Chelsea and rivals find players turned managers to be a rollercoaster

Chelsea is but one of several Premier League (and European) clubs to bring a recent former player back as manager. It is a rollercoaster for every club.

Pep Guardiola largely started the phenomenon of a recent former player becoming the manager of the club they once played for, but the current wave kicked off with Zinedine Zidane. Almost overnight, Real Madrid went from consistent also-rans (as much as that can be true for a club of their caliber) to Champions League winners year after year.

Manchester United followed suit with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Chelsea was not long after with Frank Lampard. Arsenal also hopped on the bandwagon with Mikel Arteta. Even Juventus made the decision to go with Andrea Pirlo sight unseen. While Guardiola and Zidane had their own successes, it has been a bit of a rollarcoaster for the rest as rivalries are renewed, teams are rebuilt, and expectations are in flux.

It helps to understand why Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Juventus, and Chelsea all made the decision they did at the time. Each one of those clubs was coming off of a manager that left fans disillusioned. The club they were watching simply wasn’t the same club they fell in love with. The first thing all of these managers had to do was to make the club feel like itself again. Though it is early days for some, it is hard to argue that this has not happened at each club.

Of course, that is only one part of the job and it is the easy part. The other part is results and that is what has separated the fortunes of these squads. Guardiola and Zidane both had the benefit of inheriting one of the best teams in the world, which doesn’t dismiss from their achievements but it cannot be disregarded either. Pirlo simply hasn’t been in charge long enough to know where Juventus is going to go from here. That narrows it down to the English trio.

Solskjaer has been in charge the longest and he has seen the most of the rollercoaster. Gone are the days of improbable comebacks against Paris Saint-Germain and massive winning streaks to finish a season. United is still a top four team, but they have dug a deep hole only to crawl out of it at least twice now. Solskjaer has been backed, heavily, but there is really no indication as to where United is going from here. Yes they have beat Chelsea a few times and their results against the top six cannot be dismissed, but overall it feels a bit rudderless at United again.

Lampard had to survive the transfer ban and find a way to integrate young players into the squad (another common trend for all these young players turned manager). He did so exceptionally and managed to get top four along the way, an achievement few realistically expected when the season began. He has had incredibly good periods and poor periods and now he has been backed massively. It is still too early to see how the squad gels with so many new signings, but the most recent matches have at least shaken off some malaise from the start of the season.

Arteta is even earlier in the process, but he has at least won a trophy and established a consistent style of play for Arsenal. That being said, that style isn’t necessarily what Arsenal fans may want as it is quite passive compared to their free flowing days under Arsene Wenger. Of course, he has not had the benefit of backing like Solskjaer over time or Lampard in this most recent window, so being passive may be their best shot at stability right now. They are very reliant on individuals to bail them out and it feels as if the FA Cup is putting some shine on Arsenal that otherwise would not be there.

It cannot be denied Arteta has had a good time, but so did Solskjaer at first. Now the Norwegian manager is teetering on the brink (and not really for the first time). Lampard has never really had a full blown crisis, but there is at least the sense that the board would remain patient through one or two of them (just look at how long they stuck with Jose Mourinho in 2015/2016). Arteta is probably safest of all, of only because Arsenal has so little cash to throw around.

What is the lesson from all this? At least on paper, bringing a former player back to be manager is at least a net positive for the stability of the club. Whatever course each of these clubs was on, it was not the right one. These managers brought them back where the club should be culturally. It is everything after that which varies.

Zidane had bad periods and he rebounded. Solskjaer has as well and each one seems to be more of a struggle to get out of. Guardiola never had a bad period until recently, but he also had Lionel Messi and several of the games’ best in their prime. For Lampard and Arteta, it is still a bit too early to see how things will go but there is enough evidence to justify seeing it out for longer. Pirlo simply hasn’t been around long enough to even get a sense of his tactics let alone his trajectory.

Lampard is 100 percent worth sticking with bar a true catastrophe. There is just no real guarantee as to how things will go from here. Solskjaer looked like the chosen one until it was quite clear that he wasn’t and now he is just buying time. Zidane had some close calls but Real Madrid was paid back 10 fold by sticking with him.

Regardless, Lampard’s done the first part in steadying the ship. This season will be about sending it forward in the right direction without hitting anything or changing course along the way.