Fabregas urges Lampard to mimic Hiddink at Chelsea to prepare for ‘doable’ title tilt under Poch
Cesc Fabregas has used his past experience at Chelsea to offer advice to Frank Lampard, who should be mimicking former interim boss Guus Hiddink to prepare for a “doable” title tilt next season.
Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates on Tuesday means Lampard has now overseen six defeats from six games since taking over from Graham Potter, with the team scoring just two goals in that time.
It’s been a remarkably poor season for Chelsea on the back of the new owners spending £600m on new players.
Lampard is the fourth manager to have been in the hotseat this term after Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter and Bruno Saltor, and that instability has been used as an excuse for Chelsea’s shocking form, along with the bulging squad.
Fabregas reckons the players need to “look in the mirror” but also provided hope for the Chelsea faithful, recalling him winning the league under Antonio Conte the season after they had finished tenth in the Premier League.
Guus Hiddink was put in interim charge of the side after Jose Mourinho left in a ball of flames in 2015/16, and Fabregas reckons Lampard would be wise to copy the Dutchman, who turned to the young players ahead of Conte’s arrival.
He told Sky Sports: “Six years ago, we had a really bad season with Chelsea we finished 10th. If I remember correctly, Jose Mourinho left, Hiddink came. He started to play younger players Loftus-Cheek, Christensen, Tammy Abraham, to give them experience for the next year.
“Then remember in April, they signed a Conte. Who came to the training ground, spoke to us individually, planned what they wanted to do with us. To start fresh, a new season and we won the Premier League against Guardiola, against Klopp, against Mourinho at Manchester United. It’s not impossible.
“This happened six years ago and I was there, I lived it. If you bring someone in with the experience, with the character, who can put everyone together, who can give clear ideas of what he wants to do and work hard and bring everyone on board, it’s doable.”
Mauricio Pochettino looks set to be the new permanent boss at Stamford Bridge, witht he finer details of his contract currently being ironed out.
And Fabregas believes the Argentinian’s reputation for “developing young players” bodes well for Chelsea.
Asked if he thinks Poch is right for Chelsea, he said: “I think so. As you mentioned he had a really good experience with Spurs, developing young players and he took them to a really good level. So why not? It’s just about getting the right person, which is the difficult thing.”
READ MORE: Premier League worst finishers: Kai Havertz king of wasters despite Rashford-style accuracy
