Let’s be Frank.. Lamps will prove Chelsea can entertain AND defend
I’M sick of hearing that Frank Lampard needs to learn to put out teams that can defend.
This is the same Lampard who played with John Terry (together, below) and a whole host of other top-class defenders.
The same Lampard who was part of a Chelsea team that didn’t just win things by having good attacking players but by being uber-pragmatic under Jose Mourinho.
This is a guy who is one of the most intelligent in English football, who played in teams which won trophy after trophy because they knew exactly how to hold on to slender leads.
Yet still we cuff him and question whether he gets the importance of defending and that absolutely makes my blood boil.
Lampard hasn’t even had a full summer transfer window at Stamford Bridge to be able to bring in the defenders he wants.
So we need to give him three or four windows before we start lumping him in with Arsene Wenger and Eddie Howe because I know their laissezfaire attitude towards defending isn’t something we’ll be seeing from Lampard.
Give him time and we will see him signing one or two of the best young defenders in Europe and starting to turn them into the next JT. He knows the template, he knows the cookie cutter and anyone asking questions about his philosophy at this stage of his managerial career is barking up the wrong tree.
Let’s not forget, this was his first season as a Premier League manager and he still got Chelsea into the Champions League, which is the most difficult thing to do.
Especially this season, because there were two or three ‘monster boys’ scratching around trying to get in and three others in Leicester, Wolves and Sheffield United, who were very good and got very close.
Had he backed up that achievement by winning the FA
Cup, many people would have been calling him the reincarnation of Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and all the other greats he has played for.
But just because he lost a game that on any other day Chelsea could have won, all of a sudden we are questioning him.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Lampard fan boy – if he has a shocker next season I will criticise him just as I would with any other coach.
But so far he has done nothing except achieve and what the rookie manager needs now is the opportunity to fail a little bit so he knows where and how he has to build.
His philosophy is bang on – he wants to entertain, he wants to promote youngsters and play attacking football.
But as sure as eggs are eggs, he will be out there looking for the next John Terry because he would love a clean sheet or two – or five or 10 – next season.
We are always ready to hammer young British bosses, but this is a success story of someone who has enjoyed triumphs then lost one game out of six in a competition that isn’t as grand as it used to be yet still we question him.
And I’m just not having that.