Lampard’s Chelsea return defies logic and gravity. Why not give Potter the rest of the season?

If Chelsea have written off their season then why not simply leave Graham Potter in charge and hope for the best? Also in the Mailbox: how precarious Arsenal’s eight-point lead really is…

Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com.
Semi scandal
As City are in the FA Cup semi’s against Sheffield United, I’ve been looking at ticket prices.

Ok, the cheapest train is £103.00 to that there London but you won’t get the return if it goes to extra time and penalties! Same on the Sunday.. only you’ve more of a chance then as there’s a few later trains back up north!

Match ticket prices are once again a complete rip off. There’s only a couple of thousand of the Category 3 and 4 tickets so the majority are priced at Category 1-2 so £65.00 to £80.00 .

Fans should simply boycott this sh*te and tell the FA they can absolutely do one, playing semi-finals of the cup down there.. grounds should be chosen mid-distance between the two teams competing. After the Liverpool semi, last season, I told me Wembley going mate that I wasn’t going to anymore Wembley semi-finals, I’ve been to the overpriced place FIFTEEN TIMES over the last 12 years and its novelty has WELL AND TRULY worn off now!.. They can absolutely get stuffed and, funnily enough, I hear these sort of comments from match going fans, on a regular basis. I’ve no idea how many of my fellow Blues will be going but I expect the very excited (absolutely fair enough) fans of Sheffield United to sell out, still a big club, after all. I, however, have spent thousands over the years, going there and I’m not doing it again.

Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea fans would be up in arms if 34,000 of them were asked come to The Etihad or Old Trafford or Anfield or wherever, to fork out £200 for an afternoon of watching football.. which is not even a bloody final, ON A REGULAR BASIS! Obviously, even more additional costs in the event of an overnight stay in many cases.

Fan groups should stick together and boycott these matches.. it wouldn’t happen in Germany what with their resolutely strong fan culture.

Amidst the ongoing cost of living crisis, we match going fans (all you non match goers, your opinion doesn’t matter, so you just continue to sit in your comfy chairs and snipe about a culture you know nothing about?) learn exactly how important we are.

Not important at all, apart from lovely pictures on the telly.

Big whoop.

Definitely trying to help,
Levenshulme Blue, Manchester 19

Frank talk
So, I’ve just caught up with Thursday morning’s mailbox, and although delighted to have been published, having read all of the other mails, it appears that I’ve massively misread the room and it turns out that (with the exception of me) the chelsea fans aren’t delighted with franks return after all.

You live and learn I suppose.

Anyway, I’m now off to hide and prepare myself for all the likely incoming mails calling me deluded etc.
James (Chelsea and Fleet), Gravesend

What can Lampard do that Potter couldn’t?
I am in awe of football fans’ never ending ability to see positivity when everyone else sees a sh*tshow. Kudos to James for his pathological inability to critically think.

Here’s the question I would like to put to the great minds (ah feck, another irony meter explodes) of the mailbox:

What on earth is Frank going to achieve in the next few weeks that Graham Potter wouldn’t have done? Giving Potter the remainder of the season to do whatever he would have done cannot possibly be any worse than whatever the inept and serial failure Lampard is going to achieve. This makes no sense on any level. It is an inconceivably stupid decision, and it is only fair to conclude that Boehly has absolutely no idea what he is doing. How he can be in charge of a reputed billion pound war chest is making my head hurt. Bernie Madoff would be a safe pair of hands in comparison.

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t for the fact that seeing money getting wasted like this is yet another sign how spoilt, white money men are ruining the world.
Max (that last line will get the Gammon nicely on the boil)

Gravity-defying Lampard
So it seems likely that Frank Lampard will be appointed caretaker manager and I, as a Man Utd fan, am delighted with his ability to fall upwards. Nothing personal against Lampard, and I respect him as a player. As a manager, though, he’s failed at Chelsea already, he’s failed at Everton and left them battling relegation. I can’t see Chelsea gaining much of a new manager bounce given many of those he failed with are still at the club and I don’t think Lampard either has the nous or the coaching skill to get the players out of this slump.

Add to this is Man Utd’s failed experiment with an interim manager with far more coaching experience, and this seems like the perfect set up for Lampard to fail again and Chelsea to continue to be pants this season. And since Man Utd still have to play Chelsea, all this makes me delighted.
Daniel

Read more: Lampard to Chelsea makes sense to people with no knowledge or short memories

Dog’s dinner
Chelsea have brought back Lamps temporarily and are now reportedly interested in the possibility of bringing back Conte or Mourinho on a permanent basis?

They really are the Premier League’s equivalent to a dog returning to its own vomit.

Bet the fans wish they could bring Abramovich back…
Lee, more of a cat person

High and dry
Frank will be the worst second coming since Highlander II. How am I 100% sure of this. Simple, Tim Sherwood thinks it is a great idea. Case closed!
Murray Whiteford (I can only assume that Boehly wants to take the Joke club title from Spurs, nice of him really)

Arsenal’s tenuous lead
So, 8 points ahead, 9 games remaining – if Arsenal don’t win the League it’ll be a choke job of epic, banterish proportions.

Not so fast. Let’s assume City win their game in hand – that’s a 5 point lead with 9 games remaining. Arsenal have to travel to the Etihad. Form/bookies/history would chalk that down as a City win. That makes it a 2 point lead with 8 games left. City currently have a +2 goal difference advantage over Arsenal. If they win both their game in hand and the City v Arsenal game by one goal that +2 advantage becomes +5 which is probably worth an extra point.

So, if City win their game in hand and defeat Arsenal at The Etihad they only need to make up a one point difference over their remaining 8 games. That commanding Arsenal lead is actually arguably the most tenuous 8 point lead in recent title race history. It really is all to play for.
Conor Malone – Donegal

Real hope for Arsenal
I don’t normally write about other teams but Real Madrid’s annihilation of Barcelona was just outrageously good. Vinicius’ mesmerising footwork and pass for the last goal encapsulated it for me. He was coolness personified (ok maybe it’s easier when you’re already 3 up), and first tapped the ball left, before releasing it right, taking out both defenders in the process. I’m not even sure I’m doing it any justice with that mundane description.

I love that we got Odegaard from them and thought at the time that Real had not realised what they were giving up. But this match was the moment that made me realise they don’t need him and also what an achievement it has been for Madrid to put this team together.

How did they do it? Madrid must be one of the oldest teams in Europe with their grizzled veterans. Is it just talent? Is it their system? Or both? They seem to play with utter serenity, intuitive movement and passing to get out of any jam. The spine of Modric, Kroos and Benzema just keeps ticking along, no matter the identity of the supporting cast.

Really hope Arteta is building something similar. He has many of the foundation pieces in place, and just needs to add interchangeable pieces like Trossard (thanks Chelsea!), and upgrades in some areas in terms of skills and/or durability. Do you push the boat out and go for (hopefully) generational talents like Caicedo, or gamble on lesser known names and hope they come good? Madrid’s approach suggests that if you get it right, it pays off for a really long time. Such is the manager’s dilemma.

I think we have a good shot at the title but more importantly, we have a good team for the future.
Tired (of the agonising wait between games in this run in) Gooner

Toon hammering
Newcastle too good and West Ham far too error prone on Wednesday. It could genuinely have been more without a couple of strong saves from Fabianski.

I do feel for Moyes because, strange as it is, without the big mistakes the game would have been close – West Ham could easily have scored in the first minute, and arguably only the first and last Newcastle goals weren’t direct gifts – even then Wilson and Joelinton benefited from loose marking and vast amounts of space.

A big part of Newcastles success this season though has been relentless pressing in / around the box, and for most part that press forced or capitalised on mistakes that teams might get away with against a low block.

Murphy mugging Aguerd for goal 3 only happens because he has the fitness and pressing intensity to be right on him. Isak runs like a maniac to be in a position to lob Fabianski for goal 4. It was the same in the win away at Spurs, where both goals came from pressing the keeper and defenders in/around their box, and for all that Wilson and Isak can be quality finishers that pressing workload is something they’ve both bought into and done well.

Newcastle now have a lovely dilemma between them (Wilson 102 mins per prem goal or assist, Isak 104 mins per goal), a quality of striking choice we haven’t had in ages and that will hopefully allow some rotation as we get into the busy business end.

Some kind of Europe is looking more and more doable (does any of these pundits really think that this Liverpool will make up 10 points in 10 games?) but it’s Brighton lurking dangerously close in the race for the CL…

May the best-team-automatically-promoted-in-2017 win
Roger (Newcastle in London)