The Perils of Being Frank Lampard

 

Last year was an audition year for Frank Lampard as a novice coach in the English Premier League. He came through unscathed and won a few admirers along the way. None more important than Roman Abramovic, the owner of Chelsea Football Club. Thanks to his fourth-place finish in the league table Mr Abramovic entrusted him with a transfer budget of over £200 million. A figure that has been surpassed only once before in the history of football in a single transfer window.

Frank Lampard’s vision, along with Mr Abramovic’s money, has attracted top players like Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Thiago Silva. While it is a dream for any manager to be able to sign players of such quality, for Lampard this has come as a double-edged sword. How does he fit in all of these players into the team? And what about the players who helped him finish in the top four? It is always going to be a tough task to keep all players happy in such a large squad. A number of good players like Ross Barkley and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have had to go out on loan while others like Fikayo Tomori and Andreas Christensen have been mostly been limited to being on the bench. With Chelsea competing for three trophies now (they are already out of the League Cup after losing to Spurs via penalty shoot-out) there will be opportunities for the fringe players to get some game time and hopefully leave the manager with a selection dilemma. Callum Hudson-Odoi got an opportunity against Seville in Spain and did rather well and would surely have started against Krasnodar if not for the injury. His agent has been making a lot of noise in the press about how he needs to be playing more often and might seek a move away in the January transfer window. The Chelsea hierarchy will most definitely turn down any such approach, most likely from Bayern Munich for two reasons. First, there are not enough wingers to cover for Hudson-Odoi’s loss at present and second, he is rated very highly as shown by the contract he signed last year. Tomori might be sent out on loan with Newcastle interested in signing him but once again it is more likely to be a loan move rather than a permanent one.

The most admirable facet of Lampard’s management is that he does not have any favourites and everyone who starts a game does so on merit. Olivier Giroud, who for most part of last season looked like he was simply a back-up to Tammy Abraham, forced his way into the team by putting in the hard work in practice sessions and in whatever limited game time he got. He did so again this year, starting as the third-choice striker behind Tammy and Werner and going on to start the last two games and scoring five goals. Same is the case with Antonio Rudiger. He too looked destined to be moved on but has worked his way back into the team. All players in the squad know the manager will give them an opportunity as long as they keep giving 100% in training.

Frank’s was always a three-year plan. Year one was building a squad, he passed that with flying colours despite the team facing a transfer ban. He brought in academy players and showed faith in them. Year two will be consolidation and strengthening. He has spent the money and brought in the players of his choice, he now needs to bridge the gap between them and Liverpool and Manchester City. The third year was when they would challenge for the title. Going by their present form it looks like he may be a year ahead of schedule. Roman Abramovic has never given any manager more than three years at the helm. If Lampard fails to keep up with the expectations, he knows all his achievements as a player for the Blues will count for nought. Roman Arbamovic, Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech have given him the tools now its up to Frank Lampard to create the promised masterpiece.