Chelsea fans are not as fickle as some people – including a small noisy segment of the fans – want you to believe. They simply want their manager to do what Frank Lampard is already doing: industriously pursue victory.
Some fans have “called it.” They boldly predicted that it would not be long before Chelsea fans start the #LampardOut chants. They claim the fans do not know how to appreciate their own. Nothing could be farther from the truth, on both counts.
It will be long, conspicuously long, actually, before the fans start the #LampardOut chants. If anything, the only group of fans who know how to appreciate their own is Chelsea fans. I remember a certain opposition manager received a standing ovation after a certain Carabao Cup game. Imagine if that particular had been on the Blues’ touchline for the game. Stop imagining, start watching.
You have to be naive or simply blinkered to think that what frustrated Chelsea the most about last season were the scorelines.
Many fans made it clear time and again the most frustrating thing about Chelsea last season was not the results, but the fact that nothing was done to change said results. That doggedness was highlighted most especially in the games against Bournemouth and Manchester City away.
The Bournemouth game was tied at half time. How did they end up with four goals to Chelsea’s zero? Bournemouth tried something else. And it worked. Too well. It did not end there, though, as the Chelsea players kept at it. They kept conceding but they kept doing the same thing. Even Bournemouth knew when they had to change something.
Fans expected that Chelsea would have learnt their lesson from the Bournemouth… experience. They had not. They set up the exact same way against the best team in the country.
This is one simple reason Chelsea fans would never get frustrated with Frank Lampard. He never stops trying. Three preseason games have seen Lampard use three different formations. In all these games, the playing style is similar, the pressing is impressive, Jorginho is winning the ball higher-up the pitch and Chelsea is creating actual goal-scoring opportunities. Some of the specifics change in the formation, but the fundamentals of what Lampard wants from his squad – the aspects that will define his team and give them the foundation to make the necessary tactical changes to stay ahead of their opponent (or, if necessary, come back from behind) – are there. Most importantly, he is teaching the team to be as flexible and inventive as he is. If something isn’t working, everyone will know how to follow his ideas to change for the better.
Will Chelsea struggle against stronger teams? Probably. Will Frank Lampard lose games? Are you kidding? Will Lampard lose a lot of games? Probably. Might Lampard win six trophies this season? Maybe (no, he won’t).
But will Frank Lampard cross his legs in the dugout and ask his players to keep hacking away at something that is neither working nor yielding results? Hell no.
And that’s why Chelsea fans are more confident with Lampard in the hot seat. He won’t get comfortable running at the same wall one game, one loss, after another.
This is why he will hold on to the fans’ support. Not because he scored 211 goals, not because he’s a Chelsea legend. OK, a little bit of that. But mostly because he will make sure the team can come out of a game with their heads held high, regardless of the result.