Chelsea: Four worrying trends revolve around Frank Lampard, Kante and Kepa

2. Frank Lampard’s hypocrisy

Lampard’s press conferences are refreshing. He chooses his words carefully, striking the right balance between honest and diplomatic. While he never calls his players out, he is quite blunt about their status in the squad.

As evidenced in these press conferences, Lampard has employed the merit policy at Chelsea: only players who meet the required standards in training and game days continue to be a part of the line-up. Christian Pulisic and Callum Hudson-Odoi were initially sidelined from the squad for this reason and had to work their way into the starting XI, and both eventually found the necessary consistency in their performances.

It is perhaps surprising, then, that Mason Mount has continually kept his place in the side, despite being one of Chelsea’s most out-of-form players since November.

Even if injuries to Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley are taken into account, Lampard has managed to keep Mount in his line-up, going so far as deploying him as an inside forward, but has refused to entertain the idea of Willian or Pulisic starting in his No.10 / shadow striker role. Both have the work rate to match Mount and the attacking prowess to eclipse him, yet Lampard ignoring this route is proof he’s making Mount an exception to his rules.

In his press conference before the match against Arsenal on 21 January, Lampard stated that his squad requires some experienced players, praising Edinson Cavani in the process.

For a squad dominated by young players that makes perfect sense, as these players can help close or outright win certain games. But are there no such players in Chelsea’s squad already?

In Olivier Giroud and Pedro, Lampard has bonafide winners: World Cup champions who have performed on the biggest stages of the world, with plenty to Premier League experience to go with it. They have specific qualities that could have helped Lampard salvage plenty of situations, too, and yet Lampard has completely sidelined them for the squad.

Pedro is a winger who can break the lines and get into goal-scoring positions, an ability none of the other options possess. Add the fact that he is a willing runner and can score from distance, and Lampard has a weapon that can change the flow of a game.

Olivier Giroud is the ultimate target man. Unlike Michy Batshuayi, who has received all of the chances as Tammy Abraham’s backup, Giroud is exceedingly good at holding onto the ball and bringing his teammates into the game. Batshuayi is a poacher who can only function in a team oozing with creativity, while Giroud enhances the quality of the attackers around him, something Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic and particularly Mount could have benefitted from.

His aerial dominance would have worked perfectly in situations where the team was constantly putting crosses in the box, especially with the crossing quality players like Reece James possess. That ability, the option of going Route One in desperate situations, being able to hold onto the ball to close games and being one Premier League’s best super-subs is proof that Giroud would have given Lampard the plan B and C that he is struggling to find.

Lampard is a smart talker with a charismatic personality, but he is showing clear signs of hypocrisy, which is surprising for a person of his repute.