Super Frank Lampard

[Scott Harris]

27 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

We can all see it. The defense has to improve Frank. Yes the players we have are not good enough to keep out Bayern but they surely are to keep out a side as rubbish as Bournemouth. If they are not they have no business being here.

That's the thing, they aren't good enough. Liverpool, City, Leicester, Tottenham, United, they all have better defenders than us. Maybe the same can be said about Wolves and Sheff Utd's defenders too. Honestly, our defenders are mid table level, at best. Don't forget that Tomori was playing in the Championship last season, Zouma was relegated with Stoke and then was part of the worst team from set pieces last season (Everton) Christensen can't win a physical battle against any player and Rudiger's form has fallen off a cliff (could be to do with him not having a pre season because of a knee injury and then picking up another injury at the start of the season) Reece James is great going forward, not so great defensively. Alonso can't defend and Emerson can't do anything. Azpilicueta is probably the only defender that can defend well, and even he isn't as good as he used to be.

[Slojo]

This is really hard for Frank right now, the team he currently has. I blamed him for December, because I feel those results were on him, but right now it's not his fault, we have so many injuries and other problems such as contract situations with Willian that he has no other choice but to field a sh*t team. 

I can't blame him for this. 

[sonic90]

The problem is we could never defend well from the start of the season but could rely on a decent attack to win games, with all our best attacking players out and playing Bats over Giroud for so many games, we ended up being poor on both ends. Under Conte, Alonso was a guy who chipped in with goals but now he is our main threat to illustrate the problem.

Lamps has to be able to demonstrate that he can organise a defence, we don't have world class defenders but they aren't terrible either yet our defensive ability is horrendous.

[axman2526]

2 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

That's the thing, they aren't good enough. Liverpool, City, Leicester, Tottenham, United, they all have better defenders than us. Maybe the same can be said about Wolves and Sheff Utd's defenders too. Honestly, our defenders are mid table level, at best. Don't forget that Tomori was playing in the Championship last season, Zouma was relegated with Stoke and then was part of the worst team from set pieces last season (Everton) Christensen can't win a physical battle against any player and Rudiger's form has fallen off a cliff (could be to do with him not having a pre season because of a knee injury and then picking up another injury at the start of the season) Reece James is great going forward, not so great defensively. Alonso can't defend and Emerson can't do anything. Azpilicueta is probably the only defender that can defend well, and even he isn't as good as he used to be.

Fair points, so we basically should flog three of them and loan Tomori out then? What do we do now? Look to the youth team?

[Slojo]

Just now, sonic90 said:

The problem is we could never defend well from the start of the season but could rely on a decent attack to win games, with all our best attacking players out and playing Bats over Giroud for so many games, we ended up being poor on both ends. Under Conte, Alonso was a guy who chipped in with goals but now he is our main threat to illustrate the problem.

Lamps has to be able to demonstrate that he can organise a defence, we don't have world class defenders but they aren't terrible either yet our defensive ability is horrendous.

Bingo, the attack right now is the worst it's ever been. I remember in 2011 we had Malouda-Drogba-Anelka all past their primes, slow, then Kalou to bring on. And I would take that over this current attack any day. This is the worst Chelsea team we've had in a long time, but the front line is shocking. 

We aren't going to sharpen up the defence this season, or set piece defending. It's not going to happen, so get used to it, we lack the quality. But what we do need is to install that flair and pace we had in the team earlier in the season. The best thing we can hope for is Tammy, Pulisic and CHO returning asap, stop this messing about with Willian and try and get RLC back into the fold. Otherwise we're going to miss out on top 4. 

[Scott Harris]

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Fair points, so we basically should flog three of them and loan Tomori out then? What do we do now? Look to the youth team?

It may not be possible to do in one window, but defense definitely has to be top priority in the summer. We keep Tomori, he can grow with experience, keep Rudiger because there is a chance he improves his form and is the most experienced CB we have. Christensen has no hope in my opinion, he proves every week that he doesn't have the physical capabilities to cope at this level. Zouma is too much of a disaster waiting to happen. So out of the CB's, Christensen and Zouma should be sold, if we can't replace them both in one window, then you keep one and sell the other. I would keep Alonso because of his attacking threat, but Emerson is useless. We should sell Emerson and bring another LB in. RB is fine, Reece James can improve in defence and Azpilicueta can play as backup. 

[ducavis]

 Common same defence with 3 additions minus Luiz & Zappacosta kept 16 clean sheets last season. So you are telling me we need to buy him a whole defence and 2 goalkeepers to compete again?

Seems no one wants to point fingers at him and argue that maybe he just can’t organise a defence. No one is saying sack him, but if we need to buy him a whole defence and attack to compete; practically a whole new team the club might as well not have bothered. 

[strider6004]

Let's here from the gaffer

 

[forbzy]

On 26/02/2020 at 16:11, Kev56 said:

Do you not think we need to freshen up our attack, i think we need to splash out on a top cf.

Most definitely. I was just responding in regards to the defensive needs.

[coco]

Frank as usual tries to cover up for the defence by blaming the attack. 

[Andy2461]

Maybe get him a specialist defence coach

[strider6004]

1 minute ago, coco said:

Frank as usual tries to cover up for the defence by blaming the attack. 

Well if we were 2-0 at half time they might have given up the fight is what he said, I don't necessarily agree with that though think he again tinkered with defensive personnel. Not sure that is ideal and we are playing with our veteran GK.

[Brutos]

Excuses excuses excuses that's all I keep hearing, people are acting like we are a bottom ten club with relegation level players.

 

We lost an attacking player who had little interest in defending and a defender who always get abuse because of his defending yet we have gotten dramatically worst at basic defending, you can all make up as much excuses as you want to but losing those players shouldn't make us worst at defending it should be the opposite.

 

 

And if he can't organise a defence now what's the point of buying new defenders?

 

His ability to organise a defence will not improve with new defenders suddenly.

[Sexyfootball]

I've seen a few people suggesting he should bring his mate JT into the fold to "organise the defence", but said JT is currently helping to preside over the team who have shipped the most goals in the premier league ...

[Ernie_blue]

22 minutes ago, Andy2461 said:

Maybe get him a specialist defence coach

I see Andy Myers is always around in the background😂

[Ernie_blue]

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

 Common same defence with 3 additions minus Luiz & Zappacosta kept 16 clean sheets last season. So you are telling me we need to buy him a whole defence and 2 goalkeepers to compete again?

Seems no one wants to point fingers at him and argue that maybe he just can’t organise a defence. No one is saying sack him, but if we need to buy him a whole defence and attack to compete; practically a whole new team the club might as well not have bothered. 

Depends what you mean by compete? Didnt compete for the league last year, haven't this year and this current group of defenders and goalkeeper are only good enough to fight for top 4. We are in transition and will be for years but at the very least we need a CB, GK and a LB. James is young and will make mistakes but needs to be given a chance.

[Guest Sindre]

There's no two ways about it, currently we are quite pathetic.

We have no attackers that can score, in fact we have no attacker with more than one goal in 2020. And we are in March!
We also can't defend to save our lives and currently the manager could just throw the dice to decide who starts because we are sh*te regardless.

Lampard & Morris needs to figure this out, and quick. Because if we continue like this i could see Abramovich getting impaitient again and make a rash decision in the summer. Especially with some decent managers on the market like Poch and Allegri. I wouldn't want it but i am just saying that i could see Roman doing it.

Lampard have been dealt a bad hand with injuries and no reinforcements in January. He certainly made it clear that we needed goalscorers and he was obviously right. But it didn't happen and now he needs to stop us from sinking.
We have tough fixtures coming up and unless we can turn things around we will be out of top 4 in no time.

There is such a massive overhaul needed in the summer that it isn't even funny. If no-one told you todays XIs were Chelsea's it could pass for being a West-Ham team. Just filled with average or below-average players.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Sindre

[Scott Harris]

1 hour ago, ducavis said:

 Common same defence with 3 additions minus Luiz & Zappacosta kept 16 clean sheets last season. So you are telling me we need to buy him a whole defence and 2 goalkeepers to compete again?

Seems no one wants to point fingers at him and argue that maybe he just can’t organise a defence. No one is saying sack him, but if we need to buy him a whole defence and attack to compete; practically a whole new team the club might as well not have bothered. 

I did say that Lampard isn't completely blameless. I don't think constantly changing the backline is helping, he needs to pick a backline and stick with, but just because a defence managed 16 clean sheets last season, that doesn't mean they are good enough now, players can and do decline quite quickly at times. That defence had a fully fit Rudiger last season, and he was a lot better than he has been this season, Azpilicueta also has declined since then, and Kepa was a lot better at making saves. The players that have come in for these players haven't stepped up. Christensen has been horrendous, how can you be a CB and lose so many aerial duals? Lampard's biggest mistake was bringing him back into the team. From what I am seeing, most of our mistakes aren't tactical ones, it's more like individual errors, that is why I don't put the blame on Lampard.

We don't need to sell the whole defense, but we do need a dominant CB and a LB that can attack and defend and won't make so many basic errors.

[big blue]

10 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

I did say that Lampard isn't completely blameless. I don't think constantly changing the backline is helping, he needs to pick a backline and stick with, but just because a defence managed 16 clean sheets last season, that doesn't mean they are good enough now, players can and do decline quite quickly at times. That defence had a fully fit Rudiger last season, and he was a lot better than he has been this season, Azpilicueta also has declined since then, and Kepa was a lot better at making saves. The players that have come in for these players haven't stepped up. Christensen has been horrendous, how can you be a CB and lose so many aerial duals? Lampard's biggest mistake was bringing him back into the team. From what I am seeing, most of our mistakes aren't tactical ones, it's more like individual errors, that is why I don't put the blame on Lampard.

We don't need to sell the whole defense, but we do need a dominant CB and a LB that can attack and defend and won't make so many basic errors.

and a goalkeeper. and possibly a midfielder that provides better protection.

The players are poor, just think Lampard should be setting us up alot tighter, and msking us more difficult to beat. 

There are clearly changes that need to be made, but why not try and be a little more pragmatic,  and try and pick up some form and confidence. 

It just seems we make similar error every game, there are acres of space in between midfield and defence, because the pressing is so disjointed.

We are awful at defending set pieces, which is made worse by the team selection today. Bournemouth have the best record from set pieces in the league this season, we have one of the worse at defending, but Lamps has put out a side without zouma or rudiger? 

When you read about meticulous managers like  Mourinho are, i find it incredible that Lampard didnt at least attempt to nullify bouremouth's set pieces by playing his most aerially dominant players. 

Surely that is a no brainer? 

Fans criticised Sarri for not adapting to his opponents and having us play the same regardless,  but Lamps does the same. We arent good enough to go out and play our own game and the 3 points will come. We need a tailored tactical plan against every team in the league. 

I feel like lamps changes things without much thought, only to try something else. 

I get the impression Lamps is more like his uncle Harry, than he is Mourinho. 

I just need to see some pragmatism and some improvement tactically. I get his hands are tied but we should be beating the likes of Bournemouth, Brighton, West Ham, Southampton, Newcastle, 4 times out of 5 even with this squad. 

[Gol15]

If we win against Everton, Lampard would be once again invincible. Imagine that big win without Tammy,Pulisic,CHO,Kante,Jorginho,RLC...

[evissy]

Winning and losing is down to so many small things. We have the players to be in a better position than we are currently. Frank wants us to be very active and progressive. We are not responding positively and we've had so bad luck with injuries. It is a miracle we are 4 th. We are a top 7 side I am afraid. Down to Frank and players.

[Ernie_blue]

An attacking group of players which consists of Giroud, Batman, Barkley, Pedro, Willian and Mount with Jorginho backing them up is just not good enough. I just don't see any goals in them with Alonso and James offering more threat than that group combined. I would honestly move Alonso further forward and have cover behind because he can't get back anyway.

Lampard has kept with the same group of defensive players since Christensen and James was brought in, Dave always plays and Rudiger has been playing until today which I'm sure in the match forum some posters agreed with as he was poor against Bayern. The only change I have seen is from a 4 to a 5 which I thought should have happened at the Man Utd game, I actually agree with the 5 at the back because I think it was the best for this current group of defenders. Lamps has also kept with Cabballero since Kepa has been dropped so he has been consistent. The issues are defensively we are a mess, doesn't even look like they can get the basics right and I also believe the defence gets no protection from the midfield.

[Slojo]

2 hours ago, Brutos said:

Excuses excuses excuses that's all I keep hearing, people are acting like we are a bottom ten club with relegation level players.

 

We lost an attacking player who had little interest in defending and a defender who always get abuse because of his defending yet we have gotten dramatically worst at basic defending, you can all make up as much excuses as you want to but losing those players shouldn't make us worst at defending it should be the opposite.

 

 

And if he can't organise a defence now what's the point of buying new defenders?

 

His ability to organise a defence will not improve with new defenders suddenly.

He has to share some blame Brutos, but you look at that team and who do you think could get results with that? The team we've fielded in the past 3 games is easily the worst Chelsea team I've ever laid eyes on, it's no wonder Bayern spanked us hard. 

[coco]

1 minute ago, Slojo said:

He has to share some blame Brutos, but you look at that team and who do you think could get results with that? The team we've fielded in the past 3 games is easily the worst Chelsea team I've ever laid eyes on, it's no wonder Bayern spanked us hard. 

This is the thing, imo this is probably the worst team for over 20 years, maybe the worst ever EPL team we have had, so 28 years.

 

When i'm not sure about a player, i imagine them going to Liverpool or City , like imagine if Hazard went to any of them, we would be devastated because we know how good he is. But seriously i wouldn't mind any of our current team going to them.

 

[coco]

^youngsters aside.