Chelsea: Three lessons learned from four goals in Krasnodar

3. Frank Lampard has to find more rest days before it is too late

The initial salvo by Krasnodar put Chelsea under pressure, but the Blues never truly looked tested by the Russian side in part thanks to Edouard Mendy. Antonio Rudiger was the only new entry to the backline and he did perfectly fine in the circumstances. The midfield that started was quite poor and the fresh legs that came on had a much easier time of things. Of the forwards, they all struggled and succeed to different degrees but tired legs surely played a part in Timo Werner’s game.

Lampard could have rotated more than he did against Krasnodar, especially with Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz, and Timo Werner playing so much recently. If he rests the trio this weekend the point is somewhat moot, but overall Lampard has to find opportunities to rest his stars and rotate in his depth.

Krasnodar seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so, but he rotated very little. Yes, a point can be made that it is too early in the group and you can’t take risks in the Champions League regardless of the opposition. But with Chelsea weathering the storm just fine and then blasting in four goals (thanks largely to the substitutes), it seems clear Lampard could have taken more risks and given more rest to key figures.

Lampard needs to find opportunities to rest players with games roughly every three days from now until the end of time. Most of the key players will be needed every game and then they’ll go off on break and play every game there too. The next truly rotational match the Blues can look to is the FA Cup, with maybe (hopefully) some dead rubbers in the Champions League before that. If some players do not get rested at other times before then, they may not be options come the winter slog.

What lessons did you learn from the trip to Krasnodar? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!