anoymous06

Firstly, I am against the idea of a European Super League, and who knows if it will come to anything or is just posturing.   However, if it does go ahead I am glad Chelsea are in the cut.  
I am enjoying all the outrage in the media.  If Talksport are so anti the idea will they refuse to broadcast it if it does happen?  Will all these ex-pros refuse the lucrative contracts to give their expert opinions?  
I am a Chelsea fan and will support them in a European Super League, as I have done in: Division 2; Division 1; The Premier League; The Anglo Italian Cup; The FA Cup; The League/Milk/Rumblows/Carling/... Cups; and other trophies.   I still don't like the idea, but it's really just a progression from The Premier League; The Champions League; and all the money making media-fests that have materialised in the last 30 years. 
What the fans want doesn't matter, if it's going to happen it will happen, and I will probably end up sat at Stamford Bridge watching one of the games someday.  If I (like most football fans) had any integrity we'd be supporting our local, non-league club as they might appreciate your support...but that wouldn't be watching Chelsea would it.  

I hate it when people start with 'we don't have the divine right to win' stuff. This tired line is an ever popular cliche straight from the 'Things Losers Say' bin. Can you imagine a truly successful manager say that to their team? I'm sure Frank never said that to his players either, because the moment those words are uttered, you basically admit you're a loser. Whether it's Mourinho's siege mentality approach or whatever Pep, Klopp or any other top manager uses to motivate their teams to overcome opponents and win trophies, I guarantee you accepting losing is not part of it. Every team loses at some point, it's how they react to a loss is what separates them. 
I'm also sick and tired of people looking for excuses. Loss to Everton, well, Carlo's more experienced, Toffees are in good form, we're always struggling at Goodison, etc. Loss to Wolves, well, we were tired, they're very good side, we don't have a divine right to etc., loss to Arse, bad day at the office, they were up for it, they were desperate for a win, draw vs Villa, well they're in a good form, there was a foul in the buildup to their goal, bla bla bla bla. And we were missing our wide players for a few matches, of course, because no other team ever has injuries, just us. f**k that. At some point you just have to admit that Frank is struggling to find answers and our poor performances match our crappy results. Does anyone even know what our system is? We don't seem to use pressing and we struggle to break down low block teams, in fact most games we have trouble even registering shots on goal, which is a pretty bad sign.
I want Frank to succeed and yes, it's a difficult job, but he wanted it. Lamps did well in his first season, but let's also not forget that the club also took a risk by bringing in a young inexperienced manager. He wasn't exactly picking between European elite clubs after that one season with Derby and decided to do us a favour. Quite possibly, if it wasn't for Chelsea offer, he could have even been out of work by now. In fact, if he doesn't last this season and that means we're in a free fall, I'd say he would have trouble finding another PL club giving him an opportunity. 
We all want Frank to succeed at Chelsea, his biggest fans and detractors alike. But let's get one thing straight, he should be judged on merit and not showered with excuses every time he fails because he's a club legend, nice guy or whatever else. My view is, if he can't deliver top four finish with this squad, he probably is not the man for the job, it's that simple. Some of you have this obsession with keeping him around for the next year-and-a-half no matter what, which I find odd. This is a high pressure job and Frank knew that coming in. Whatever assurances he was given, I'm fairly sure he knows better than anyone, there's a limit to how long he's allowed to fail at Chelsea FC. Let's hope he can resolve this recent crisis asap and prove all the doubters wrong because the longer we struggle the worse it's going to get for everyone
 

Spot on post, It’s staggering how people will defend anything when it’s Lampard. Any other manager spending £200 million and playing players out of position would not get this treatment. Remember Kante under Sarri my word the abuse he got. 
 
People just can’t separate the footballer from the Manager it’s clouding their judgement because of the emotional Connection. 
 
Let me be absolutely CLEAR Lampard as player one of my absolute favourite players ever. Lampard as a manager, my views aren’t based on my feelings of him the player.
 
This is Chelsea we are winners, one of the most of not the most successful English team in the last 20 years we win trophies even In sh*t seasons.
Anyone saying they would accept midtable just to keep Lampard thank f**k the board probably won’t accept that so glad you guys or girls are not on the board.
You really think Roman invested his money for midtable finish?? When has he ever accepted that??? 

I'm concerned for Frank. I think he has a month to arrest the slump and get this squad to fulfill its potential. If there's no evidence of a turnaround in January, then I think he'll be gone sadly. History says our board won't wait until things get very bad (i.e. Arsenal under Arteta).
I've disagreed with board decisions in the past, but I have no doubt that they'll make an informed decision that they believe is in the best interests of the club. Roman has genuine love and affection for the club, and I think like us he wants Frank to succeed but he isn't afraid to make tough calls that will ruffle feathers.
Ideally, I prefer seeing managers see out the majority of their contract (Frank has now reached 50% of his contract). I'm always very hesitant to sack managers without exhausting every other avenue first.
The loss to Arsenal has understandably shaken the confidence of the supporter base. It wasn't long ago we were on a 17-match unbeaten run and now we're facing the brink of a crisis. It's hard to reconcile that literally in a space of a week, we're now the talk of a crisis after Arsenal have been subjected to it for weeks on end.
Last season, Frank had the benefit of less pressure and the goodwill of being a favourite son and club legend. This year with heavy investment in the squad, naturally expectations on him have risen and he's under more pressure to succeed.
Here's my summary of the positives and negatives of his tenure thus far.
Positives
Got us a Champions League spot despite being handicapped by a transfer ban and losing Hazard. Overall, his first season in charge considering the circumstances has to be classified as a "success". Reached the FA Cup Final, but it was disappointing we couldn't prevail on the day. Gave several academy products a chance to shine (i.e. Mount, Abraham, James etc.) His return to the club has re-engaged a disillusioned fanbase after Sarri's time at the club. Even though the squad isn't living up to it's potential right now, I think the squad is in better shape now than when he first took over. Whether he remains coach or someone takes over in the near future, the squad is in better shape to thrive and achieve success. Negatives
Inexperience, both tactically and overall the nature and enormity of the job. It was always a concern from day 1, and question remains whether he has the capabilities to take us to the very top. It's possible this is Frank's ceiling at this stage of his managerial career, and he can't take us any further from here. Several star signings have yet to fire (i.e. Werner and Havertz). Haven't defeated anyone in the top 10 this season. No trophies, though most were not expecting any in the first season. Our most realistic aim is the FA Cup, and possibly the Champions League if we time our form momentum correctly come February next year. If the worst was to happen and things didn't work out with Frank, I wouldn't rule out a return further down the line when he gains more experience and managerial wisdom elsewhere.
Until all is said and done, I'm behind him 100%. A club legend like this needs our backing and support. I really hope he can pull through and prove the doubters wrong.

This is it for me, you spend that sort of money on that kind of talent/potential you build around in particular Kai for me who looked like a future Ballon Dor winner before coming here. Yet Lampard seems intent on putting them wherever fits his 4-3-3.
I don’t see why he hasn’t used a 4-2-3-1 that he’d used at Derby to get the best out of Kai.
Werner is getting hard to defend as he has missed an incredible amount of decent chances but you still want your best players in their best position and he’s barely played in his.
Lampard won’t and shouldn’t be sacked yet but he must know the figures above him will be discussing what should happen if it gets worse and he should therefore be making a change.
Perhaps changing to the 4-2-3-1 could be a magic moment like Contes switch to 3-4-3?? 

Interesting how now stats totally matter for Timo and Kai even when both spent most games filling in the gaps in the 4-3-3 formation, Lampard didn't build the team around them this season at all, he could have done that but he chose to settle in Mount back in his position and to find the new position for Kante.
Timo started the season well but got burned out running down the wing and lost confidence. He's a striker that is known for missing chances but just by being the striker he's capable of getting into more than enough chances to make up for his misses. That's not possible when he's asked to provide for others, he spent so much energy just to get into a chance only to miss it and then he goes cold and spends another 30 minutes just hugging the touchline and then whoops he misses again...
He was played in the wrong way most of the time and the few goals he did score in the PL, half of them he created by himself, Jorginho's long ball wasn't an assist for Jorginho officially, it was Timo that had so many touches there and basically created the goal himself. Then he got a pass on the wing, ran the counter attack by himself, passed 4-5 players and scored in another game, that's him trying to force it and most of the time it won't work but it looked great that one time, that's not us playing tactically well, that's equivalent to buying Messi/Maradona and him running past 4 players for a goal but that doesn't make your tactics good.
Kai was mostly filling in for whoever wasn't there to play in a certain position, the few games where he played as the AM he delivered almost every game.
For some reason Lampard decided to play him as a false 9 against Liverpool, Christensen got a red card and Kai was subbed off. That's not him playing bad, that's just random, you have Tammy, Giroud, Werner but you simply have to play Kai as a false 9 against Liverpool so early on in the season when he didn't even have a pre-season and then you take him off because your Christensen lost the game for you already.
But after that game Lampard played him correctly, he was the AM in 3 games in a row, he scored, assisted and won a penalty during that time so he had a run of 3 games where he did well and then it ended when Lampard changed the formation for the Spurs game and Kai played once again only 45 minutes in a different role, after that point Lampard used him as the CM, RW, basically wherever he needed to fill in so that's not really how you make a new player settle in.
Is it really that mind-blowing how the new signings that play well are players that are never asked do do something other than what they are the best at? Ziyech was never moved outside of the right wing, Chilwell and T.Silva obviously only play their natural positions.
But then people are surprised that Timo and Kai have weak stats, I mean even Ziyech had a bad game at least once and he only played in his strongest position, why do we expect new players to perform well when we don't use them correctly?
It's the manager's job to use his players in the best way where their best abilities will come into play, it's the manager's job to provide for the best possible ways so that they perform. Last season Lampard blamed the players for not being clinical enough and it's true we missed a lot of chances but he's not doing any favors to anyone by demanding that Werner simply figures it out on the wing and changes his player-profile in a matter of a few months, that's taking a big risk and a big leap of faith and of course it hasn't paid out!
Same for Kai, a huge signing that spent 30% of the time on the wing playing way too wide. Like I said, if you want a new young player to settle in fast and to contribute you should play him in his best position where you would have the most chances that he delivers as soon as possible.
Solskjaer doesn't play Fernandes or van De Beek on the wing, he's not trying to re-invent those players he just puts them where they play their best game and hopes for the best. And it's working...

Won't lie, this past month is beyond worrying, mainly because these current problem's seem more structural than personnel and once it gets to that point you have to look at the manager. Last season it was obvious that our defense would improve once Kepa and the LB's from hell were out and a commanding CB was brought in and it did. Looking at our attacking play lately has been brutal and unlike last year with the defense, we have the personnel to be playing so so much better.

I do agree with a lot of points there. But let's not sugarcoat it with "other teams are doing bad" we are rapidly falling behind now, and another two defeats could have us in the bottom half which is very likely. 

If he loses his next two games, how do you defend that? That's not an imporvement on last season, we've gone backwards, that's unacceptable. Frank did really well in his first season, and before this sh*te month he was doing well again. But we have to be improving, a title challenge? No, I don't think so. But our expectations have definitely improved given the money we have spent. If this is happening again where the team goes to sleep after about 13/14 games, how do we trust the manager to sort this out next season when we absolutely must mount a title challenge? If he can keep losing the players like this at such pivotal moments. 

I'm sorry, I know we love Frank, and it's a dream come true having him be successful here. But we can't accept results and performances like that, a loss against Villa would be an absolute disaster, because if we lose against them, we have bob hope against City, that will be what? 1 win in 6? and 5 losses? On the bounce? Not good enough. 

Sorry but 3 points out if 12 isn't doing well in my book.

These excuses just keep coming having got spanked by a team we should wipe the floor with

I know where you coming from and I love Frank the player,I just never wanted him to take the position so early in his managerial career, I also feel the board knew they couldn't get a top manager because of the transfer ban.I will always love Frank and hopefully have him back at a later date,the board spent a lot of money in summer and I don't feel like me they will want to give him another season.

My knee jerk reaction is Lampard is just way too inexperienced and raw for a job like Chelsea, regardless how much love we have for him or how much we want him to succeed. This year is that much harder, more players and options available, higher expectation, and he's just not keeping up with it. The last 3 away games we came up against teams short on forms, and somehow each game we started off like the worse team, and not matching up in terms of effort. Lampard could blame individual all he wants, but he must do better in terms of match preparation, and make sure they players are in the mood. That's every manager's bread and butter, and he's been poor for weeks now. With better players at disposal, last year's excuses of not taking our chances, injuries, or the individual mistakes can no longer be used everytime things go south. You signed a big name striker, use him properly, or at least have the balls to bench him and use other options. Every team has injuries, we can't just put the lose on Ziyech or Pullisic not there. Is he and his coaching team make players better? I think it's debatable to say the least. Realistically, do we anticipate any signing next month that will turn our fortune around? I doubt it. As a team, we seems to go to the right direction for a few weeks or month, then the slump and not being able to get out of it, and the man driving the bus looks pretty clueless in recent weeks. Unlike last season, with so many teams within points of each other, I doubt we will get into the top 4 unless something dramatic happens. Sure Klopp had some tough couple of years, but the man's been managing title winning team in Germany, so hardly his first rodeo. Meanwhile, Lampard is learning the trade on the job, as much as we love him, we can't afford another year of learning curve.

I envy how you can be optimistic after a performance and result like that. But I just can't see it, if we can play that bad against such a sh*te side, there's truly no hope this team can be title challengers under Frank. 

It's happening again, last season it was all going great until November and we hit a slump, it's the same once again this season. Because realistically, this is our November given the one month delay this season. It's just not good enough, and I don't see the evidence for how that can be turned around. This is a results business, I don't think we should sack Frank given the fixtures we've got coming up. But the board right now should be aiming to make a replacement and shortlisting the best available managers that can utilise this group of players to their best ability. 

No way on this earth should we be losing to a side like that with the players we have, absolutely no way, but it's happened. People talk about Klopp and Pep in their first years in the PL, but Klopp and Pep were already proven winners and built World Class teams, Lampard started management just over two years ago and hasn't won anything, and given the recent performances it's starting to make sense. 

I'm not going to pretend that other managers haven't had bad spells here, like Conte or Mourinho, but they still won things. With the team that we have, there's no way we should be playing this badly or losing the games we are, we have to be doing better. 

Last season's 4th was the case of best among the worst. This season even traditionally low and mid-table teams have improved their game, so we are in a tough competition. In CL we had a relatively easy ride with Krasnodar and Rennes, and Sevilla rolling over in their last game against us. Atletico Madrid will eat us and sh*t us out with ease.

When Frank was appointed as our manager, I was happy with the understanding that we will be content and very patient with hovering around middle of the table, but at this cost promoting and developing our youth into the first team, and giving Frank a couple of years of learning the trade. If our expectations are still below Europa League, then fine.  However, instead of our own youth promotion on-mass, we went out and bought external talents and now expect to compete for EPL crown and CL place.  As evidently our objectives and expectations have shifted upwards, I do not believe that Frank is ready to fulfill those expectations. Apart from tactical mistakes (some people question if we even have any tactics) and general game management shortcomings, I think Frank struggles to motivate the players and fails to get the best out of them on a consistent basis.  Miscommunications on the pitch, very rudimentary link-up play, misplaced simplest passes, evident lack of anticipation, poor physical form, players easily switch off - these are all telltale signs that group and individual training methods are not up to scratch.

Some people here believe that a magic player will come and miraculously resolve all problems. Yesterday it was Havertz, today it is Ziyech, tomorrow will be Gilmour, however it is not the players, but the whole system that falters - and it is down to the manager to sort it. 

I hope that Frank will turn everything around and fast, but sadly I know he wont.

I love Frank and he will always be my joint GOAT with Terry but he's not at the level yet to manage us to success. 
We have seen this movie over and over again and it won't change this time around just because it's Frank. 
We are terrible to watch, we are losing games to teams we shouldn't be and we are playing players in positions they are not competent in. 
The big money signings have started well however their form has gone completely now the longer they have been with us and Frank. These were not por players but two of the best players in the Bundesliga last season, one of which was a TOTY contender in the CL. 
We don't look like a team anymore, we haven't done for a while. It's just a team of individuals who don't look confident being asked to play the way Frank is asking them to. 
This won't touch Frank's legacy and neither should it because he's a club great but sadly we need better than what Frank's able to give us at this time in his managerial career.