Frank Lampard has been sacked by Chelsea following the club’s torrid five-game losing streak in their last eight Premier League games.
The rot that has set in this season means the Stamford Bridge team is sitting in ninth place and former PSG manager Thomas Tuchel is expected to be hired immediately.
Here, Sports mailDANIEL MATTHEWS takes a look at where everything went wrong for Lampard in his dream job …
Frank Lampard has been sacked by Chelsea after his team’s torrid career this season
TRANSFER TRANSFER
It was a strange peculiarity of Lampard’s spell that his fortune traveled in opposite directions to Chelsea’s power in the transfer market.
At first, the two-window ban (later halved) that came in last summer obviously made the job less appealing to other more experienced bosses.
And it basically provided a Lampard with a shock absorber.
Chelsea who threw £ 230m into new faces, including Timo Werner, put Lampard under control
The coach enjoyed an impressive first season, keeping Chelsea in the top four with a young and inexperienced team.
But the lack of signings also protected him from some criticism. This disappeared in the summer, when Chelsea threw £ 230m into new recruits.
A source considered the disbursement gave Chelsea the excuse to make a change if – or when – the results started to change.
FAILURE TO RESIGN ARR DECS DECLAN
Yes, Chelsea sank into their pockets last summer. But what about the ones they didn’t bring?
Lampard was eager to sign the West Ham Rice Talisman, who could enter the center or midfield.
And it’s no wonder that, during the manager’s first season, Chelsea’s back line has been a constant headache; Kepa’s faults no doubt masked the disconnected unit in front of him.
However, it was reported that Rice’s pursuit irritated Lampard’s bosses. They are said to have been reluctant to pay money for a player they had released when they were children, for fear it might seem embarrassing.
Chelsea did not sign West Ham’s Declan Rice for fear they would find it embarrassing
FIGHTS WITH NEW PLAYERS
As it turned out, the Chelsea hierarchy has been turned red by some of the signings they sanctioned.
Of course, Edouard Mendy has been a stabilizing influence on the goal, while Thiago Silva has added knowledge to his defense. The £ 50 million man, Ben Chilwell, has stalled in recent weeks, but remains a significant improvement on the left side.
Later, however, Lampard has had problems with three players costing £ 180 million.
Chelsea’s money signings have shown flashes of form, but have largely struggled under Lampard
Hakim Ziyech (£ 38 million) has shown flashes of genius when not being chased by injury.
Timo Werner (£ 53 million) looks like a suit from the striker they signed: the goals have dried up and his confidence has also disappeared.
As for Kai Havertz (£ 89 million), the 21-year-old suffered severely with Covid and has struggled in any form.
BAYERN HUMILIATION
Last season he was not ashamed to lose against Bayern Munich. After all, everyone in Europe fell to Hansi Flick.
But the way he defeated Chelsea in the Champions League was revealing.
In the last two rounds of the final, they were lucky to lose only 7-1. Lampard himself described the first leg as a “hard lesson” and the return leg in Germany was no less punishing.
Chelsea were lucky to have lost 7-1 on aggregate against Bayern Munich last season
It served as a clear illustration of how far the club had fallen behind the European elite.
This decline was far from Lampard’s fault. But the way Bayern played with the young side of Chelsea put their development in a pretty clear perspective.
Their struggles against the best teams in the Premier League this season have also been worrisome.
QUESTIONS Inside the dressing room
The task of maintaining unity among an inflated team is never easy. It gets harder and harder when the shape starts to sink. It is almost impossible in a club where the politics and power of the players have long been abundant.
Even before the recent games, according to a source, there was a feeling that Lampard’s players were falling on the fields, those he trusted and unconvinced.
Antonio Rudiger, a great personality in the squad, was one of those frozen briefly at the start of the season.
Lampard’s squad fell into two pitches: trusted players and those who were not convinced
Other reports this Monday say this caused the coach to be away from the players except the ones he liked. And relations are unlikely to improve when Lampard has publicly murdered his players in recent weeks.
But neither was the manager’s cause aided by Chelsea’s failure to throw more dead wood last summer.
Kepa’s future turned into a bone of contention, with Lampard willing to replace him, but the club is reluctant to lose the goalkeeper for a reduced fee.