Chelsea’s Frank Lampard is reaching the first turning point

It almost always starts in the same place with managers. Chelsea’s Frank Lampard is on the cusp of that first turning point.

The draw against Bournemouth felt all too similar to Antonio Conte’s last season at Chelsea. The manager is clearly trying to find a working solution, but time and time again is let down by simple, school boy errors by their players. Should the manager be able to do something about that? Possibly, but they cannot go out and play for the player.

Also like Conte’s last season, the same signs of groups turning on Frank Lampard are beginning to show. It always starts from the same spot and then expands outwards until the manager has nowhere else to go.

It always starts with the media. They will post articles questioning the manager before any other group. It started with Conte in the summer between his two seasons with the mere rumor that he may depart for Inter Milan. It only grew when Conte refused to play their games in pressers. Lampard is in the earliest stages of that, but articles are beginning to draw the lines even if only in an apologetic way.

It was only just a few short months ago that Lampard was being praised for the good job he was doing. Everything after November has been rough, but overall Chelsea is still where the most enthusiastic expected them to be. But the media does not readjust expectations. That is not their job. Their job is to get people to click their stuff and the best way to do that is often to start creating the narratives of a manager on the ropes.

It always starts with the media. They will raise questions about a manager’s fitness for the job long before anything is done and dusted. It happened to Unai Emery long before he was sacked. Conte was effectively sacked by the media in the fall of his final season. It may just be rumor but those rumors have consequences.

The more fans see the media start to draw lines against a manager, the more some fans feel as if they need to do the same. Mind, there has always been a section of fans against Lampard either due to his inexperience or the simple fact that he is not Maurizio Sarri. But even now, some of the more well known Chelsea fans are starting to question Lampard’s performance as Blues’ boss.

Criticism on its own is fine. This website would not exist without the ability to raise concerns and talk about them. But there is a difference between criticism and being unrealistic. How many expected Chelsea to be in a fight for fourth at this point in the season? Likely less than half of the fan base. Expectations can change over the course of the season, but overall there has been nothing this season to cause fans to think Chelsea can be a title contender.

The media turns, causing some fans to turn and eventually that causes people at Chelsea to take notice. The players start to question the manager publicly or otherwise (stay tuned for the international break where it is most likely to happen). The board starts to get itchy feet. They know Chelsea needs Champions League football to stay afloat at this level of the game. Lampard was brought in as a project (some sources saying at least two years), but if the media and fans start lighting fires that two years could be shortened as it was with Conte.

With the media starting to turn, it will be up to the fans to decide the future. Yes, the fans actually do have a say in matters. Support of Lampard’s project despite the media raising questions will allow Lampard to continue about his work. The alternative is Chelsea hits reset, again, and everything goes back to square one. Again.

Another manager would come in and want their own players while also having to evaluate who is on hand. The same hiccups Lampard is facing now or Sarri faced last year or Conte the year before would be faced once again. Maybe the next manager finally figures his way past those but it is more likely they do not, the media turns, the fans turn, and the board turns to restart this whole process over again.

Things are not perfect but this was never supposed to be a perfect season. Lampard is young and inexperienced, but he has also navigated a very difficult situation much more solidly than many expected. The media will do what they have to do to get their clicks. But the fans? The fans can weather this storm as they have often claimed they would like to do. Maybe it works out, maybe it does not. But jumping ship in the eye of the storm will not solve the issues the club has had for nearly a  decade either.