Chelsea five years later: Frank Lampard’s shadow still looms

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard played his last Chelsea match five years ago today. His shadow still looms over the Bridge in more ways than one.

Frank Lampard is one of Chelsea’s greatest players ever and is the Premier League’s best midfielder ever. Full stop. Over 611 matches, he scored 176 goals (as a midfielder) and assisted another 118. He is, frankly, the best.

He played his final match for the Blues on 4 May, 2014. Despite some initial City Football Group shenanigans, Lampard is still adored by the Chelsea faithful. His name is sung virtually every match day and his progress at Derby County has been keenly observed by many.

A player like that will always cast a long shadow until someone else can make a claim for his crown. But his shadow looms not only on the players, but the manager too. Lampard’s career has only just begun anew, but it is hard to escape his name.

It has not been brought up often, but Chelsea has yet to fill the void Lampard left in the side. Man talk about replacing the grit of Michael Essien (briefly done by Nemanja Matic, done better by N’Golo Kante) or the creativity and silk of Michael Ballack (briefly done by Cesc Fabregas). But what the Blues have really missed in the last five years is a midfielder who could score like a striker.

Chelsea simply does not have a source of goals in the midfield. Everything comes from the forwards. Even in the title winning seasons when the Blues had goals from all over the pitch, there was no midfielder who really carried the banner.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek might be the most goal scoring midfielder the Blues have had since Lampard and that is not quite his niche. Loftus-Cheek can become a world class player but he will not become a Lampard. His skillset is part of Ballack and Lampard but is not far enough in either direction to fill the void.

But Lampard’s shadow does not extend to players alone. Current Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri has also had to live in the shadow of a man in his first managerial season. Whenever rumors of a sack start up again, Lampard is always attached.

There are reasons to this of course. The Blues faithful feel little connection to Sarri and he has done little to foster one in return. That causes the rumors to focus on someone who “gets the club”.

Lampard did much of his coaching badge work with Chelsea’s academy. That led to Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount joining him on loan at Derby County and Jody Morris following as well. He has greatly improved both players during his time there.

The most common fear of Lampard as the Chelsea manager is his inexperience. His style is a blend of Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, and many other Blues’ managers he has played under. But he also shows his inexperience at times. While he has done a fantastic job at keeping a poor Derby County side in the playoff race with few resources, there are still plenty of moments he could have done better with.

But the rumors will not go away and many do not care about the hiccups that may occur with Lampard at Chelsea. Though Sarri is safer than he has been in months, Lampard’s shadow still looms.

The Blues have two more home games this season. It is guaranteed that his Lampard’s name will be sung at both and in any other match Chelsea has left. Lampard has been gone for five years, but he has never truly left the minds of the Blues.