It’s not quite been the return Frank Lampard dreamed of as Chelsea interim manager.
The Blues on Wednesday night suffered a fifth consecutive defeat under the club’s legendary midfielder following a 2-0 home loss by Brentford at Stamford Bridge.
Admittedly, trying to get results as Chelsea manager has been a tough task this season, with predecessors Thomas Tuchel and more lately Graham Potter sacked having struggled for wins.
The west London side are enduring one of their worst ever Premier League campaigns, stuck in the bottom half of the table despite having spent over £600million on players this season in owner Todd Boehly’s first full campaign.
Lampard is in his second run as manager at Stamford Bridge having previously been dismissed in January 2021 to make way for Tuchel, with many at the time seeing the axing as particularly harsh.
Chelsea slumped to a fifth straight defeat on Wednesday after at home to Brentford
Interim boss Frank Lampard has endured a miserable return to the club in a second spell
Having first taken over in 2019, Lampard had overseen a summer where the club were acting under a transfer embargo yet still guided them to a top four finish to underline his managerial credentials.
FRANK LAMPARD BACK AT CHELSEA
Apr 8 Wolves 1-0 Chelsea
Apr 12 Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea
Apr 15 Chelsea 1-2 Brighton
Apr 18 Chelsea 0-2 Real Madrid
Apr 26 Chelsea 0-2 Brentford
But since his Chelsea exit, all has not gone to plan.
In January 2021 he took control of Everton and helped them towards a late escape to beat relegation.
However, having not been able to kick on this term, he was dismissed just shy of 12 months into the job back in January with the Toffees once again fighting for top flight survival.
Unfortunately his poor run of results near the end of his time at Goodison Park have rolled on at Stamford Bridge and it means he has lost 16 of his last 19 matches as a manager.
The run started on October 9 when his Everton side lost 2-1 at home to Manchester United – a game that saw Cristiano Ronaldo net his final Premier League goal for the Red Devils.
It also came following an unbeaten run of seven games.
Chelsea’s poor run of results leaves them in the bottom half of the Premier League table
Yet supporters are unimpressed with Lampard, with one fan listing the damning statistics against the interim Blues boss.
They said: ’36 Goals Conceded, 8 Goals Scored, 2 Clean Sheets, Left one club 19th, currently has one 11th., This isn’t a coincidence, he’s completely out of his depth in management.’
Another also hit out at Lampard’s poor recent record and saying how he should go into TV work, saying: ‘One win, 2 draws, 16 loses in 19 games. Awful, Awful, Awful. Frank Lampard, pls go back to punditry. Coaching isn’t for you.’
Chelsea though close to appointing a full-time manager with former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino reaching a ‘verbal agreement’ to take over at Stamford Bridge.
source: dailymail.co.uk
