Chelsea: Next FA Cup XI will reveal where Frank Lampard is at

Chelsea is probably still playing in the FA Cup this weekend. Frank Lampard’s lineup will reveal a great deal about where his head is at.

A few seasons ago when Chelsea was facing a much different Wolverhampton side, Antonio Conte opted to field a fairly strong lineup instead of youth or rotating during a very busy period of the season. Chelsea was in the middle of a title race but they had sputtered somewhat. Conte’s thinking was playing more of his usual players against a weaker side would be a good opportunity for them to get their groove back for the second leg of the Premier League marathon. Time proved him right.

Conte wasn’t staring down a potential sack at that moment. He just wanted to make sure his team rebounded from a slump to complete their title race. A few years on, the picture is different for Frank Lampard, but the notion is the same.

Assuming the FA Cup fixture against Morecambe does happen (which seems more likely now but is no less clear), Lampard will have a decision to make and what he decides will show where his head is at with things currently. Does he stick to the plan since the fixture was announced and play the youth, or does he field a stronger lineup to pump some confidence into his out of form stars? Does he stick with the 4-3-3 that was working until it very much wasn’t, or does he use this match as a high profile training game to try something new? And does he need his stars for that?

Lampard does have some precedence himself for using weaker opponents to build confidence for his stars. Barnsley is in the Championship like Wolves were when Conte did something similar. Lampard opted to start Thiago Silva, Kai Havertz, Tammy Abraham, Mateo Kovacic, and Mason Mount in the fixture.

For the first three, it was about getting minutes and finding form. Silva was getting his debut. Havertz and Abraham had played in the Premier League but both needed to sharpen themselves up to continue playing in it. Kovacic and Mount both featured as Lampard was looking for ways to use them with the new signing Havertz.

The build up to this game has largely been about giving youth debuts. In a normal season, the youth would play in the EFL Trophy against teams that share a tier in the pyramid with Morecambe. The Chelsea youth fell out of the group stage this year which indicates that a full blown youth team is not the way to go. Not that it would be anyways.

So, Lampard was likely to surround those youth with some backups that haven’t played much. But after such a poor run of form, the calculus is different now. Timo Werner can’t hit the broad side of a barn let alone the back of the net. Kai Havertz has been recovering from Covid and could use the runout. Billy Gilmour too, though for an injury instead of Covid. There are several players that need the fitness and the form and Morecambe can be an excellent moment for that.

In addition, Lampard can also play around with the formation. 4-3-3 worked for a 17 game unbeaten streak but since then it has been limp and turgid. 4-2-3-1 was also limp and turgid at the start of the season, but maybe it can be an answer now. If not, Lampard has been known to use 3-4-3 to tighten things up. At this point, it might not be shocking to see him find some way to go two up top to get the best out of Werner too (be it 4-4-2, 4-diamond-2, or 3-5-2). Finding the right structure for Havertz to operate will also be important.

But more than anything, the lineup will show how worried Lampard is (or maybe how oblivious he is?). If he sticks to the plan of using a lot of youngsters, that shows he doesn’t feel or see his position as under threat in the short term. If he fields a much stronger line up in search of form and practice, that indicates that he is more worried about the team and his position leading it than before. The truth is he will likely land somewhere down the middle but observations can be made depending on who plays from the first team.

The result of the match won’t be the final straw for Lampard, but the performance and the performances it leads to might. Chelsea has to stop the rot. This match could be a good chance to do so, but it also wouldn’t be unusual to see Lampard stick with the plan to go heavy on the youth. The exact margins of either will give a glimpse at Lampard’s state of mind after this bad run.