The Myth of Frank Lampard

The Myth of Frank Lampard

Managing top six clubs in the Premier League is a pressurised job, the necessity of Champions League football, the chase for the title, the expectation and requirement to succeed are high. Less than five games into his Arsenal managerial career, Unai Emery was under pressure. A couple of months after being appointed full time manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was under pressure. The one exception to this rule, Frank Lampard at Chelsea, and there appears to be no logical reason for this.

In 2015 Jose Mourinho led the Blues to a league title. This was Mourinho’s second spell with the club, brought back to deliver the trophies that had come to be a prerequisite for any Chelsea manager. Success was expected at Stamford Bridge and that success was measured in the presence of the Premier League in the trophy cabinet. Mourinho delivered in 2015 but the ruthless nature of Chelsea’s pursuit of continued success saw him sacrificed halfway through the 2016 season.

Chelsea wanted the title back so they sought a manager with a track record of winning domestic titles, Antonio Conte arriving from Juventus. The Italian replicated the success of Mourinho and secured another league title for the Blues. However he also paid the price for a substandard following season and he left the club a year later.

Next into the hot seat was the highly reputable Italian Maurizio Sarri. Successful at Napoli, Sarri was a highly sought after coach and his ‘Sarri-ball’ style was seen as a way of challenging Man City for the Premier League title. Unfortunately for Sarri he was unable to mount a sustained title challenge, and as a result fell short of the high expectations and lost his job, despite winning the Europa League and claiming a Champions League spot with a top four finish.

The recruitment and sacking of top class managers in short spaces of time demonstrated how ruthless Chelsea were in their quest for glory. Since the Roman Abramovich takeover in 2003 they had consistently been challenging for the top honours in both England and Europe. They had a transfer budget, a wage bill and a star laden squad to rival any team and were expected to be serious title contenders every season.

For some reason the arrival of Frank Lampard as manager changed all of this. For the first time a Chelsea manager and for the first time a top six manager as been given a ‘free run’. The only explanation for this is the desire by the media to prolong the myth about Lampard and his coaching abilities.

Lampard’s first foray into management saw him take over Championship side Derby, a team who had consistently reached the playoffs in the previous seasons only to fall short of promotion to the Premier League.

After taking over the club, immediately renamed ‘Frank Lampard’s Derby County, he was able to add £30 million worth of Premier League talent in the form of Harry Wilson, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori. Having added such quality to an already fairly successful squad promotion should have been the target. However, Derby struggled for consistency with Lampard often being tactically outthought by the opposition, none more so than in the two fixtures with Leeds where 4-1 and 2-0 defeats were evidence of how Lampard was schooled by Marcelo Bielsa. Such was the dominance of Leeds in the second of those games, Lampard and the media built up ‘Spygate’ to deflect from the inadequacies of both the Derby team and Lampard’s tactics.

Fortunately for the media and their love of Lampard, he was able to sneak Derby into the play offs on the final day of the season, achieving what should have been the bare minimum of the target at the beginning of the season. In doing this, he simply matched the achievements of his Derby predecessors despite a larger budget.

The sensible and objective assessment of the season would have been that Lampard had performed reasonably well for a first season but was clearly tactically naive. Instead the media ran with a narrative of Lampard as an astute, clever, and successful manager, and a defeat of Leeds in the semi final of the play offs allowed them to run with it. The win at Elland Road was described throughout the media, both written and TV as a tactical masterclass but closer inspection of the game that ‘made’ Lampard tells a different story.

For 40 minutes of that game, Leeds dominated and were deserving of a greater lead than the 1-0 they possessed. Derby has barely threatened and looked to be limping out of the play offs. An injury in the Derby midfield forced Lampard into a substitution that saw Jack Marriott come on - the first stroke of good fortune for Lampard. The second arrived shortly before half time when a defensive Leeds mix up allowed an equaliser. A mishit Mount short gave Derby the lead, and a penalty after another defensive lapse allowed them to extend it. Leeds fought back though to level the tie but a lent piece of good fortune saw Leeds reduced to ten men & Derby snatch a late winner through Marriott.

Undoubtedly a great result for Derby but to hail the game as a tactical masterclass was so inaccurate, but it fitted the media love in and so that was how it was reported.

Funnily enough the failure to select Marriott in the final was not so widely trumpeted. Two goals in the semi final but left on the bench until Aston Villa had amassed a two goal lead, Marriott found the net but his cameo was too little too late, surely he should have started?

The media were never going to criticise their favourite, especially with Sarri departing Chelsea, Lampard was now touted as his replacement! Quite what he had done to earn a job with a top four club is open to debate, especially when compared with the achievements of managers such as Eddie Howe over the last five years.

The media pushed his case and he was eventually named Chelsea manager and was instantly set different targets to all of his predecessors. Suddenly, not much was expected, a top ten finish would be an achievement, he was up against it, it was a difficult job. This all apparently stemmed from the transfer embargo the club had been placed under for illegal transfer activity previously. This though with greater scrutiny was purely a smokescreen to cover for the fact that Lampard should not have been given a job he wasn’t ready for.

Lampard took over a team that had just won the Europa League and qualified for the Champions League, a successful squad that had seen only one major departure. Granted Eden Hazard was a significant loss but did his transfer to Real Madrid take the squad from top four challengers and European trophy winners to also rans? He contributed 16 goals and 15 assists in his last season at the club, decent statistics but not irreplaceable ones.

Once Hazard had departed, Lampard was left with a squad that contained

A Spanish international goalkeeper, the most expensive goalkeeper of all time, and an Argentinian international back up.

Four full backs including two Spanish internationals, one of whom is arguably the best defender of the last five years in the Premier League.

Four central defenders, England, Denmark, Germany & France internationals, two of which already have Premier League winners medals.

A midfield containing a World Cup runner up, an Italian international, arguably the best defensive midfielder in the world, and three England internationals.

A frontline containing a Spanish international winger, a Brazilian international winger, an English international winger & a £58 million new signing, and three strikers including an England international, a Belgian international and a French World Cup winner.

Irrespective of the transfer embargo, on paper this is a squad that should be challenging for the top four and being successful in cup competitions. Add to that the recent success of this same squad shows that any idea that Lampard should not be challenging this season is inaccurate.

Chelsea currently sit in fourth place in the league, a position which should be the minimum they are aiming for. Instead this is being lauded as a massive achievement for the squad. Across London, Tottenham sacked Maurizio Pochettino for poor performance - they are two places behind Chelsea. At Man Utd, Solskjaer is under pressure for poor performance, they are one place behind Chelsea.

I would argue that despite the transfer embargo Chelsea actually have a stronger squad than both Man Utd and Tottenham yet their similar performances are viewed so differently. Pochettino sacked, Solskjaer under the pump, Lampard praised. Praised despite home defeats to Southampton, West Ham & Bournemouth, praised despite a 4-0 thumping at Old Trafford.

Chelsea might go on to finish in the top four this season, they might even win the FA Cup. But if they do, this is the bare minimum requirement for this club, for this squad, and not the massive against all odds, manager led over achievement that the media will report. The myth of Frank Lampard needs to be shown for what it is. He should be judged the same as other Premier League managers, the same as other top six managers, the same as his predecessors and not be given the free ride that the media are allowing him.