Chelsea manager Frank Lampard sounds like a man who is feeling the pressure, despite his protestations to the contrary.
His Chelsea team lost their 6th league game of the season 2 – 0 away at Leicester on Tuesday night. The result leaves them in eight place, nine points behind top-of-the-table Leicester.
It’s a far cry from just one month ago when the blues appeared to have played themselves into title contention.
Doubts over the aptitude of Frank Lampard have been rife ever since he took over at Stamford Bridge. After spending $200 million on young, exciting talent over the summer, he was expected to do better this season.
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A student of Jose Mourinho as a player, Frank Lampard hasn’t imitated his former mentor’s playing style. However, his habit of throwing his players under the bus is right out of the Jose handbook.
“I’m not the only manager to be put under this pressure but the good thing for me is I’m good at handling pressure,” he said on Tuesday.
“The general theme [against Leicester] was slower, more sluggish. It was lacking confidence but also lacking a bit of desire to run. When a team is confident, they look like Leicester. Or like we did a month ago. The very clear message to the players is when you’re playing well, if you relax a little bit, then this game kicks you right up the backside.
“There are players who are not playing as well as they should be,” he continued. “They are the only ones who can deal with that. How you handle setbacks is what defines you.”
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Putting the blame on the players like that are the actions of a man abdicating the pressure, rather than handling it.
Chelsea is a cutthroat club, and will no doubt be exploring it’s options beyond Lampard. There are a number of talented German managers available which could make that decision easier. Julian Nagelsmann, Ralf Rangnick, Ralph Hasenhuttl and Thomas Tuchel, are all available.
Certainly, those four are better suited to developing young players. Lampard has failed to develop ex-Bundesliga talents in Timo Verner and Kai Haverts. Nagelsmann, Rangnick or Hasenhuttl could be just what Chelsea need.
