At the start of the year I told myself I’d give Frank another year at minimum before judging. He’s a young coach and he needs to learn with the players he brought in. Especially after last season where nobody expected much. But the problem is he isn’t learning. The tactics are the same every game and he’s unwilling to change from his “beautiful ball”. Problem is it ain’t beautiful right now. The loss to Arses hit pretty hard and honestly it unacceptable. Chels haven’t looked good in the past half dozen games and if it’s not turned around soon I won’t be crying if he’s shown the door legend or not. 200 mill was just spent. 
 

The most troubling thing for me is the shots from open play. Lovely that we get so many from corners but the team generates Jack Sh*t from open play. 

Edited December 27, 20205 yr by Mouwry

4 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Fair point of view. With that being the case I would prefer the club backs him for the remainder of his current deal. Do not look to renew his contract but see what happens over the next 18 months. If results dont improve simply dont renew his deal and say we are thankful for his efforts but want to go in a different direction.That would be the best way to part if need be. 

Most probably wont agree but I can accept the risk of this carrying on for 18 months to give Lamps his full 3 years to get it right. Then even us most staunchest Lampard defenders could not argue with letting him go if we are still suffering this same way.

When you mean back him would that involve In the transfer market also? I just don’t see how that happens if his 2 biggest buys are struggling, that is what around £130m. 
I also don’t see the club letting this slump fester and a loss to Villa might mean curtains. The club’s successes over the last 2 decades wasn’t built on waiting too long to make the required change, and it has served us well.

We seem to struggle against teams that close us down and teams that pack the defense.

Arsenal were almost like Liverpool in the way they went at us from the start and we struggled.

We still managed 26 crosses in open play and contrived to not get one of them aimed on target towards the goal.

The goals conceded were unfortunate rather than  Arsenal playing through us yet came from the pressure they were putting on our style of play.

We didn't have a forward player capable of holding on to the ball to give us time to build something. 

We can't change the personnel overnight yet Frank is lacking a system of play to deal with teams that are good enough to close us down effectively.

Having Werner playing on the shoulder of the last defender might help against these teams if we can get a decent ball to him or buying a decent attacking midfielder.

On the attacking midfielder hate to say this yet colud see Delli Alli scoring a hatful with his late runs, if I recall a while back Spurs were interested in Rudiger, perhaps a loan swap........... 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Lampard has to go. Out of his depth. Tools too big. Got backed in the market, doesn't have too many injuries and just looks lost out there. 

11 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

We seem to struggle against teams that close us down and teams that pack the defense.

Arsenal were almost like Liverpool in the way they went at us from the start and we struggled.

We still managed 26 crosses in open play and contrived to not get one of them aimed on target towards the goal.

The goals conceded were unfortunate rather than  Arsenal playing through us yet came from the pressure they were putting on our style of play.

We didn't have a forward player capable of holding on to the ball to give us time to build something. 

We can't change the personnel overnight yet Frank is lacking a system of play to deal with teams that are good enough to close us down effectively.

Having Werner playing on the shoulder of the last defender might help against these teams if we can get a decent ball to him or buying a decent attacking midfielder.

On the attacking midfielder hate to say this yet colud see Delli Alli scoring a hatful with his late runs, if I recall a while back Spurs were interested in Rudiger, perhaps a loan swap........... 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

You mean a decent attacking midfielder like Kai?

i was Frank if change the system to get Kai in at 10 and try let him settle and pick up some form. That allows pulisic onto his stronger side and CHO who’s playing well on to the right.

20 minutes ago, DukesOfHazard said:

You mean a decent attacking midfielder like Kai?

i was Frank if change the system to get Kai in at 10 and try let him settle and pick up some form. That allows pulisic onto his stronger side and CHO who’s playing well on to the right.

TBH, Kai looks clueless, no pace and is too ponderous on the ball.

Now with a pre-season that might work yet don't think he will get that time.

 

6 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

TBH, Kai looks clueless, no pace and is too ponderous on the ball.

Now with a pre-season that might work yet don't think he will get that time.

 

True but at his point it doesn’t take a lot to improve us we’ve been so poor and if we’re gonna splash 70+m on him I’d at least give him 2-3 games in his strongest position to try turn it around.

I know Frank has finally settled on his system which is 433 but I think he needs to mix it up. We’ve become tired, stale and predictable. We’re not creating any chances and everything is slow. 
 

Werner needs a rest. He’s played a lot of games. 
 

One thing that interested me was Frank mentioned that without the high intensity, our game doesn’t work. We’ve definitely lost that. No-one is making runs or pressing. I don’t know if that’s down to tiredness or whatever. 
 

I don’t think we should panic. Results and performances have been disappointing recently but we have just come off a 17 game run. 

2 minutes ago, JM7 said:

I know Frank has finally settled on his system which is 433 but I think he needs to mix it up. We’ve become tired, stale and predictable. We’re not creating any chances and everything is slow. 
 

Werner needs a rest. He’s played a lot of games. 
 

One thing that interested me was Frank mentioned that without the high intensity, our game doesn’t work. We’ve definitely lost that. No-one is making runs or pressing. I don’t know if that’s down to tiredness or whatever. 
 

I don’t think we should panic. Results and performances have been disappointing recently but we have just come off a 17 game run. 

I agree about mixing up from a 4-3-3, I don't think our first team is attacking enough against the better sides, it lacks finesse in attack. 

With only 3 attacking players the central one gets marked out of the game and the wide ones normally have two men to go around. 

The other option is to have a fluid front three which kind of rules out Giroud too static and  also Abraham as he can't control the ball well enough.

Werner needs to be played centrally with Pulisic on the left and Ziyech or CHO on the right. 

 

 

I'm just worried that our entire game plan revolves around crosses. We look clueless otherwise.

 

2 minutes ago, JoeyN said:

I'm just worried that our entire game plan revolves around crosses. We look clueless otherwise.

Yes 26 crosses against Arsenal. only one converted.

Edited December 27, 20205 yr by strider6004

1 minute ago, Strider6003 said:

Yes 26 crosses against Arsenal. only one converted.

If you're going to do this, why not play one of the best headers in the league. 

I don't understand. For a tall lad, Tammy is not good in the air / or heading a ball. It frustrates me trying to understand.

 

The scousers whole game plan is to win with crosses and they don’t have a big target man. We just don’t have any movement with Tammy or Giroud. 

I was absolutely shocked to see both Chillwel and James in the lineup last game. I thought both were injured and they played like it. I expect big changes for the Villa game. If we go at them with the same Shiite Lamps should go on holidays. Give half the B squad a chance

                   Werner - Giroud

                         Havertz 

Alonso - Gilmour - Kante - Hudson Odoi

            Tomori - Rudiger - Azpi

                          Mendy

 

Perhaps I am the only one but I don’t think it’s Lampard’s fault that Havertz and Werner are misfiring - Werner had more than enough chances to get more goals and Havertz has been set back massively by covid.

He has sorted out the defence big time this season, now he just need to sort out the attack which is difficult to do with so many players out of form.

Under Lampard, James and Mount turned into very good first team players, Pulisic looks like a world beater when fit, Kante rediscovered his best form, it’s just that our midfield and attack have been letting us down big time.

If he can sort out that mess of a defence from last season then I’m confident he will sort out attack. Hopefully that begins with Werner starting central against Villa, or at least something different.

Hudson Odoi could really turn our season around, if he takes his chance against Villa tomorrow then that would mean we don’t have to see Werner playing on wing anymore.

5 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Perhaps I am the only one but I don’t think it’s Lampard’s fault that Havertz and Werner are misfiring - Werner had more than enough chances to get more goals and Havertz has been set back massively by covid.

He has sorted out the defence big time this season, now he just need to sort out the attack which is difficult to do with so many players out of form.

Under Lampard, James and Mount turned into very good first team players, Pulisic looks like a world beater when fit, Kante rediscovered his best form, it’s just that our midfield and attack have been letting us down big time.

If he can sort out that mess of a defence from last season then I’m confident he will sort out attack. Hopefully that begins with Werner starting central against Villa, or at least something different.

Hudson Odoi could really turn our season around, if he takes his chance against Villa tomorrow then that would mean we don’t have to see Werner playing on wing anymore.

So Kante rediscovered his form and Mount is also good and yet our midfield is letting us down when both of those players are on the pitch haha

48 minutes ago, JoeyN said:

If you're going to do this, why not play one of the best headers in the league. 

I don't understand. For a tall lad, Tammy is not good in the air / or heading a ball. It frustrates me trying to understand.

 

Admittedly he's not great at heading the ball, but he's brilliant at chesting it, as we could all witness last night. Once he adds his back and buttocks to his repertoire, we'll have the most unorthodox striker at our disposal..

3 hours ago, JM7 said:

Frank has said he clearly warned the players before the match that they will need to match them for workrate and energy. Warned them about it being a London derby, haven’t won in ages etc and said the players must take responsibility. 
 

There’s no energy in this team. Yesterday, you saw that when we actually started to press them, we created things and almost scored 2 goals. 

If he warned them and that happened it suggests to be players may not be listening 

29 minutes ago, mm24 said:

So Kante rediscovered his form and Mount is also good and yet our midfield is letting us down when both of those players are on the pitch haha

Yeah everyone’s not doing great now, I’m talking about Lampard’s time here, not just right now.

I wonder if a couple of our players were feeling a bit sorry for themselves. Whilst they should always be professional the thought of training on Christmas Day followed by matches over the festive period may not be attractive to some. Klopp in particular has complained about this previously. We as fans though love attending around this period. Though it’s not quite the same during lockdown.

 

Got a feeling Frank will be gone at the latest end of January, we know Chelsea don’t hang about if wheels are beginning to fall off, sadly I always had a feeling Frank was only a stop gap in the clubs eyes, you can bet contact has already been made with the departing PSG manager

I would be a hypocrite if I said lampard shouldn’t continue with the 4-3-3 but drop your favourite players go back to Jorginho/Kova Kante and Kai three with Werner Pulisic Cho Hakem front three one will have to come from the bench just rotate. 
 

I get why Lampard doesn’t want to change 4-3-3 remember the manager who said you need to get plan A correct first before moving to plan B and he was slaughtered in the media and by fans. 
 

Lampard needs to get plan A correct first whatever that plan A is, challenge here he’s never manage to get a Plan A working in his short career and probably doesn’t have the experience around him to help so he may die on this hill he’s chosen or stand tall on it.

Sarri got it working in the end but he had years of experience to call upon and he changed his approach after learning it wasn’t working.

Will lampard tweak his 4-3-3 maybe pushing one of the midfield 3 into a AM when attacking so Kai gets the freedom and when defending backbto a flat 3, will he be brave and pick a midfield two that doesn’t include mount it’s like he is handicapping himself because mount MUST start so no flexibility in midfield two. 
 

He can get it working if he stop with the favourites and find the right combination that may mean your favourite doesn’t play but so be it Lampard can get it working but he has to be brave and flexible but will he, I don’t know.

I am one of his biggest critics but I still think can get it working if he stops playing his favourites. 

My god you lot need to get a grip. It was only a few weeks ago we were on a 17 unbeaten streak.

All of this will be forgotten about in a few weeks time, we’ll get a result tomorrow. I’ll hold my hand up if we lose tomorrow but I really doubt it.

5 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

My god you lot need to get a grip. It was only a few weeks ago we were on a 17 unbeaten streak.

All of this will be forgotten about in a few weeks time, we’ll get a result tomorrow. I’ll hold my hand up if we lose tomorrow but I really doubt it.

And now we've lost 3 in 4 and are battling for position with mid table teams. Absolutely unacceptable. 

14 minutes ago, chi blue said:

you can bet contact has already been made with the departing PSG manager

No chance.

If that was the case the writing would be on the wall already. I think the club is happy with Lampard. We've had an awful three weeks but until then we were looking great.

Obviously his job might be in jeopardy if the slide continues and we lose to Villa and City. But it's not excactly too late to turn things around.

Clearly there are so problems, notably that we are four points behind where we were last year after 15 games. Don't think the club will like that with the investments we made. Secondly we have an awful record in the so called big games this season and third, Werner and Havertz are looking like flops.

Lampard needs to address and fix those three problems. Which i think i can.
I think he's been extremely underwhelmed by Werner & Havertz himself though. Neither of them seems to be part of our best XI at the moment which the club won't like at all considering the investment.

Edited December 27, 20205 yr by Sindre