Frank Lampard is getting another crack at things as the Chelsea head coach after being drafted in to try and clear up Graham Potter’s mess as best he can until the end of the season.
There is no suggestion that Chelsea want to rehire Lampard on a permanent basis but he has got nine Premier League games and a Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid coming his way and were he to succeed, a permanent appointment can’t be 100% ruled out. That being said, the search for another coach is certainly still ongoing.
For now, though, the focus is on Lampard so let’s take a look at the final six games that saw him get the boot in favour of Thomas Tuchel.
Having been beaten 3-1 away at Arsenal just a few days earlier, Lampard really needed a result at home to an Aston Villa side that was actually one point away from the Champions League places at the time.
Things were looking good at half time as Olivier Giroud’s header from a Ben Chilwell cross had Chelsea 1-0 ahead. A poor second-half display meant it ended 1-1 though with Anwar El Ghazi equalising shortly after the break at Stamford Bridge.
Another reason why Chelsea really needed all three points against Villa was that the next game saw Manchester City arrive in west London. By 16 games in, City weren’t running away with things as Liverpool and Manchester United were looking strong, but they already had seven more points than Chelsea and things seemed ominous.
The first half was a horror show and City were 3-0 up thanks to goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne in the first 34 minutes. While Lampard may have been given a few games more, this was really where it became clear that he could not compete with the top sides. Callum Hudson-Odoi’s stoppage-time consolation goal meant nothing.
This is perhaps the exact game that Lampard needed, although everyone was watching very closely to see if an upset in the third round would prove the final straw for Lampard. It certainly seemed likely that had Chelsea gone out here, Lampard would have been booted out.
As it was, Morecambe offered little challenge at Stamford Bridge and goals from Mason Mount, Timo Werner, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz meant it was a simple task to reach the next round of the cup and get that winning feeling back.
While Fulham have consistently been beneath the level of Chelsea, it is a local rivalry and Chelsea fans do not want to go away to Craven Cottage and do anything other than win.
For much of the game, it seemed that they could be set to drop points against a Fulham side that were in and around the relegation zone coming into the game. It was only Mason Mount’s 78th-minute goal that made sure Chelsea got all three points, but it was not a performance that changed many opinions of Lampard.
Even though it wasn’t his last game, this is where it became clear to the Chelsea hierarchy that, under Lampard, they were not going to get into the top four. Leicester were in the Champions League spots so the game offered a chance to show Chelsea against a team they should be aiming to finish above, who is fighting for the same objective.
Unfortunately for Frank, it was 2-0 to Leicester at half time after Wilfried Ndidi and James Maddison scored. Chelsea couldn’t get themselves back into the game and they were left down in 10th place, seven points away from Tottenham in fourth.
It is unusual for a coach’s last game before being sacked to be a victory, but that just showed that the decision had been made for Thomas Tuchel to take over already. A Tammy Abraham hat-trick meant that Chelsea were into the fifth round of the FA Cup, but Lampard was sacked the next day.
The day after that, Tuchel’s arrival was confirmed and the poor showing from Lampard was compounded by the German coach taking the team into the top four and winning the Champions League.
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