CRANKY LAMPARD
Unhappy Chelsea boss used a classic tactic of his old manager Jose – getting angry to divert from the real issues as he clearly loses the tactical battle to another former chief
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IF Frank Lampard was frustrated with his team after a soulless display, the Chelsea boss disguised it well with a touch of anger.
Anger at the referee for being influenced by 2,000 fans inside Goodison Park, anger at Everton’s long-ball tactics – or so it seemed – and even anger at Jurgen Klopp and his apparently “ridiculous” claim Chelsea have the best squad in the Premier League. It was an interesting tactic and not one learned from Carlo Ancelotti, his former manager, who guided g an Everton team who have underpe underperformed so badly in recent weeks we to an important victory victory.
It was more from Jose Mo Mourinho’s playbook, a diversion from the r real issue. Tactically, the visitors got it wrong, wi t h An c e lo t t i swamping midfield, forcing Chelsea to c cross from deeper to a line of four blueshirted shi centre-halves. It was the dream scenario for the Toffees manager, who was forced to play central defenders at full-back.
There was the merest hint of realism in Lampard’s words as he accepted Chelsea got it wrong – allied with a typically Jose-esque flourish of defiance.
“To come here on a night like this against a side who were going to play like this against us, it’s a big test for us, and we didn’t pass it – but we will pass it in the future,” he said.
“Maybe off the back of a long unbeaten run these nights come, they can happen over the course of a season. Twenty minutes when you are not quite at it.
“A crowd back in, and the ref reacting to every crowd noise and giving them things, and the game got broken up. It’s not easy to keep fluidity in your game. So it was more of a lesson.
“When these nights come, can you keep a clean sheet? Can you come away with a victory saying we weren’t at our best? The message to the players is to put it into perspective – we are somewhere in the middle in terms of our development, that’s the reality of it.”
Everton did present Chelsea with a physical test, Dominic Calvert-Lewin superb in not just occupying two centre-halves, but also winning the ball consistently, as his brilliant play to win the penalty which Gylfi Sigurdsson converted proved.
And Lampard knows his team failed it, which is a worry. It is like a batsman who shows he can’t hook, or a boxer who doesn’t take a punch. Suddenly you are bombarded, and the London club can now expect many more tests like this.
Players like Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, in particular, seemed too timid, not up to this physical and relentless side of the Premier League at this stage in their development. But Lampard believes the criticism may eventually look stupid.
Havertz looks a shadow of the player who wowed the Bundesliga and cost almost £80million. But Lampard added: “I think in the modern day there is going to be criticism if you lose even one game.
“But we certainly should be patient with Kai. He can play in any position coming off the front and he can play in the midfield also, so that’s not an issue.
“I have no problem with him. If people just want to jump straight on and criticise... well. Just give a young player time, come back to me in a week or six months because young players coming into the pace of the Premier League have to be given time.”