers would have shown such faith in youth in the first place when picking their team for an FA Cup quarter-final tie away to the team sitting third in the Premier League.

Lampard, in his management and messaging, is trying to strike the balance between holding all his players to the same standards of accountability and not discouraging the talented youngsters he has done so much to empower this season, all while keeping sight of Chelsea’s main priority: winning on the pitch in the defining stretch of the campaign.

Despite three imperfect performances since football resumed, it is a line he has walked impressively so far. Chelsea have preserved their pre-shutdown momentum in the Premier League — crowning Liverpool champions in the process — and will make a 10th FA Cup semi-final appearance in the last 19 years. All three matches were delicately poised in the second half, with Lampard’s interventions from the sidelines playing a key role in shifting the momentum in Chelsea’s favour.

Christian Pulisic came off the bench to spark the attack away to Aston Villa. Conversations with the manager during water breaks seemed to have a steadying effect in each half against Manchester City, with Tammy Abraham’s introduction just after the hour mark giving Pep Guardiola’s stretched defence problems. Ross Barkley made the decisive breakthrough against Leicester in place of Mount, while Cesar Azpilicueta and Mateo Kovacic helped prevent any late fightback from the home side.

Lampard admitted after the match that the increased five substitution limit had emboldened him to make a triple change at half-time. Chelsea reportedly led the lobby for the Premier League to adopt a rule that was always expected to benefit the bigger clubs and it’s easy to see why — what this squad lacks in elite talent, it makes up for in sheer variety and depth.

With virtually a clean bill of health for the first time this season, Lampard has more options than ever before to throw at a game that is going away from Chelsea. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, feeling his way back after 13 months out of action, has not even played in his preferred central midfield position yet. Jorginho, brought off the bench to such great effect against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in December, is yet to play a minute since the restart. Neither is Michy Batshuayi, scorer of the most memorable cameo goal of the season to beat Ajax in Amsterdam back in October.

Lampard’s substitutions this season have yielded 10 direct goal involvements across all competitions — six goals and four assists. Six of those goal involvements have either brought Chelsea level or put them ahead in matches. There have, of course, also been plenty of occasions when reinforcements from the bench have not made a difference, most notably in damaging home defeats against West Ham, Bournemouth and Southampton during a rollercoaster festive schedule.

The next five Premier League matches — against West Ham, Watford, Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Norwich — will test Chelsea’s ability to break down the precise type of pragmatic opponent they have so often been stifled by this season. With more bodies and more substitutions available to Lampard, there will be even fewer credible excuses for the same old failings.

Some might argue that Lampard would not have needed to be so decisive with his substitutions over the past three matches if he had got his starting XI right. Chelsea were slow out of the blocks against Villa, City and Leicester, and were fortunate to only fall behind in one of them before the response arrived.

But team selection is never an exact science and the variance only increases when managers must navigate matches every three or four days across different competitions. Lampard insisted when he took the Chelsea job that he would pick his team based on tactical needs and the merits of training. He has stuck to those principles, even to the point of going with youth over experience. Any player, regardless of age, can have a bad day — and predicting one ahead of time isn’t always possible.

What managers can control is how they react to events on the pitch. Lampard forged a reputation at Derby as someone who could turn bad results into good ones with a willingness to be proactive and try things from the dugout. The fact that Chelsea are already benefiting from those qualities bodes well — for meeting this season’s objectives and for satisfying the club’s loftier ambitions beyond.

[Vesper 27,310]

On 29/06/2020 at 8:39 PM, Henrique said:

Lampard improved in recent games (even before the pandemic). At some point this season it seemed he was more concerned about developing young english players than anything. For example, he deployed Azpi as LB only to accommodate James on the starting XI. That didn't make sense, because Azpi still is a batter RB than James, but Azpi isn't a better LB than Alonso. Not to mention the privileges Mount receive for most part of the season, and even Barkley was given the "penalty taker" role in the beginning of the season.

In recent games he dropped most of those things, and he (re)introduced Giroud, Alonso and Pedro into the team. Yesterday against Leicester it was very telling the fact he dropped James, Gilmour and Mount during the half time. I'm also happy he didn't jump into Gilmour hype train and didn't rushed him into the first team. When the squad is full, there is no place for Gilmour on the first team yet. It seems he also realized Pulisic can't be sitting on the bench.

see, when you do serious posts they are quite good

salut  

[Rapkun 668]

On 29/06/2020 at 7:39 PM, Henrique said:

Lampard improved in recent games (even before the pandemic). At some point this season it seemed he was more concerned about developing young english players than anything. For example, he deployed Azpi as LB only to accommodate James on the starting XI. That didn't make sense, because Azpi still is a batter RB than James, but Azpi isn't a better LB than Alonso. Not to mention the privileges Mount receive for most part of the season, and even Barkley was given the "penalty taker" role in the beginning of the season.

In recent games he dropped most of those things, and he (re)introduced Giroud, Alonso and Pedro into the team. Yesterday against Leicester it was very telling the fact he dropped James, Gilmour and Mount during the half time. I'm also happy he didn't jump into Gilmour hype train and didn't rushed him into the first team. When the squad is full, there is no place for Gilmour on the first team yet. It seems he also realized Pulisic can't be sitting on the bench.

Azpi was used at LB because he was not satisfied with any of the left backs at his disposal which is a valid concern. Seeing as Azpi played there before and James (who's a great talent) can offer something going forward the decision was eventually made.

Barkley is a actually a very good PK taker. He missed, it happens even to the best. I don't rate him highly but he sure can shoot.

Anyone who thinks Mount is playing because of his passport... Honestly, I'm not even gonna bother with this one.

I agree with you on his exclusion of Giroud, Alonso and Pedro in the first half of the season. I think he knew he wanted to move them and decided it would be better to have someone else play their minutes if they were leaving anyway. Both Pedro and Giroud ended up remaining past the january window, and with injuries to key players he probably decided there was no valid reason not to give them more game time.

As for Pulisic, he recentely admitted he was very close to starting him vs Villa but ultimately decided it might be too early considering he hadn't played for months even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. He was only benched in the early part of the season beause he was clearly not at his best physically(no rest during the summer) and still needed time to adapt.

Lamps has his flaws, i'll give you that but certainly not the ones you mention. Te fact that so many people are agreeing with you is worrying.

[Magic Lamps 11,449]

The water breaks and the 5 subs really play to Lampards strengths as a great reader of the game and motivator. He really has improved at being more cautious in his approach to games and grind out results. Still his insistence on Barkley and Mount is worrying. Surely he prefers them because of their work ethic and commitment to his tactics. But he must see that they are bang average players and should have squad roles here at best. 

[whats happening 1,440]

i would just like to know which coaches idea was to put azpilicueta on a tall opponent while our tall attacker is guarding the goal line.

[Tomo 21,681]

Zouma and Tomori together.

Jorgi, Kova, Mount midfield. 

Go back to what was working so well for god sake.

Go back to the team that looked so promising and go from there. If we lose top 4 due to growing pains then fuck it, our ultimate goal is to build a side to challenge City and Liverpool and the longer these shithouse selections get rolled out the more regression we make on said ultimate goal.

[ZaynChelsea 423]

Trust in Lamps.

[Judy 52]

Whats the obsession with Lampard sidelining players out of the blue, Tomori and Jorginho, before Giroud and Alonso.

[Tomo 21,681]

My expectations for the season and how i'm assessing Lampard have changed. Before the return i would have not had a negative word to say if we finished anywhere in the top 7 because i assumed we would carry on with the building process and if that came at the expense of top 4 then that's fair enough.

However now we've resorted to shit house selections and tactics he has to justify that by getting results, so top 4 and Cup final.

[killer1257 3,282]

Lamps needs to bench Kante asap. But he does not have the balls to do that.

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[Jase 43,479]

It's no wonder we can't defend at all when Lampard is saying things like this...

FUCKING HELL!

[Superblue 6,331]

41 minutes ago, whats happening said:

i would just like to know which coaches idea was to put azpilicueta on a tall opponent while our tall attacker is guarding the goal line.

It would be fine if it was Giroud or Drogba but Tammy isn't very good in the air. I don't think he would have dealt well defensively against Soucek and says a lot that he's zonal marking and not one of the man markers.

In my opinion Azpilicueta defended the goal pretty well given the size difference. It was hardly a bullet header and should have been comfortably dealt with by one of Kepa or Tammy.

[killer1257 3,282]

It's no wonder we can't defend at all when Lampard is saying things like this...
FUCKING HELL!

I see his point because they were really more physical than us but he could have solved that problem by playing RLC and Giroud from the start.

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[0007 511]

28 minutes ago, Tomo said:

Zouma and Tomori together.

Jorgi, Kova, Mount midfield. 

Go back to what was working so well for god sake.

Go back to the team that looked so promising and go from there. If we lose top 4 due to growing pains then fuck it, our ultimate goal is to build a side to challenge City and Liverpool and the longer these shithouse selections get rolled out the more regression we make on said ultimate goal.

This. 

The midfield without Kante was doing the job, Kova and Jorgi were running riots through opositions' midfields but Lamps decided to brake their combo and since then we are hit and miss. 

[Tomo 21,681]

Just now, 0007 said:

This. 

The midfield without Kante was doing the job, Kova and Jorgi were running riots through opositions' midfields but Lamps decided to brake their combo and since then we are hit and miss. 

It's happened twice now which makes it even worse.

[Jase 43,479]

8 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

I see his point because they were really more physical than us but he could have solved that problem by playing RLC and Giroud from the start.

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So it was the players who randomly decided who to mark then, like Azpi marking a much taller Soucek while someone like Abraham was guarding the post!?