Despite seeing their team dispatch Malmo in the Europa League with insulting ease on Thursday night, Chelsea fans watching the formality of a 3-0 win remained firmly locked on one subject.
Whether or not Chelsea do win the Europa League for the second time in ten editions of the tournament, and make good on their status as favourites, some believe that Sarri’s position as Chelsea boss is untenable.
Reactionary though it may be, despite Chelsea conceding ten goals across their last two Premier League away matches and suffering their worst defeat in 28 years in the process, the sight of Chelsea sitting merely sitting outside the top four – let alone finishing outside that hallowed zone yet again – is too much for some to bear.
And so, exactly a year on from Antonio Conte being subject to a similar barracking from Chelsea fans, Sarri’s greatest critics once more ask the question as to who should take over. With foreign managers coming and going from Stamford Bridge in recent years, those self-styled ‘experts’ with more limited imaginations will jump to the conclusion that the club needs a ‘True Blue’.
Step forward Frank Lampard, who is currently in the midst of a battle to get Derby County back into the big time. While automatic promotion has long since been out of Derby’s reach, the Rams’ first season under Lampard will be remembered as a reasonably successful one, given the doubts that naturally preceded his arrival in the East Midlands.
Top marks for motivation…
For the motivational power that an ex-player can possess, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer presents a very topical argument in favour of Lampard’s shock potential appointment as Chelsea boss. Under the Norwegian, who will mark twenty years since his involvement in the completion of Manchester United’s famous treble in May, the Red Devils’ results have improved immeasurably.
In Chelsea’s recent FA Cup defeat to United, the difference between United and Chelsea in terms of attitude and body language was stark. While there is still much for Solskjaer to do, and no guarantee that he will secure the United job long-term, the early signs are very encouraging, and indicate that the art of the left-field pick is not dead.
Yet, while Lampard’s first order of business, in this for-now hypothetical arrival in the Stamford Bridge hotseat, would be to ingrain that mentality into the players, the modern game’s very nature ensures that no amount of pep talk can compensate for tactical experience. For all of Lampard’s promise as a manager, the cunning streak needed to break the opposition mentally and physically – and dominate utterly through tactical fluidity – is not yet there.
Having an honest game plan with little room for manoeuvres or ‘plan B’ situations is the mark of a young, fresh manager like Lampard. His first home game in charge was evidence of this, as his charges faced spiritual rivals Leeds, who were themselves adapting to a new regime, though under a far more experienced figure.
Leeds manager Marco Bielsa’s tactical nous proved too much for Lampard, and it was very much ‘Rams to the slaughter’ as Leeds ran out 4-1 victors, and subsequently completed a league double back on 11 January.
All too often, this sort of expected naivety has undermined Derby’s efforts on the pitch ever since, with a glut of Premier League loanees – including promising Chelsea defender Fiyako Tomori – that are, like Lampard, learning the hard way to adapt their game against those with the power to intimidate.
Brutally speaking, a stalling challenge for Championship promotion, marred by inconsistent form and sliding promotion odds in the Championship’s sports spread betting outright market, is nowhere near what is required to attain – let alone sustain – the mantle of Chelsea manager. Beyond the simple matter of inexperience, the risk factor that Lampard’s appointment could present to the very fabric of the club is also significant.
A cautionary tale
Appointing former players always presents a risk in that regard. Few have forgotten how quickly Roman Abramovich ejected ex-Blue Roberto Di Matteo in 2012, despite compensating for a dreadful 6th place finish with Chelsea’s maiden Champions League title.
Many saw it as an act of ruthlessness that gave some fans cause to question just how much Abramovich really respected the club, despite giving Chelsea untold success through his patronage.
In a long-winded way, those same fans could argue that Di Matteo’s goal inside the first minute of the 1997 FA Cup final set off a fifteen-year chain of events that led to said flashpoint. Without his early goal in that final, fellow finalists Middlesbrough may well have taken control from there, but as it was, the Blues went on to win 2-0, and qualify for the Cup Winners Cup.
On winning the Cup Winners Cup in 1998, Chelsea proved that they could become a true continental force, giving the club the ability to attract the players (like Lampard himself) necessary to finish in a Champions League spot, which Chelsea did in 2003.
As a major force in Chelsea’s heyday of the mid-to-late 2000s, the regard in which Lampard is held arguably eclipses that of Di Matteo by some distance.
Ultimately, his underachievement at Stamford Bridge, would inevitably lead to dismissal, which could well trigger an open rebellion amongst fans, characterised by heated demonstrations and match boycotts.
Depending on how the situation was handled thereafter, this event could completely destroy whatever strands of respect remain between the board of directors, the owner and his associates and the paying, die-hard fans.
