After seeing how his team was unable to crumble and crack Everton’s defense, made up of four defenders, as a result of a shrewd defensive approach by Carlo Ancelotti, the last thing he thought of Lampard It was to repeat the ideology of the match against the Toffees in the subsequent match against the Wolves de Nuno. After the first loss in 14 games, Kovacic was the wreck victim against Everton, giving Lampard entry to Christian Pulisic and delaying Kai Havertz to one of the indoor stalls. But nothing changed.
Not even in Lampard’s worst nightmares did the game go the way it did. With a Timo Werner that he did not find anyone to serve him deep balls for his very long unchecks, being forced to hitchhike close to the lime line, and a Kai Havertz missing in action, without finishing or giving a miserable key pass, Chelsea crossed and focused until adding a total of 34 shipments to the area, with only 8 successful. In a matter of four days he had hung the ball in the area 66 times. Everything to see how the three points slipped from his hands, a consequence of Pedro Neto’s cross shot against the stretch of an Édouard Mendy who conceded more goals in these two games than in the previous six.
“This is the Premier League, perhaps some thought that, after 14 games without losing, they would be able to relax. If you can’t win the game, at least you don’t lose ”. With these two sentences Lampard once again made a dent in the inexperience of the squad, while criticizing the lack of attention paid to the pre-match instructions. However, Chelsea’s problems go beyond the colloquial, related to the youth of the squad, and that is where Lampard has pending tasks, with what all this indicates.
Chelsea have played six times against teams that are currently in the upper half of the table and have not beaten any. Draws against Tottenham, United and Southampton and losses against Chelsea, Wolves and Everton. As if that were not enough, he has only scored four goals. Something that, despite the recent balsamic victory against West Ham, refers us to the rhetoric of the money spent in the summer on players who, for one reason or another, need to start justifying the investment made as soon as possible. As should the technical director. Going back to the top argument and trying to find the magic key: How do you explain those results?
Starting with the individual visual aspect, there are players whose body message tells us that their performance, good or bad, is not being reciprocated with a defined global message. In other words and to the point: Lampard and his coaching staff are failing to get the best out of several of their players, including the two Germans entering the summer market, and their game plan is far from giving them advantages.
Why Timo Werner, In addition to going through a bad streak, he has been in nine games in a row in all competitions without scoring, he assiduously lives the course of the game far from the goal, which is where it really is differential. Because to inhabit and be a differential punctured on the lime line you have to have a consistency in the one for one without spaces and in the pass that, for now and does not seem subject to change, the former RB Leipzig has not shown. Offering him a platform so that he can exploit the interior spaces that Giroud or Tammy Abraham pleasantly generate and not having to continually pursue life alone are two aspects that Lampard has to prioritize.
If we speak of Werner as one of those who seems to be mentally injured, what about Kai Havertz. The ’29’ is something dangerous, because in itself he is a type of player who does not live from a continuous and consistent participation in the game. So that reluctance, physical and mental disorder in which it is established, only has an impact on a lack of confidence and a decrease in its actions, which were already few but relevant, turning it into a mere tourist who visits the English fields. If to all that mix you add that, from the interior position in which he was located against the Wolves, he must have relevance in the defensive work, the result is not at all positive. Against Leeds he added the same number of key passes as interceptions and against Wolves he was a phantom in attack (zero shots and zero key passes).
It is difficult for Chelsea to take command of the game against rivals of similar level or with defensive capacity, it is a reality. Except for Mount, who is being one of the best in this Premier League, it costs the blues to dismantle a tight defense and it costs God and help. In large part because neither their individualities appear on D-day, for now, nor does the system provide the context for them to do so.
Time will tell if the 4-3-3 needs a twist or if it is the ideal system for Lampard’s attack, which is none other than contextualizing the positions of his players to make the most of his football.
Be that as it may, there are still many certainties in the team’s game. Among them is the guy who should never leave, if he can be healthy regularly, from the eleven blues. It is none other than Hakim Ziyech. The ownership, and health, of the Moroccan must be matters of the utmost importance in the London club. This is corroborated by the data.
With him as the starter, Chelsea has achieved 13 of 15 possible points. While without him, or with the winger coming off the bench, those of the Bridge have reaped only 9 of 24 points. Because Hakim is much more than a good hit, one that already improves the quality of deliveries from any area and usually takes the defensive lines on foot, creating and opening gaps between their ranks. The Moroccan is a magnet for defenders, attracts them, plays with them and allows spaces to be created behind their backs. Perfect spaces to be used by attackers or interiors (Mount, Havertz …) who find their reason for danger in empty areas. In addition, due to his nature as a band player, Ziyech provides an amplitude that is not forced, like Werner’s, but he seeks it himself because he has consistency in dribbling and because he can see the football from the face and post messages directed towards him. second suit.
Now it is up to Lampard, who is undoubtedly doing a good job, to be daring, to elaborate from the multiple options and variants he has in attack to avoid the funnels to which the rivals were subjecting him. By now we have seen a coach who it has cost him to be an interventionist in favor of his team. Against Tottenham, with everything in their favor and the Spus well into their field with no options to hurt, the Englishman assured in the substitutions and it was all one man for man. Abraham, Werner and Ziyech came out and Giroud, Pulisic and Havertz came in but nothing changed. Once again, the system did not support those who entered for refreshment, they were not the one to take advantage of a decimated rival.
In a year of transition towards what would have to be an aspiring team to any national and international championship, Lampard will have to lay the foundations of the game so that, in the long run, the results improve in the face to face with the teams that can mentor him . In 19/20 he laid the foundations, but now English must begin to justify the investment made from the board.
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