Under Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s identity was well-defined. Brilliant and free-flowing in attack, horrendous in defense. They scored 69 goals in the 2019-20 season, a figure only bettered by Liverpool and Manchester City. Not even a Bruno Fernandes inspired Manchester United, or a free-scoring Leicester City could better their tally.
But on the flip side, they lost 12 games, the second most of the top half, while the 54 goals they conceded is the worst of any top-four side in the history of Premier League. The pattern of their matches was well defined – they would score the first goal, struggle to kill the game, and then eventually allow the opposition to get back in the game. Numerous points were dropped in this manner, and one wonders how much they could have achieved with a bit more defensive stability.
We drew the following conclusions from the season: Antonio Rudiger is error-prone, Marcos Alonso and Andreas Christensen cannot defend, Emerson is not good enough, Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori need a senior partner. The less said about the goalkeepers the better. But as much as Chelsea’s problems were individualistic, Lampard’s inclination towards attacking football meant defense was often ignored. He often played N’Golo Kante in the advanced position, leaving an unreliable (defensively) Jorginho exposed to opposition attackers. His full-backs were often caught out of position. This left the defenders and keeper with utmost pressure, and they used to succumb to it.
Lampard rightly addressed the individualistic part of the problem with signings. In came Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Edouard Mendy. However, after a period of defensive solidity, Chelsea once again started looking suspect at the back.
When your defense is not reliable, you are constantly dependent on your attackers to get results. But when Chelsea’s attack started faltering, there was nothing to fall back on for Lampard. And this ultimately led to his sacking.
The Thomas Tuchel Effect
Ever since Thomas Tuchel came in, right from day one, Chelsea look a completely different side. You cannot tell this is the same side that kept just one cleansheet away from home last season. What is ironic is that Tuchel has been mostly using those players which Lampard froze out of the squad. Rudiger, Cesar Azplicueta, Christensen and most notably Alonso are all regular starters for the new boss. Agreed, Alonso isn’t part of the defensive tactics, but Tuchel has shown how to maximize his potential.
Even Kepa, who we all thought was finished as a Chelsea player, looks a lot more assured. When you have a sturdy back three/four ahead of you, you naturally feel a lot confident.
Chelsea have always have the identity of a good defensive team (thanks to Mourinho, maybe?). If Manchester City are known as a brilliant attacking team, Chelsea are known as the miserly team. Even under attack-minded coaches, Chelsea have been solid at the back. Take Sarri’s turbulent 2018-19 season for example. They conceded 39 goals in the league and apart from a couple of absolute disaster-classes, they were fine. In two seasons under Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea conceded at an average of 0.86 goals per game.
Make no mistake about it, I am not trying to say Lampard is a bad coach or anything. In his short time as a manager, he beat the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Carlo Ancelotti, Marcelo Bielsa and Jose Mourinho among others. He made academy stars like Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James regular starters. I still think no other manager could’ve guided the Blues through that transfer ban quite like he did. However, he still has a lot to learn as a manager, and Tuchel has shown exactly what he needs to learn.