Chelsea Tactics and Transfers: Lampard’s Blues grind out a proper 1-0 win

Chelsea’s performance against Newcastle was exactly the sort of professional and composed performance Chelsea became known for when Frank Lampard was patrolling the pitch and not the technical area.

After last season, merely suggesting such a thing seems like a victory in and of itself. When Frank Lampard played for Chelsea the Blues were such a dominant force that teams often considered a draw to be a victory. His Chelsea sides were comfortable patrolling and prodding the opposition for the first hour or more, until a mistake or a moment of genius could decide the match.

That is exactly the situation Chelsea found themselves in against a disappointingly unambitious Newcastle.  Given the history of this fixture being an oddly fantastic Premier League battle, one could be forgiven for thinking Newcastle would go for it more aggressively at Stamford Bridge. All the memories and echoes of Papiss Cisse’s wonder goal continue to be buried, and that’s probably for the best.

Chelsea needed a match like this. They needed one that showed things wouldn’t always be easy. They needed a clean sheet. They needed a strong performance from the veterans and, even more so, they needed a win.

Victory on Saturday brought Chelsea into fourth place and showed just how well the revolution is going so far. Though Arsenal have a game in hand and have the opportunity to leapfrog Chelsea, being this far up the table after the state of things Frank Lampard inherited – including the roots of the unremitting injury crisis – is one of the early successes of the season.

One of the best and most important things about this match was it showed how much Chelsea can and have benefitted already from Frank Lampard’s steadfast personality at the helm.

Too often in years past Chelsea performed surgery when nothing more than a pat on the back was needed. Things that shouldn’t be discussed more than in passing in the boot room are made into headline-printed-in-red news.

The Christian Pulisic story, for example, is one of these. What an absolute hash that story has been turned into. It shows how well things are going at Chelsea that people needing a story chose to make an international incident out of a talented young player simply working his way into a proper football side at the right pace for a boy his age.

There’s literally nothing more to it than that, and people would have had you believe anything else in recent weeks.

That is one of the reasons it was so refreshing that not only was Pulisic good against Newcastle but Lampard managed him perfectly. With his few comments on the situation before and after the match he put the media in their rightful place for making such a stink while showing Pulisic what is expected of him. Pulisic’s performance was what Lampard expects from such a talented player at his club. No extra meals to make about it either way.

Along with Christian Pulisic, Callum Hudson-Odoi looks to be returning to his expected form. It will likely be a full year before he is perfectly fit again but he is showing the fitness and pace that are necessary for the moment. The fine skills and dribbling that had many saying he was better than Jadon Sancho only a year ago will take more patience.

Tammy Abraham was also excellent, though he didn’t score. He put in a workmanlike performance that Chelsea strikers of old would have been proud of.

He is showing a fantastic ability in the air that leaves one wondering why Chelsea aren’t putting 10-15 searching crosses in towards him per match. He was remarkably close on multiple occasions and his misses can be forgiven on account of his youth and his inexperience. But what can’t be taught is his positioning and instinct for dangerous areas. Abraham will score multiple times in games like this in the future and Chelsea will be all the better for it.

It was also a joy to see him wheel away after Marcos Alonso’s goal, as if he was the one who scored. That’s the spirit that the club has lacked for years and that you get with homegrown players. For him to be that happy for another player to score shows exactly why Chelsea are moving in the right direction.

Finally, Kurt Zouma showed the sort of performance we’ve all believed he was capable of. As the senior center back at the moment, he needed to register such a mature and dominant performance.  Zouma has all of the ability and physical traits to be one of the best defenders in the Premier League. He was last year, after all, but for some reason he began this season poorly.

He returned to that form against Newcastle and was one of the reasons why Chelsea were able to finally get their second clean sheet of the season.

Chelsea are moving in the right direction. It is important that they continue to keep their noses down and not get carried away, but it looks like Lampard has everything under control. Little drama, little news and little to comment on.

This is exactly what Chelsea need. Let us hope it continues.