Frank Lampard is back at Chelsea, but the old problems remain. In the two years since the sacking of Frank Lampard, Chelsea have changed, in the team and in the club as a whole, but one thing remains the same: then they played like a mid-table team, and now they play like they are now a mid-table team.
< p>When Lampard last stood in the dugout for «his club», as he called Chelsea on his return this week, they were ninth in the Premier League table. After his first return game and with only eight games left this season, they are currently in 11th place.
This latest loss to relegation-threatened Wolves has undoubtedly opened Lampard's eyes to the scope of his challenge over the next few months. He tried two completely different lines of attack here, starting with three strikers and replacing each of them in the second half, but not once did his team look particularly dominant or dangerous.
Long before the final whistle and long after Matheus Nunez scored one of the best goals of the season, it was clear that this would be another Chelsea game without Chelsea goals. Their goalless streak has now reached three full games, and perhaps the most devastating statistic of all: in 30 league games this season, they have scored just 29 times. The last time they scored so few goals at this stage of the campaign was in 1924.
Kai Havertz, Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic, Mihail Mudrik and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all participated in this trip to Wolverhampton. For two, they struck only one shot on target. The number of attackers is unmistakable, but the same cannot be said for the quality.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was part of the offensive squad that struck only one shot on target for Chelsea. Photo: Getty Images/Darren Walsh
And now for the really bad news: Chelsea's next opponent will be Real Madrid. Lampard has only had two training sessions so far and will only have a couple more before his players take to the Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
This week it looked like Lampard was back in the club will at least cheer you up. It may have been so within and among the fans, but it was not evident from the faces of his players. For most of the day, they seemed to bicker with each other, disagreeing over pressing schemes and choices as one attack fizzled out after another.
When one player pressed, the other sat back. Enzo Fernandez told Kalidou Koulibaly to move forward but saw the centre-back standing still. In one of the attacks, Conor Gallagher gestured for the ball to be passed to the left, and it was immediately played to the right. The lack of cohesion was striking, as was the lack of any physical stability.
“If you want to win a Premier League match, you have to be more aggressive in your game,” Lampard said. “More speed, more competitive duels that are on your side, not your opponent's, against a team that is fighting for its life in the Premier League. The result will depend on this, regardless of talent.
“I'm not saying that there is no aggression in this squad. It's just a case of join. Sometimes it's just a little confidence. The uncertainty may look like a lack of aggression, but we played against a team that was very aggressive and maybe there were some replays and duels that we didn't really participate in. I don't mind saying it. It needs to be said in order to deal with reality.”
At least Chelsea can find some comfort in the nature of the winning goal. Not that they were destroyed by a disorganized defense or structural flaws, as it was a Nunes strike from nowhere and at the highest level.
Approaching the bouncing ball at an acute angle, the midfielder took his right foot back and landed a shot that cut through the air and hit the top corner. It was his first goal for Wolverhampton and was enough to earn three points for Julen Lopetegui's team, who bravely defended their lead in the second half.
Matheus Nunez' the winner was stunning. Credit: Reuters/Chris Radburn
Lopetegui gave the winner a businesslike assessment, as befits a coach in a relegation battle. «It doesn't matter if the goal was very beautiful or not,» he said.
However, it was the only great moment in 90 minutes, which says a lot about the attacking efforts of Chelsea's collection of expensive forwards. At some point in the second half, Mudrik gave up shooting and passed the ball to Aubameyang, who then gave up shooting and passed the ball to Ben Chilwell. The two attackers didn't want to take responsibility, so she fell like a hot potato on the left back. The next shot flew into the stands.
“I didn’t expect to solve everything in one day,” Lampard said, and it was tempting to wonder how many days it would take for any manager to fix some problems. Here. The reality is that things could still change fairly quickly given the quality of the players at Lampard's disposal, but the first signs weren't particularly promising.
«We'll have an important game on Wednesday that will change everything.» Lampard said. «I'm very excited.»
Chelsea owners, fans and players can only hope he's right and that the meeting with the European champions will be the turning point they so desperately need.
Wolverhampton — Chelsea line-ups
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