Chelsea: Lampard’s three mistakes against Liverpool

Chelsea dropped the ball against Liverpool at Anfield, some mistakes by manager Frank Lampard played a big part in the loss.

Chelsea was demolished by Liverpool in a game where the Blues critically needed a point to qualify for the Champions League. While the entire team was to blame for the horrendous performance, Frank Lampard has to shoulder three major mistakes on the night.

In a match where one single point was needed to qualify for the Champions League, Chelsea conceded five goals. In the first 10’ of the game, everything was going Chelsea’s way. The Reds could not get near the ball; the Blues were attacking and defending as a unit, as well as pressing to retrieve the ball quickly. They came very close to scoring. However, Jurgen Klopp made a couple of adjustments and everything was down hill from there.

Nevertheless, that was to be expected. After all, they are the champions, and they have the players to adjust and overcome. But three major mistakes by Lampard cannot overlooked as they turned out to be costly five times over:

Playing Kepa

Kepa Arrizabalaga was not ready for this game. In the FA Cup Semifinal against Manchester United, Lampard opted to play Willy Caballero and it paid off. The Argentine was assertive, bold and quick with his feet. With a good and decisive performance on his back, Caballero was full of confidence to play against Liverpool. More than that, on a day like this, Chelsea needed someone bold to go for every ball, make every jump and organize the defense.

However, what the fans—and team—got was a keeper unable to jump to touch the ball. Arrizabalaga’s form on the pitch was already through the floor, and Caballero sent a clear message with his FA Cup performance. Therefore, today’s lack of a performance was not a shocker. Well, it was, but it shouldn’t have happened.

Lampard made the call to play his No. 1 keeper. Maybe this was the moment for Arrizabalaga to shine, but the truth is, against a massive attacking force like Liverpool, it was never going to happen. In fact, if it weren’t for Kurt Zouma’s efforts in the back line, the score could have easily been eight goals in favor of the Reds.

This was Lampard’s call, and it was a terrible one. Lampard should have taken all of these factors into consideration and selected Caballero. On the other hand, Arrizabalaga needs to get his mental strength back and act as a leader in front of goal, or his days at Chelsea are all but numbered. However, and more pressing, Caballero should be the one to start for the rest of the season if Chelsea want to achieve its goals.

Playing Jorginho

For the past few games, Chelsea has had one weak link in the midfield: Jorginho. In the game against Manchester United, Jorginho’s performance was decent. But in reality, he should have dominated considering United’s awful performance. Still, Jorginho was the weak link in the midfield with his inability to make tackles, track back or pass the ball forwards rather than backwards.

Against Liverpool, Jorginho was a liability. The midfielder managed to retain possession for the Blues, but his contributions stopped there. Chelsea needed someone to take control of the center of the park and charge forward. Someone who could create and play the pass to the open space. Someone who would do the dirty work and make the ugly tackles to stop the counterattack. Jorginho did nothing of the sorts. In fact, he did the complete opposite of all of those things.

Lampard had two options, play Jorginho or play Ruben Loftus-Cheek. For whatever reason that we cannot see, he chose the former. Maybe experience or perhaps match fitness. At the end of the day, it was a poor decision and it was one of the main reasons Chelsea couldn’t put up a fight.

The Formation

Three at the back worked against United, but it was never going to work against Liverpool. Lampard stuck to the same game plan he set against Manchester United. Although it worked, it wasn’t just because it was a good plan, but because United had no idea what it was doing.

However, the Reds are the champions for a reason. Although Chelsea started the game on the front foot, Klopp’s men were able exploit the team’s weaknesses. To be fair, they were all very visible. In that regard, and following the already mentioned solutions, Lampard should have gone with a more conventional formation and tactics. Maybe a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 to give the team more time to build the play up and prevent exposure once the fullbacks/wing-backs attacked.

The bottom line is, it was a terrible game. The goals were coming hot and fast, and there was nothing anyone could have done about it. Now, Chelsea must fight it out against Wolves in order to achieve its goal of Champions League football next season. But in order to do so, Lampard must learn from his mistakes and not repeat them.