7 hours ago, robdog said:

 

That clip above with Cundy and Nevin was interesting. Frank speaks well on that praising Mourinho for having held that record for so long. He also acknowledges he was more comfortable playing three CBs as they did not have Kane and Son running at them.  Praised Mount and Barkley and with the latter saying considering the lack of minutes this season he played very well.

In our remaining 11 league games we have 6 of the bottom 7 left to play.

It is imperative Frank has learned how to set up and beat these weaker sides. That is 18 points we need to achieve.

Newcastle home

Norwich home 

Villa away

Bournemouth away

West ham away 

Watford home 

Most job contracts come with a 6-month probation period where the potential of candidates is assessed and their achievements and mistakes are measured. Following that review the contract is made permanent, the probation period is extended or ties are cut. 
I will attempt to assess Frank's first 6 months. I should at this point declare my hand. The three things that have given me the most pleasure in my life are:
1. Frank Lampard
2. Barbara Windsor ringing the church bells in Carry on Dick
3. The birth of my daughter.

 

What disappoints me most is that I was not present at any of those three events, at least not at the birth of your daughter...

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

In our remaining 11 league games we have 6 of the bottom 7 left to play.

It is imperative Frank has learned how to set up and beat these weaker sides. That is 18 points we need to achieve.

Newcastle home

Norwich home 

Villa away

Bournemouth away

West ham away 

Watford home 

Already played Newcastle twice. Agreed we need get 3 points in these games though. Bournemouth and west ham away are banana skins though.

11 hours ago, Liam said:

Most job contracts come with a 6-month probation period where the potential of candidates is assessed and their achievements and mistakes are measured. Following that review the contract is made permanent, the probation period is extended or ties are cut. 

I will attempt to assess Frank's first 6 months. I should at this point declare my hand. The three things that have given me the most pleasure in my life are:

1. Frank Lampard

2. Barbara Windsor ringing the church bells in Carry on Dick

3. The birth of my daughter.

It is pretty close between Barbara and my daughter but Frank is way ahead. So do I think he should be above criticism? Yes I do.

He has shipped some criticism on here, most of it with the caveat that he should not be above criticism. Wrong. 

His achievements:

We are fourth in the league and still in the Champions League and FA Cup, for f**k's sake. He has integrated a number of academy players into the squad. He has shown flexibility and courage in his selections. He has shown a willingness to experiment with formations, tactics and personnel. He has made us entertaining to watch in what is after all an entertainment business. He has represented the club with intelligence, good grace and class.

His mistakes:

With the benefit of hindsight he has made some poor selections and substitutions. He can't decide on the best combination of his bang average collection of centre halves. He can't get  the best out of Kante with Jorginho in the team. 

Overall I'm happy to offer Frank the Chelsea job for life.

 

 

You too are in the entertainment business Liam and I love your posts, and I largely agree with them, even this one, though I'm one of those who has criticised Lampard. Every manager should be scrutinised, even him. One or two precious souls on here object to the criticism but nobody is calling for Lampard's head, and indeed if the axe ever falls, that will be a dark day indeed. There's no manager I'd like to see succeed more, and there's no manager I'd like to see given more of a chance, and I think he's got a chance, partly because of some of the reasons you've given, although there's obviously been elements which have worried me. Having Lampard at the club, the good far exceeds any mistakes he may be making as a rookie coach.

 

As player, what set him apart was his mentality. West Ham fans famously didn't rate him, and when he first arrived at Chelsea he was decent but nothing special, but he was a special character with a fierce determination and intelligence, and that more than anything makes me think he might have a chance. Even if we dropped down through the divisions, I'd be happy with him at the helm, as I've said before, but that wouldn't stop me coming on here every day picking holes in his management. Let's hope it never comes to that, for all your sakes.

 

Saturday, he went for solidity, and he was right to do so, and we nearly kept a clean sheet, which we have hardly done. My fear is that he'll tinker on Tuesday night, as he's invariably done, when every player that started on Saturday deserves to start the next one. This is where a lot of my problems lie. Pick the team on merit. Kepa dropped, deservedly, but Barkley has been dropped despite playing well in all his recent performances, which isn't right. Kovacic inexplicably being dropped when he was having an exceptional season, Giroud being completely sidelined, Kante seemingly an untouchable despite scarcely deserving it, etc etc.

 

This season Frank has fixed things that weren't broke, and when things were broke, he left it alone, and the gap has closed significantly as a result, and I don't think the football has been all that great, apart from a patch early on in the season. Regardless, I wouldn't swap him for anyone else, he's exceeded my expectations so far, and it's definitely been more pros than cons, though there's clearly a lot to learn.

 

Happily I think the board are going to have a lot of trouble trying to sack this manager, even if they wanted to, but maybe I'm naive. Despite my gripes, Lampard is a class act and we're very lucky to have him. This is the manager thread though so if people don't like reading criticism maybe they should only come on here when we're playing well.

 

That's the way it goes if you're a manager, even if you're called Frank Lampard.

50 minutes ago, big blue said:

Already played Newcastle twice. Agreed we need get 3 points in these games though. Bournemouth and west ham away are banana skins though.

Ah whoops my mistake. Is Palace away the other 1.

19 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

This is the manager thread though so if people don't like reading criticism maybe they should only come on here when we're playing well.

 

That's the way it goes if you're a manager, even if you're called Frank Lampard.

I love it when critics get triggered. 

6 months into his first Premiership season and while clinging on to 4th I say Frank has done the job.  And not a single player brought in yet. Blue is the colour. 

30 minutes ago, coco said:

I love it when critics get triggered. 

 

Triggered? Hah, I think you're clearly talking about yourself, Precious.

1 hour ago, Davey Baby said:

Saturday, he went for solidity, and he was right to do so, and we nearly kept a clean sheet, which we have hardly done. My fear is that he'll tinker on Tuesday night, as he's invariably done, when every player that started on Saturday deserves to start the next one. This is where a lot of my problems lie. Pick the team on merit. 

I'm going to stick my neck out here Davey and say that the side will be unchanged for Tuesday, fitness allowing.

20 minutes ago, Liam said:

I'm going to stick my neck out here Davey and say that the side will be unchanged for Tuesday, fitness allowing.

Cannot see him not returning to Willian. Probably Tammy too.

In our remaining 11 league games we have 6 of the bottom 7 left to play.
It is imperative Frank has learned how to set up and beat these weaker sides. That is 18 points we need to achieve.
Newcastle home
Norwich home 
Villa away
Bournemouth away
West ham away 
Watford home 

Relegating fighters are really bad to face. I would rather face midtable comfort than these sides. However we can't really think about who we face. Just play our brand of football.

12 hours ago, axman2526 said:

 Probably Tammy too.

Now that you mention it....

 

5 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

 

Doesn't get any easier with Liverpool visiting next for the Cup match.

21 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

 

And your point is?

I mean... WIth the season this is, a very unique one, we're bound to break some records we don't want to break, it is what it is. 

24 minutes ago, Slojo said:

I mean... WIth the season this is, a very unique one, we're bound to break some records we don't want to break, it is what it is. 

Was just about to post the same thing.

Not one of Frank's finest nights. But here's hoping he learns from this. 

I've been saying this for a while but having a system that allows alot of decision making freedom for our players is letting him down. If all of our players had his ability and judgement we would be fine but as it stands it looks like we are all pulling in different directions particularly defensively. 

Bayern exploited the space between the defence and midfield expertly and pulled us out of shape everywhere. Similarly on the ball there didn't look to be any sense of coordinated movement beyond the runs off Giroud from goalkicks. Everyone just went where they wanted.

This approach will work with a mature team but not with the team we have. A bit more discipline is needed.

Edited February 26, 20206 yr by Spiller86

11 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Not one of Frank's finest nights. But here's hoping he learns from this. 

I've been saying this for a while but having a system that allows alot of decision making freedom for our players is letting him down. If all of our players had his ability and judgement we would be fine but as it stands it looks like we are all pulling in different directions particularly defensively. 

Bayern exploited the space between the defence and midfield expertly and pulled us out of shape everywhere. Similarly on the ball there didn't look to be any sense of coordinated movement beyond the runs off Giroud from goalkicks. Everyone just went where they wanted.

This approach will work with a mature team but not with the team we have. A bit more discipline is needed.

Agreed. This is a team that needs Pep-like coaching and system. Micromanaging from all areas.

Also the fact that none of our player can win one on ones vs the best teams in the world was also a huge flaw that Bayern exploited.

5 minutes ago, Deino said:

Agreed. This is a team that needs Pep-like coaching and system. Micromanaging from all areas.

Also the fact that none of our player can win one on ones vs the best teams in the world was also a huge flaw that Bayern exploited.

Yes his influences are perhaps more Uncle 'arry and Carlo rather than Jose. 

Both relied on individual talent and freedom, which works fine if you're players are better. Ours are not.

Watching the decision making of Rudiger and Christensen tonight they were clearly caught in two minds mutiple times of whether to track across or hold position. To a degree the more automated approach of Conte and Sarri covered some of that off. You were instructed where to be.

That said it's still a learning experience for him too. He was outclassed tonight. Focus now is to make sure we gets another chance un this comp next season with a reinforced team. 

2 minutes ago, Spiller86 said:

Yes his influences are perhaps more Uncle 'arry and Carlo rather than Jose. 

Both relied on individual talent and freedom, which works fine if you're players are better. Ours are not.

Watching the decision making of Rudiger and Christensen tonight they were clearly caught in two minds mutiple times of whether to track across or hold position. To a degree the more automated approach of Conte and Sarri covered some of that off. You were instructed where to be.

That said it's still a learning experience for him too. He was outclassed tonight. Focus now is to make sure we gets another chance un this comp next season with a reinforced team. 

We are not getting much luck recently, it would have been interesting to have scored first to see if Bayern would still have been so confident and dominant.

23 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

We are not getting much luck recently, it would have been interesting to have scored first to see if Bayern would still have been so confident and dominant.

No not a lot of luck. But hoping for more luck is not a plan.

I'm not sure Bayern would have done much differently. They only really changed when 2-0 up and sat a bit deeper, which allowed us to play some more. 

For me the lack of a leader in defence is concerning. Watching Boateng tonight for Bayern he directed the rest around. Neither Christensen and Rudiger have that. You need a leader on the pitch to alter the approach make us become more compact when needed or note that we were leaving too much space between the lines and have Jorginho or Kovacic drop to cover that. We did neither and so were ripped apart defensively. 

Need JT back in the set up in my view. That and a 30+ centre half who has won things and can lead the rest.

I think Frank hit the nail on the head though. He understands that we all have to look at Bayerns level as the level we want to get to (including for him)

“It’s a real reality check, for everybody, really. We have to this one on the chin. Just look at yourself and no one else. Look at the levels that we want to attain at this club. We have to work to get back there.

“There’s lots of elements where the players, if they have it in them — and a lot of them I think do — will look at who they were up against individually today and see the levels we want to attain, and more. It’s a reality check for the work that needs to be done here.

“[After seeing today], let’s understand where we need to get to, for everybody here. There’s a lot to be done."

Edited February 26, 20206 yr by Spiller86

Frank put the boot into his players after the game about falling short...don't think he can escape scrutiny for the result either. Assuming team that had it easy against Spurs could do it against a far stronger Bayern was naive. Appreciate options limited due to injury, but picking a fresh and pacy Willian over Barkley was pretty obvious...and once again subs were made after opponents scored, when it was too late. A common theme.

3 hours ago, The Brit said:

Frank put the boot into his players after the game about falling short...don't think he can escape scrutiny for the result either. Assuming team that had it easy against Spurs could do it against a far stronger Bayern was naive. Appreciate options limited due to injury, but picking a fresh and pacy Willian over Barkley was pretty obvious...and once again subs were made after opponents scored, when it was too late. A common theme.

And then again, many in here were saying that the same players (and Barkley amongst them) deserved to start after their performance against Spuds. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. They were just much, much better than us and no William or any other player would have changed that result. Barkley didn't play well, but they just cut through our team when and how they wanted no matter Barkley. It was impressive to see ow they could take out of the game two of our players with just one single movement.