The ManicaPost
Amid a bad run of form for Chelsea, defeat by Bournemouth at the weekend truly was a cherry on top.
They have won just one in five in the Premier League and since their club tweeted out a photo of the table, flagging up that Spurs were down in 14th, the gap has closed.
When they face Tottenham and former manager Jose Mourinho next week a defeat will see Spurs overhaul them. What, exactly, has been going wrong for them and Frank Lampard (pictured below)? Sportsmail has taken a look.
Are they struggling to break teams down?
There were those at Stamford Bridge last weekend who felt as though there was a return to last season as Chelsea struggled to work their way through a ragged Bournemouth side.
Under Maurizio Sarri, they were criticised for favouring possession over attacking thrust and on Saturday there was a return to that.
They had 67 percent of the ball yet could not find a way to the back of the net. They had an xG of just 2,02 to Bournemouth’s 1,21. That’s not a significant difference for a home side against a team in bad form.
The problem is that possession-based play is all well and good — you will not find many coaches being developed these days who do not favour that style — but it does not mean anything beyond that, necessarily.
Pep Guardiola is so highly rated because he has managed to turn that hunger for the ball into a cohesive system that leads to chance after chance. Compare his Barcelona team to, say, Spain in the early 2010s and it shows how keeping the ball can lead to entirely different systems.
This is where a question needs to be asked of Frank Lampard. Across his time at Derby and now Chelsea he has looked for his teams to keep the ball and work with it.
Is that the way to get the most out of his team? And does he have the understanding of the game to make it work for him?
It’s notable that results have fallen off against teams in really bad ruts. Everton had not won for an age before they faced Chelsea.
West Ham had similarly struggled and still are in a bad run of form. Bournemouth were looking over their shoulders.
When defences are packed in against Chelsea, they cannot find a way through. That is what Lampard needs to fix before facing Spurs.
Are the kids alright?
After Chelsea’s brutal opening-day defeat against Manchester United, former manager Jose Mourinho had a harsh assessment about the team Lampard had picked.
“My feeling is that today they had a possibility to play with more know-how,” said Mourinho. “(Marcos) Alonso was on the bench, (N’Golo) Kante was on the bench, (Olivier) Giroud was on the bench, and to come to Old Trafford, even if this is not the huge Manchester United that used to scare people, it’s Manchester United.
“A little bit of experience would fit well with the team. You look to the performance of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, even of (Andreas) Christensen and for matches of this dimension you need a little bit more.”
Alan Hansen famously hoisted himself by his own petard when he said you’ll win nothing with kids but there’s a point to be made.
Chelsea’s team lacks experience in crucial positions. They are reliant on defenders with very little senior football to their names.
Not only that, but there’s a point to be made about the players Lampard has integrated from the Championship last season.
None of them were parts of teams that won the league. They also didn’t win automatic promotion.
Sure, Abraham went up with Aston Villa through the play-offs but he didn’t fire them to one of the top two spots.
The ones who went to Derby shone but probably not as much as Harry Wilson —who Liverpool saw fit to loan out for more experience.
In the case of Reece James, he was the best player at his side. That side was struggling Wigan Athletic.
They are all fantastic footballers and should be brilliant in the near future. But this might be too quick a step up.
Chelsea’s young guns might have been better off with a Premier League loan rather than being tasked with firing one of the elite to the Champions League. It could be too much, too soon.
Have the goals dried up for Tammy?
Admittedly, he’s had an injury during this run but it’s notable that when Chelsea were at their best, Abraham was on fire in front of goal.
Now he’s struggling to hit the back of the net and Chelsea are too. He has just two goals in his last six games and seems to be lower on confidence. Chelsea have scored just three in their last five Premier League games.
There has been criticism of Abraham over the years, not least his ability to bring others into play.
But one thing that has never been a problem is his goal scoring. If that is an issue, it might be time for Lampard to take him out of the firing line.
While Giroud is clearly out of favour and likely on his way out in January, he can, at least, create chances for others. It means that the likes of Christian Pulisic, Willian, Pedro and Callum Hudson-Odoi could take some of the attacking burden away from the strikers.
Lampard might want to turn to experience in this position in particular and give someone else a go.
Is there a case for the defence?
Ask any Derby fan and they will tell you that their defence was a particular bad spot for them last season. It became a running joke that they were unable to keep set-pieces out.
Lampard has a problem at Chelsea, in that he doesn’t really have the resources at the back. Selecting from Christensen, Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomori and an injury-prone Antonio Rudiger is a bit of a headache.
Yet it feels as though they are struggling to figure out what to do too. The goal they conceded against Bournemouth was particularly sloppy, a defence not reacting right to a late run and a ball over the top at short distance.
The manager is also chopping and changing too much. There does not seem to be a set preference between his options at the back. He’s rotating between those central defenders and the likes of Cesar Azpilicueta, Emerson, James and Alonso at full-back.
Think back to the great Chelsea sides of the past and they were built on solid foundations. There is too much shifting sand where this one is concerned.
How can they handle Kepa’s tough run?
The truth is that Kepa Arrizabalaga is a very good goalkeeper who is going through a bit of a sticky patch.
He was slightly at fault for Dan Gosling’s goal on Saturday, messed up for Everton’s third last weekend and has generally not covered himself in glory.
There’s not much Lampard can do about this. The options in reserve are not brilliant and he’d do well to stick with Kepa, who will develop going forward.
But when you compare him to the top goalkeepers who seem like the finished product — Alisson, Ederson — then it does feel like a weak spot in the Chelsea team.
A suggestion is to find a way to stop the opposition from getting in as many shots at goal. Conceding 11 at home to Bournemouth is, frankly, not good enough.
If they can limit that slightly more then it will allow Kepa to find his feet again without being under the cosh too much. — Daily Mail.
