‘No plan, no pattern, no hope’ – Chelsea ‘car crash’ a ‘reputation killer’ for ‘Frank L-L-L-L-L-Lampard’
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton says the current ‘car crash’ at Stamford Bridge is a ‘reputation killer’ for Frank Lampard.
Lampard has now overseen six defeats in six having taking interim charge until the end of the season following the sacking of Graham Potter.
With the Blues just about safe from relegation reports suggest owner Todd Boehly – who’s “purely” at fault for this “mess” according to Gary Neville – will stick with Lampard rather than bringing forward Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival, despite the wishes of ‘some at Stamford Bridge’.
But Sutton believes Chelsea’s strife is doing irreparable damage to the Blues legend’s reputation.
Sutton cuttingly wrote in his Daily Mail column: ‘Chelsea hoped they were getting Super Frank’, a romantic homecoming to rejuvenate the club. Six defeats later, they are stuck with ‘Frank L-L-L-L-L-Lampard’.
‘Chelsea are collecting only ‘L’s — losses — under their caretaker manager, the latest coming in a pitiful 3-1 defeat at Arsenal. It was enough to make you wonder what they do in training during the week.
‘This was a Chelsea team who included World Cup winners and runners-up, a Premier League Golden Boot winner, Champions League winners, Europa League winners and millions upon millions of pounds’ worth of talent.
‘Yet there was no plan, no pattern to their play, no hope in hell of getting up the pitch. Excluding kick-offs, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang touched the ball five times for Chelsea. Even Arsenal’s Rob Holding managed six touches and he only came on in the 85th minute.
‘What started as a supposed ‘free hit’ has turned into a reputation killer for Lampard and after this it is difficult to see how he gets another job in the Premier League.’
Despite the shocking performances, Sutton understands why Lampard – who managed Chelsea rather more successfully (though not that successfully) in a previous spell between the summer of 2019 and January 2021 – took the job on.
Sutton added: ‘I don’t blame him for going back to Chelsea. Though it might seem strange for a young coach to agree to act as a gap-filler, I understand why he took it on.
‘He loves the club. He thought he could get a tune out of this talented squad. He hoped it could help him after what happened at Everton. Instead it has been a disaster, as damaging as the appointments of Cristian Stellini at Tottenham and Nathan Jones at Southampton.
‘It has hurt Lampard, but he’s in too deep to leave now. It cannot get worse than losing six on the spin at Chelsea. He needs to stay, if only in the hope that he gets results in the run-in against Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Manchester City, United and Newcastle.’
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