Frank Lampard has only won once in his last 20 matches as manager. Photo: PA/Adam Davy
It's a difficult time to be a Chelsea legend in charge of a club for which you hold the record for most goals, when the real question now is: can they beat anyone?
It's worth asking because Chelsea have gone six games and lost six under Frank Lampard, and a trip to Bournemouth on Saturday looks just like Milan away in 1989. The man himself looks overwhelmed by it all, arms crossed over his chest. and a feeling of embarrassment aggravated by the game. Defeat at Arsenal, in many ways the club that Lampard and the rest of the great Chelsea players of the 2000s had dethroned some 18 years ago, seemed inevitable, as the opposite was commonly believed at the time.
Modern Chelsea habitually devoured managerial reputations, and sometimes the damage was irreparable to the people who carried it. Never before had it burned through one of its own in this way. In the turmoil of Chelsea's 2020s, one sack was not enough for Lampard, the manager, once the favorite son of the club's greatest era. At the very least, it looks like he will have to go through the same humiliation again, whether he lasts until May 28 or not.
Which can't hide the fact that it's been a terrible period, exacerbated by Lampard's inability to turn this Chelsea squad into anything like a competitive team. Now, in a deep post-Potter maelstrom, it's obvious that meek Graham may not have been the solution, but he was by no means the biggest problem. In addition, the club had no right to reunite Lampard with this group of players.
The cameras were unable to find Todd Boli or Behdad Egbali among the VIP crowd at the Emirates. Restless venture capitalists, whose grandiose plans for the club have scored less than Crystal Palace this season, have so far been impatient for change. There have been two managerial layoffs this season. Will they make it third? It's beginning to look like Lampard would be happy if he weren't given another second chance at Chelsea.
Indeed, those six games feel like roughly three years — the rise and fall of the managerial era, all packed into less than a month. From early fan enthusiasm to subsequent crushing defeats, the absence of any meaningful changes, and then the dawning realization that none of this would ever happen. So Lampard's second spell has blossomed and is now fading. The next question is: can Chelsea last another month?
Frank Lampard has failed to get anything from the Chelsea players. Photo: Reuters/Matthew Childs
Lampard changed the system again for Arsenal, trying to match Mikel Arteta's 4-3-3 formation while dismantling the back three that had been used so poorly against Real Madrid and then Brentford. They were up against an Arsenal team far more adept at using this system and exploiting the space and opportunities it opened up. More than ever, this is confirmed by the fact that Martin Odegaard scored two very similar goals in the first half. He did this by twice moving away from the one in the blue shirt who suggested that someone else should have marked Arsenal No. 8.
Chelsea feel like a team of grievances. Grim-faced captain Cesar Azpilicueta has harbored a terrible grudge against those he holds responsible — possibly Lampard himself. N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic are waiting with barely concealed disdain for the whole thing for this storm to subside to consider their options. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has returned to the team for the first time since the previous loss to Arsenal in November and plays like a man determined to prove that Arteta was absolutely right about him.
It is a curious but not entirely unexpected fact that Jorginho has scored as many goals for Chelsea this season as Aubameyang — three, despite the fact that Jorginho has been at Arsenal since 21 January. Chelsea's malaise that it seems redundant to wonder how he would have coped had he been on the other side. They are all in his hands: Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana, the increasingly injured Mikhail Mudrik. He hasn't scored a goal for Chelsea in 14 matches and might have drawn more ire from home supporters if they felt they were missing out.
It's painful for Lampard. It was his 10th consecutive defeat in all competitions as a manager as the end of Everton and whatever it was merged into one. A record unmatched in top flight football since Arthur Cox at Derby County in 1988.
Following Saturday's Bournemouth game, blazing a trail to safety under the guidance of one of Lampard's contemporaries, Gary O' Nile. , comes Nottingham Forest, who is fighting his own demons. At the current state of affairs, this Forest game at Stamford Bridge every week on Saturday seems to be the last chance for Lampard's second act as Chelsea manager, because after that the list of matches really gets very dark: Etihad Stadium, Old. Trafford and then the last day of the season at home to Newcastle United.
Chelsea have nothing more to play this season, lingering in 12th place and stoically looking away from the relegation fight. place a little lower. However, it also seems like everything is at stake. Because every time it seems that this is the lowest point, they sink deeper.
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