6 hours ago, Jezz said:

After 48 games:

• Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) = 22 wins, 15 draws, 11 losses (winning percentage of 45.83%)
• Pep Guardiola (Man City) = 28 wins, 11 draws, 9 losses (winning percentage of 58.33%)
• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Man United) = 24 wins, 11 draws, 13 losses (winning percentage of 50.00%)
• Frank Lampard (Chelsea) = 26 wins, 9 draws, 13 losses (winning percentage of 54.17%)

After the same period of time, Frank has been as good as the other three. Only Pep edges him out slightly.

Solskjaer is the best comparison and he had the benefit of two transfer windows at the same stage, whereas Frank has only begun utilizing the transfer market for next season.

The one with the worst record has now won the Premier League & Champions League. As much as I hate that rabble they’ve made the right choice supporting their manager. 

I said at the start of the season that if Frank managed to get us top 4, he will have done an outstanding job given where we were at the start of the season. Poor squad, ban etc. 
 

Incredible that we are close to securing top 4. It will go unnoticed by the media but he should be close to manager of the season (understand others might pip him though)

This is also in Chelsea DNA. Our owner demands CL at least. It is different than Liverpool for example. Their owner doesn't demand it. Our owner ends the contract if it doesn't go well. Liverpool took Klopp in sight of a project. Klopp himself said when he took the job that he needs 4 seasons to win the title. Their board accepted that and he has couple of seasons to build his side. 3rd season CL and this season the Prem. Pretty good job.

Frank doesn't have a project like that. He is there as long as the owner says your time is up.

On 08/07/2020 at 13:10, Jezz said:

After 48 games:

• Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) = 22 wins, 15 draws, 11 losses (winning percentage of 45.83%)
• Pep Guardiola (Man City) = 28 wins, 11 draws, 9 losses (winning percentage of 58.33%)
• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Man United) = 24 wins, 11 draws, 13 losses (winning percentage of 50.00%)
• Frank Lampard (Chelsea) = 26 wins, 9 draws, 13 losses (winning percentage of 54.17%)

After the same period of time, Frank has been as good as the other three. Only Pep edges him out slightly.

Solskjaer is the best comparison and he had the benefit of two transfer windows at the same stage, whereas Frank has only begun utilizing the transfer market for next season.

Looking at this in terms of points tells the same story, Frank is only second to only Pep.

I think Pep also inherited quite a squad if my memory is correct.

Manager	Win	Draw	Points
Jurgen	22	15	81
Pep	28	11	95
Ole	24	11	83
Frank	26	9	87

 

Edited July 10, 20206 yr by strider6004

We'll see how it will look after Frank has had a couple of transfer windows just like Solskjær, Klopp and Guardiola have had.

Roman used to sack managers after a "meh" season before, but now it was clear that Lampard would get a free pass for the first season, even so it became obvious that despite everything we do have an overall decent squad and many other managers said it as well so the fact that many players grew into the squad only shows how capable Lampard is as a manager.

IMO even if people point out how we suck at defending and how it's strange that many players get injured, our club has shown that we do have a really good personnel that has been capable of getting the maximum out of our squad.
Most, if not all decisions that were made in recent times have been very good; securing Pulisic before the ban and fully signing Kovacic proved to be great moves already and going after players like Werner and Ziyech screams at how exciting times are yet to come in the very near future.
Lampard on top of this vision has fully integrated Mount, Abraham, Gilmour and James, and is getting the most out of Barkley while at the same time RLC has recovered and is now featuring again. There hasn't been a single player that under-performed under Lampard this season in comparison to the previous season under Sarri for example.

Sarri did transform our club by playing possession based football but Lampard has fully developed a totally new identity that suits more to our club and to our own mentality, this so called reputation of Chelsea being this club that plays "anti-football" and that parks the bus was never a full picture of our club as we were always looking to attack and to show our teeth and grit and that's exactly what Lampard is looking to do, he has been at the heart of this culture and this club and he simply understands what Chelsea is all about.

This is the final push of Lampards first season, we are top 3 and in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. This has been a good season so far, and to confirm just how time passes by so fast, around 19-20 years ago we signed these guys:

I have no doubt that our own Frankie will leave a big legacy behind him as a manager as well. Exciting times ahead of us.

 

16 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

We'll see how it will look after Frank has had a couple of transfer windows just like Solskjær, Klopp and Guardiola have had.

Roman used to sack managers after a "meh" season before, but now it was clear that Lampard would get a free pass for the first season, even so it became obvious that despite everything we do have an overall decent squad and many other managers said it as well so the fact that many players grew into the squad only shows how capable Lampard is as a manager.

IMO even if people point out how we suck at defending and how it's strange that many players get injured, our club has shown that we do have a really good personnel that has been capable of getting the maximum out of our squad.
Most, if not all decisions that were made in recent times have been very good; securing Pulisic before the ban and fully signing Kovacic proved to be great moves already and going after players like Werner and Ziyech screams at how exciting times are yet to come in the very near future.
Lampard on top of this vision has fully integrated Mount, Abraham, Gilmour and James, and is getting the most out of Barkley while at the same time RLC has recovered and is now featuring again. There hasn't been a single player that under-performed under Lampard this season in comparison to the previous season under Sarri for example.

.

 

Rudiger, Kepa, kante, Christensen have all performed worse this year. 

Weird dig at Sarri considering our defense has been shocking this year.

I'm all for praising Lampard. But let's not go overboard. We are probably going to finish 4th. We might finish 5th. We've had a good season. It's not been spellbinding and the real test starts next year. 

Edited July 10, 20206 yr by bisright1

6 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Rudiger, Kepa, kante, Christensen have all performed worse this year. 

Weird dig at Sarri considering our defense has been shocking this year.

I'm all for praising Lampard. But let's not go overboard. We are probably going to finish 4th. We might finish 5th. We've had a good season. It's not been spellbinding and the real test starts next year. 

IMO Rudiger and Kepa didn't show a worse performance overall this season, Christensen did but then again he was pretty bad before Sarri so for me it's basically him just being him. Kepa is simply less protected but last season he wasn't really better we just had more possession and at times we played with a false 9 as well which protected his overall performance, he has been average in his first season as well.

Kante had injuries this season so I personally don't blame that on Lampard, this wasn't a dig at Sarri but considering how much better we look in our midfield where Kovacic has been playing much better this season in comparison to the last one and how much more Barkley has impacted our team, Lampard improved more players overall while the average ones got more exposed.

@bisright1 On second thought, you're right about Rudiger, he was better last season now that I took some time to think about it. I wonder where did Lampard go wrong there?

Lampard worries me abit about the defence. He’s had all season, plus the lockdown break, to sort out the defence and it’s still no better.

I’m not attacking him or saying he’s a rubbish manager but it’s a big worry for me. The defenders are below par but it’s not all down to them is it?

2 hours ago, Gol15 said:

@bisright1 On second thought, you're right about Rudiger, he was better last season now that I took some time to think about it. I wonder where did Lampard go wrong there?

Lampard has failed to get our entire defence singing. This probably has something to do with overlapping full backs and no holding midfielder and a goalkeeper who anyone doing opposition scouting will have worked out he can't handle crosses. It's definitely noticeably worse this year than last. 

Lampard has got our midfield playing well, that is 1) Carrying on the work Sarri did (who oversaw a huge change in style successfully) and 2) Excellent man management of young players. 

 

 

24 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Lampard has failed to get our entire defence singing. This probably has something to do with overlapping full backs and no holding midfielder and a goalkeeper who anyone doing opposition scouting will have worked out he can't handle crosses. It's definitely noticeably worse this year than last. 

Lampard has got our midfield playing well, that is 1) Carrying on the work Sarri did (who oversaw a huge change in style successfully) and 2) Excellent man management of young players. 

 

 

Are you claiming our midfield plays the same as it did under Sarri, just with a few tweaks? Its chalk and cheese, the ball is passed forward far more often than under Sarri, in fact the whole impetus is aimed at getting the ball through the 3rds much quicker as soon as the keeper releases it. Now that may not happen all the time but that`s clearly the aim. The midfield now is based around high energy movement, passing the ball with pace, always with an aim to moving forward, there`s a hell of a lot more risks taken than with Sarri`s almost risk free game plan. I think if RLC had been available it would have been even more based around pace, mobility and power moving through the opposition, dominating the middle of the pitch. I dont see any of Sarri`s game in our current midfield set up.

2 hours ago, dkw said:

Are you claiming our midfield plays the same as it did under Sarri, just with a few tweaks? Its chalk and cheese, the ball is passed forward far more often than under Sarri, in fact the whole impetus is aimed at getting the ball through the 3rds much quicker as soon as the keeper releases it. Now that may not happen all the time but that`s clearly the aim. The midfield now is based around high energy movement, passing the ball with pace, always with an aim to moving forward, there`s a hell of a lot more risks taken than with Sarri`s almost risk free game plan. I think if RLC had been available it would have been even more based around pace, mobility and power moving through the opposition, dominating the middle of the pitch. I dont see any of Sarri`s game in our current midfield set up.

What you have just described is what Sarri was aiming for. It's how his "brand" of football differs from the tiki taka style.

However he was one season in and converting a team who had just been managed by Conte. It was a transition season. Lampard has continued what Sarri started. He's done it really well and I'm impressed with him. 

We don't know how to play a game like this.
We do not know.
And it was a final for us!

Keep hiding Lampard's responsibility in all of this.

An amateur mistake by Mount in the first goal, after all he is a championship level player, just like Tammy.
Frankie's fetishes.

We have a defensive organization at Norwich level.

Two goals conceded, not one goal opportunity created, the eyes bleed from seeing so much crap.

300 passes between the defenders and the goalkeeper, Sheffield United completely relaxed since minute 1, our players look like gelatin and our coach is the biggest problem.

We have the same defects since the first day, zero evolution, otherwise we score 4 goals we cannot win a game.

This is not serious.

Either Lampard hires someone already who knows how to put the team to defend or he leaves now.
I'm full of it.

Goodbye Champions League.

I can't see any more of this.

Good weekend to everyone.

First time today I've been really angry with him despite the issues slowly becoming more pronounced over the season. He and the squad, particularly the youngsters, have done brilliantly to get this high in the table this far into the season but the issues do need to be addressed properly if he and the players want to progress and compete at the top.

We lost the game with the line-up and not changing it until half time. We all know Frank is a smart bloke so struggling to understand how he couldn't see the problems. We knew they were going to work harder than us and be physical yet we sent out a team with so little strength and fight!

If we push through the Havertz deal before getting 2 centre backs then I'll be very worried about whether Frank is seeing how bad we are defensively and how that affects all of our play.

"Sarri did transform our club by playing possession based football but Lampard has fully developed a totally new identity that suits more to our club and to our own mentality, this so called reputation of Chelsea being this club that plays "anti-football" and that parks the bus was never a full picture of our club as we were always looking to attack and to show our teeth and grit and that's exactly what Lampard is looking to do, he has been at the heart of this culture and this club and he simply understands what Chelsea is all about.":

I really don't see us do anything particullarly well this year under Frank, we score a touch more, but we commit a lot of numbers forward. But we have been awful under Frank in the back. We've give up 49 in 35 games this year, we gave up 39 in 38 last year... with Alonso, Luiz, Rudiger, Dave, and Kepa.

Lampard simply got a tactical hiding from Chris Wilder who is a better manager. Every player on Sheffield United knew their role where they need to be and what they need to do. Ours look like 11 players who turned up at the park individually and decided to play together. That's a coaching issue as bad our defenders are they are not that bad.

I do enjoy how Frank has had us playing. The flare, the bringing in of young players, the positive atmosphere.

But boy oh boy does he need to learn how to coach the defensive aspect of the team or bring in a number 2 that can.

This is one of those performances that makes you wonder if Frank is the right choice for the job. Tactically inept and the same issues that gave us problems at the start continue to plague us as the season goes on. Just a shameful display from start to finish and well done to Chris Wilder and his players, this is a harsh but invaluable lesson to our young manager and his coaching team on how to prepare your side tactically and mentally. It's one thing to get spanked by Bayern, it's unpleasant but expected. Being made to look like clueless amateurs by Sheffield, that's something else.

I have always supported Frank because of the tough situation he's found himself in when he accepted the job but defensive frailty was his Achilles heel back at Derby and yet he failed to address that on his new post. Yes, our defenders aren't the title winning material but they're not as bad as our performances suggest. Something's missing in his coaching style, he's a very intelligent man but time and again our chaos at the back makes you feel Lamps and his assistants are just not up to it. I just can't help but feel that unless he adds a defensive specialist to his staff in the offseason, his stint with Chelsea may end much sooner than we all would want.

Yes, come the end of the season we'll get some new players and get rid of some deadwood. But I genuinely hope Lamps is a fast learner because there's only so much money you can throw at a problem before people start wondering if it's the manager who needs replacing.

11 minutes ago, abramovich said:

This is one of those performances that makes you wonder if Frank is the right choice for the job. Tactically inept and the same issues that gave us problems at the start continue to plague us as the season goes on. Just a shameful display from start to finish and well done to Chris Wilder and his players, this is a harsh but invaluable lesson to our young manager and his coaching team on how to prepare your side tactically and mentally. It's one thing to get spanked by Bayern, it's unpleasant but expected. Being made to look like clueless amateurs by Sheffield, that's something else.

I have always supported Frank because of the tough situation he's found himself in when he accepted the job but defensive frailty was his Achilles heel back at Derby and yet he failed to address that on his new post. Yes, our defenders aren't the title winning material but they're not as bad as our performances suggest. Something's missing in his coaching style, he's a very intelligent man but time and again our chaos at the back makes you feel Lamps and his assistants are just not up to it. I just can't help but feel that unless he adds a defensive specialist to his staff in the offseason, his stint with Chelsea may end much sooner than we all would want.

Yes, come the end of the season we'll get some new players and get rid of some deadwood. But I genuinely hope Lamps is a fast learner because there's only so much money you can throw at a problem before people start wondering if it's the manager who needs replacing.

Derby had the fifth best defence in the Championship last season. They weren't too bad.

This year we have been terrible. But i am still of the opinion that better players would make a world of difference here. If you begin with the goalkeeper you can't blame Lampard for that fact that Kepa is the worst goalkeeper in the league. And i don't see how Lampard can be blamed for defenders literally assisting the opposition or fail at even at the ABCs of defending. Like what we saw from all three CB's today.

I feel for Frank in that he is stuck with these players until the end of this season.

We’ve got players who can’t cross the ball and defenders who can’t defend crosses, it’s probably impossible to learn anything from training when you add in both factors.

Having said that I feel we was seriously naive today.

I can’t see any benefit of starting any matches with Tammy, Barkley or Christensen again this season.

These remaining 3 league matches are too important to gamble on these players.

If Leicester get a result tomorrow and at Sheffield Utd then we will have to win at Liverpool to make the top 4.

It’s as simple as that!

Over to you now Frank...

42 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Lampard simply got a tactical hiding from Chris Wilder who is a better more experienced manager.

Fixed.

49 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Lampard simply got a tactical hiding from Chris Wilder who is a better manager. Every player on Sheffield United knew their role where they need to be and what they need to do. Ours look like 11 players who turned up at the park individually and decided to play together. That's a coaching issue as bad our defenders are they are not that bad.

Chris Wilder is a very good manager and certainly better than Frank at the moment. But he has many years of managerial experience over him too. If Frank can learn from days like this he can also be a top manager.

11 minutes ago, 2211 said:

I feel for Frank in that he is stuck with these players until the end of this season.

We’ve got players who can’t cross the ball and defenders who can’t defend crosses, it’s probably impossible to learn anything from training when you add in both factors.

Having said that I feel we was seriously naive today.

I can’t see any benefit of starting any matches with Tammy, Barkley or Christensen again this season.

These remaining 3 league matches are too important to gamble on these players.

If Leicester get a result tomorrow and at Sheffield Utd then we will have to win at Liverpool to make the top 4.

It’s as simple as that!

Over to you now Frank...

Results today mean Bournemouth have to win that game, or at least not lose. If they lose then they are 6 points from safety with 9 to play for and all but down.

The Sheff u game is at Leicester not Bramall Lane. Sheff U know they need to win to strength their European chances. Those are two tricky games, whereas we play Norwich who are gone already and there is no excuse for us not winning that one. 

Then when we play at liverpool, Leicester go to Spurs. If they get ahead of us then fair play to them, those are difficult games in their own ways.

32 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Derby had the fifth best defence in the Championship last season. They weren't too bad.

This year we have been terrible. But i am still of the opinion that better players would make a world of difference here. If you begin with the goalkeeper you can't blame Lampard for that fact that Kepa is the worst goalkeeper in the league. And i don't see how Lampard can be blamed for defenders literally assisting the opposition or fail at even at the ABCs of defending. Like what we saw from all three CB's today.

I am not a fan of zonal marking and never have been. Personally I think we would do much better defensively with man to man marking. That being said we have the same defensive options that were available to Sarri, minus Cahill who brought great experience and leadership (without the pace in his later days), and Luiz who although a liability at times still has moments of quality. Reece has been the one addition this season and he still has a lot to work on defensively. But overall he has done really well. Lets remind ourselves that near enough the same defense was on the wrong end of some major hammerings last season too. So we cannot place this entirely down to Frank and tactics. We desperately need some quality recruitment in the back 4.

3 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Results today mean Bournemouth have to win that game, or at least not lose. If they lose then they are 6 points from safety with 9 to play for and all but down.

The Sheff u game is at Leicester not Bramall Lane. Sheff U know they need to win to strength their European chances. Those are two tricky games, whereas we play Norwich who are gone already and there is no excuse for us not winning that one. 

Then when we play at liverpool, Leicester go to Spurs. If they get ahead of us then fair play to them, those are difficult games in their own ways.

Personally I think we will make top 4 if we win our 2 remaining home games. Having said that at the moment I am not even confident of keeping a clean sheet against Norwich.