Chelsea: Evaluating Frank Lampard’s first season back in blue

Frank Lampard’s first season as Chelsea manager has come to an end. How did the legendary midfielder fair in different areas of the job?

Managing Chelsea Football Club is not an easy task for anyone daunting enough to accept the challenge and the sky high expectations every year for the club. It certainly is not for a second year head coach at any level. Frank Lampard, the legendary Chelsea superstar midfielder, took over the reins after the departure of Maurizio Sarri after only one season with Chelsea. Coming over from Derby County in the Championship, Lampard took over a situation that had numerous challenges.

First, the difficulties. Lampard inherited a club that was aging and short on top caliber talent in several positions and suffering from injury woes. The striker position was a huge question mark. He had a steady and productive veteran in France World Cup winner Olivier Giroud. Giroud had proven his mettle in the Premier League at Arsenal and Chelsea when called upon. He also had been the de facto best player in the Europa League last season, leading Chelsea to that title.  Lampard also had younger players Tammy Abraham and Michy Batshuayi to select.

Abraham started off strong but faltered later and then was struck with injury woes. When Giroud was finally given the nod, he excelled. After he was made the preferred striker, Chelsea rolled and secured a Champions League spot for next season. Lampard seemed to wait perhaps a bit long to insert Giroud into the first team, especially after Abraham was injured and could contribute little of what he had earlier in the season.

In addition, Lampard initially used his best player, N’Golo Kante, at a position that was not his best. Kante is one of the world’s best defensive midfielders. But in Lampard’s early system (before his injuries and the pandemic caused the suspension of the season) he was employed on the right in midfield and asked to contribute more going forward in the offense than he traditionally had. This was in keeping with the previous year’s manager, Maurizio Sarri, who used Jorginho in the center of the midfield, as well.

Defensive midfield is Kante’s best position and when reinserted when he was somewhat healthy after the break, he displayed his usual ability. So how Giroud and Kante were employed or not can certainly be offered as legitimate questions when evaluating Frank Lampard’s first season in charge of the Blues as head coach. Yet, the positive achievements while facing and meeting the monumental challenges awaiting the first year Chelsea head coach far outweigh any selection issues one might have thought were less than optimum.

Far outweighing any perceived or substantive deficiencies, Frank Lampard’s first season at Chelsea has to be considered a rousing success. The only factor that keeps it from being truly remarkable was the unfortunate loss to Arsenal in the FA Cup final. Champions League qualification was the number one goal that he could hopefully achieve. That job was completed. The cup win would have made it an even greater success, but that was not to be. And in large part injury caused not only that loss but untold difficulties for the first year head coach throughout the season.

In addition to the aforementioned Abraham and Kante, myriad injuries impacted the squad. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi, ostensibly Lampard’s two best young academy players, struggled for fitness for most of the campaign after both sustained serious Achilles injuries the previous season. Injuries to his only new acquisition for the season (more on that later), Christian Pulisic, also severely diminished his attack. Pulisic took some time to acclimate himself to the Premier League and then injuries cut short the learning process. Yet, to his credit, the United States Men’s National Team leader returned from the pandemic suspension flying.

With a new and clearly more direct attacking style, he became one of the most exciting and dangerous forwards in the Premier League. Only another late injury derailed his renaissance. It was clear that his unavailability to his coach and team against Arsenal in the FA cup final was a major impediment to victory in that game.

In addition to injury, head coach Frank Lampard entered the 2019/20 season with his hands effectively tied behind his back. Though an earlier transaction had brought Pulisic in from Dortmund (and also retained Mateo Kovacic at the club), he had no other new additions to count on due to Chelsea’s transfer two window ban. When the ban was lifted for January, although expectations were high, the club didn’t make a single transfer to augment Lampard’s squad in that window. The head coach was left to his own methods to try to incorporate a number of academy products, add them to his veteran mix, and somehow still achieve the real prize, gaining UCL qualification. Amazingly, he succeeded.

Not only Abraham, but also Mason Mount and Reece James were ongoing contributors. And when also inserted into the lineup when Kante was injured, Billy Gilmour filled in admirably, winning two successive Man of the Match awards, one against eventual champions Liverpool. It was a refreshing show of confidence in the academy and its young players. Cameos from others also ensued including Tino Anjorin, Tariq Lamptey (who’s since left the club), Ian Maatsen, and Armando Broja.

As a final evaluation, it is clear that Frank Lampard’s first season as Chelsea’s head coach was a rousing success. His squad was devastated by a plethora of ongoing serious injuries that kept some of his best players off the pitch for months at a time. He was prohibited first by the transfer ban and then by team decision from adding players who he knew would fit his system. Rather, he was forced to try to adapt his existing players to fit. Nevertheless, he made do by altering his system at times, sometimes game to game and in so doing sought to utilize the attributes of the veteran players he had on the squad. Faced with these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Lampard nevertheless succeeded and delivered a tie for third place on points in the Premier League and earned Champions League qualification.

With all this in mind, it’s easy to provide an overall evaluation of Frank Lampard’s first season as head coach of the Chelsea Football Club. It’s a grade of straight A. Amazing, outstanding, and frankly, almost incomprehensible. And the best is yet to come.

The club has already strengthened in attack considerably in the transfer market and may yet add another super player in Kai Havertz. Likely additions in midfield, defense, and keeper may and hopefully will be on the way shortly as well. Those additions, along with the maturation of the academy youngsters, and some injury luck will make Chelsea Football Club a force to be reckoned with in the UK and in Europe next season. It’s an exciting time to be a Chelsea fan, and thankfully, Frank Lampard will still be at the helm. The future looks bright, indeed.