Appointing Lampard was a mistake but sacking him now would be a worse one
Frank Lampard’s frown grows ever deeper as the cracks widen at Chelsea and above him the bookmaker vultures circle, squawking the shortening odds on his sacking.
It is an unedifying picture but an inevitable one given the sequence of results and the fractured excuse of a performance in defeat at Leicester in midweek.
It was their fifth in Premier League games.
Eighth place in the league is a woeful under-achievement given the scale of the summer investment.
The mutterings out of Stamford Bridge of the need for a German-speaking replacement to coax something useful out of the eight £120m misfits Timo Werner and Kai Havertz are growing.
Lampard might well be wondering at this point why he ever took the job and equally Chelsea might be wondering why they offered it to him.
But, plunge taken, two wrongs should be allowed to play out in the desperate hope they might eventually make a right.
Local hero or not, Lampard was never ready for the role of Chelsea manager after just one season of experience in the Championship, with Derby, and recent events have proven as much.
Appointing Lampard was a mistake by those in charge at Chelsea. But to sack him now would be to double down on their error.When they brought in Lampard they must have known he would have to learn on the job and that is what he is now doing in a very public and very painful way.
Parachuted into a club serving a transfer ban last season, Lampard proved adept at making the most of the relatively – for Chelsea – limited resources at his disposal and exceeded expectations in qualifying for the Champions League.
But this season, with the £220m transfer splurge on half a dozen internationals, he has been presented with an altogether different management challenge.
The blizzard of options has blinded him. Lampard has made 50 changes to his starting line-up so far in the league this season, the third most in the division. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United is the market leader with 55, which shows that orderly rotation can work.
Unfortunately, there has been nothing orderly about Lampard’s recent stabs in the dark.
Chelsea were a confused rabble against Leicester. No wonder Lampard admitted he was worried afterwards. Each game now has become a plank walk for the manager.
Chelsea’s next three matches are all at home.After Luton in the FA Cup tomorrow come Wolves, who haven’t won in their past six league games, and relegationthreatened Burnley.
Lampard’s side could quite easily find themselves through to the fifth round of the cup, the last 16 of the Champions League and lying fifth in the Premier League.
From that launchpad and with some confidence restored, the second half of the season looks a lot less grim. But lose any of them and Lampard will be in the tightest of spots.
It is hard to believe that Chelsea led the Premier League on December 5. This is a season so turbulent that clubs are being tossed about like kites in a storm.
While Solskjaer has been the beneficiary of an extended run in the hot seat at Old Trafford, Lampard needs time too. The problem for him is that Chelsea managers are barely given sufficient time to boil an egg.