Thoughts on Lampard's firing and time as manager
I think my initial takeaway from Chelsea deciding to let go of Frank Lampard is 'why appoint him to the job in the first place if he wasn't going to have the leeway and the time to execute the vision he had for the club?' But who am I kidding… its Chelsea. When firing a club legend who didn't have a summer transfer window to work with in his first season isn't your most cold-blooded firing of the past fifteen years, it goes to show just how cutthroat of a business football is, especially at Stamford Bridge. That being said, there's more to it than meets the eye.
It's not surprising given how the past few weeks have been, on and off the pitch. Liam asked a perfectly valid question and has handled the criticism quite well. I tend to mostly take the side of writers who have to deal with jabs from coaches, players, and fans when all they're doing is reporting what they're hearing. At the end of the day, his question was one of the last things in a series of events that led to one inevitable conclusion.
Lampard does deserve a lot of credit for what he's done in a short time as Chelsea's manager. I often joke about how the Indian population outside of the country is twice that of ones inside. The same can probably be said for Chelsea and their loan and youth players. Take a good look at many teams in Europe, and there's a good chance that there's a player or two among them who's out on loan from Chelsea. Bringing in the likes of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham brought him a lot of goodwill among fans, and why wouldn't it? Seeing young players excel is something everyone can rally around.
It looked to be the start of a long-term project, which is definitely not something you'd associate with Stamford Bridge. The timing couldn't have been better given the transfer ban. And it also begs the question if Lampard even wanted the likes of Kai Havertz to join his project. Sure, the squad needed some addition and depth. Still, he had clearly set the foundation for what he wanted after finishing 4th last season.
Timo Werner - RB Leipzig - £47.70 million
Hakim Ziyech - Ajax - £36.00 million
Ben Chilwell - Leicester City - £45.18 million
Thiago Silva - PSG - Free
Kai Havertz - Bayer Leverkusen - £72.00 million
Edouard Mendy - Rennes - £22.00 million
But when over £200 million gets spent on some of the world's most talented players, immediate dividends in the form of title contention (if not actually silverware itself) is to be expected. Hiding away from the spotlight is simply a luxury that Lampard was not going to be offered after Chelsea opened their coffers.
There's probably an alternate universe where Chelsea doesn't get handed a transfer ban, and Lampard doesn't end up as a manager at Stamford Bridge. Perhaps it was too much too soon for his managerial career, or manning the sidelines would never be a good fit for him for as long as Roman Abramovich and the current Chelsea Board are running the show.
Often times, superstar players don't make for the best managers and coaches. Money and status aside, sometimes it's harder for the best of the best to relate to squad players when they take the reins of a club. What would've come naturally to Frank Lampard during his playing days could be something that some members of this current squad struggle with. Putting tactics and strategy in the backseat for a second, man management and empathy have become core skills that current managers need to have in their arsenal. And while I'm not saying that Lampard explicitly lacks in those areas, perhaps he was the wrong man to bring in the likes of Werner, Havertz, and Ziyech into the fold.
The best managers across sports have a philosophy that they use as a foundation for their teams' play. Each match felt like Chelsea were trying something new. I need to look back on this, but Lampard's preferred XI and tactics were set out and consistent last season. However, the nature of the job and squad changed in-between seasons and resulted in a shakeup of how he wanted to run things. However, he isn't entirely to blame. In the era of being pro-player, when it comes to fandom and discourse about the sport, we sometimes neglect to criticize players when it is justified. But people have eyes and ears. Werner was excellent for RB Leipzig and has played well with the German National Team. There's a reason why Havertz commanded the money he did. And there's a reason why things weren't coming together this season, and much of it lies on Frank Lampard.
With Thomas Tuchel coming in, having all but signed on the dotted line, the most obvious conclusion that comes to mind is that it takes a former Bundesliga manager to coach players who previously played in the Bundesliga. Squad imbalance aside, a good coach who was confident in his footballing philosophy and ability to relate to players should work with this Chelsea squad for the next couple of months and have them carve up some of the best teams in Europe. I do not doubt in my mind that if the likes of Julian Nagelsmann or Marco Rose were available over the summer, Chelsea would be serious contenders for the Premier League. A little unfair given their heritage but more on that later.
And herein lies the danger with hiring inexperienced managers who were once fan favorites. It's something that I have a lot of experience with as a United fan. I loved bringing in Solskjær as a caretaker manager as he lived and breathed Manchester United. Like Kyrie burning sage in his return to the Boston Garden to get rid of the 'bad vibes,' Solskjær was the perfect man to cleanse the aura left behind by Jose Mourinho.
And while he has finally beginning to earn his stripes, there were times where I and many genuinely questioned if Solskjær knew what he was doing, like when he didn't take Fred off against PSG with a yellow at halftime. Chelsea fans probably felt similarly when Lampard was first hired. But towards his final weeks, did he know who his front-four was going to be? Or was it going to be a front-three? See my point?
Sentimentality is a powerful if very finite emotion.
It probably feels like I'm rambling, and that's because I am. But another thing that I've noticed is the lack of a pipeline among managers and other coaching staff in the Premier League, which is the norm in different leagues and sports. Becky Hammon, whom I view as the successor to Greg Popovich in San Antonio, has been an assistant coach for more than a few years. Nick Nurse didn't wake up and become an NBA Head Coach. He earned that mantle after coaching around the world. Klopp worked his way from Mainz to Dortmund before getting the Liverpool job. Erik ten Haag came very close to joining Bayern after having coached its reserve team. However, he, too, has worked his way up the ranks in the Eredivisie before even being considered for the job at the Allianz Arena. I'm trying to illustrate the culture of promoting hard work and success at the lower levels before taking the reins at some of the world's biggest clubs. Before his time at Real Madrid and Inter Milan, even Jose had to work his way up the coaching ranks before becoming a manager for some of the world's most prestigious clubs.
Playing experience alone doesn't always translate into valuable experience for a manager, especially star players. I'm trying my best not to be too cynical about Lampard, given that he's really a victim of the lack of long-term planning at Chelsea. He was a good manager as a stopgap, but if Chelsea knew that they were going to unleash their war chest to sign one of the best fullbacks in England, two of Germany's best talents, and a player who is a pivotal part of Ajax's run to the Champions League Semi-Final two-seasons ago; maybe the club should've looked to move on from Lampard over the summer despite the goodwill he had acquired.
He had a soft spot for individual players who shouldn't have gotten the number of games and minutes they did, and there were others he failed to get the best out of. He was given a job that he was underqualified for and had an opportunity that most managers salivate over. And it didn't work out for one reason or another. But that doesn't discount the fact that he was the silver lining in the post-Eden Hazard saga. Strange how the footballing discourse has mostly moved on from him. Usually, the loss of a teams' best player brings out a rough spell for that club. Lampard was able to steer Chelsea out of that and was the perfect man for the job. But for the rest, he wasn't up for the task.
With Tuchel expected to take over, the non-United fan part of me can't wait to see how he strings together a Chelsea frontline that is in desperate need of cohesion and consistency. Despite how stubborn he can be, coupled with his tendency to get involved in club politics when all he wants to do is coach, he should get the best out of Havertz and Werner and have them cut apart most teams.
Is Tuchel a long-term solution? No, nobody ever is at Chelsea, not even Lampard.