Jorginho was right about former Chelsea boss Frank Lampard

It’s been almost three months to the day that Chelsea sacked now former manager Frank Lampard. A lot has come out since then about the events that transpired behind closed doors during the club legend’s time in charge. Those reports went a long way in justifying a rather puzzling decision by the board, one that simply didn’t sit well with a majority of Blues supporters. Thomas Tuchel has been very successful during his tenure, which has helped numb the pain a bit, but it goes without saying many would’ve enjoyed this run a lot more with Super Frank still on the touchline.

Despite a lot of whispers, one thing that remains true is that neither side (Lampard and the club) is speaking too much on the subject. The 42-year-old recently gave his first public interview since being sacked by his beloved Chelsea, whereas the Blues stayed quiet aside from a statement from Roman Abramovich thanking Lampard. The players have largely kept to themselves, as well. That was until Jorginho’s recent interview with ESPN surfaced.

The remarks made by the club’s current vice captain had Chelsea fans fuming. It doesn’t help that the article that presented the quotes gave no context to the situation in which they were given either. Jorginho may have been a bit harsh, but the truth hurts. Although the statements seem rather unnecessary, Lampard will be eating a slice of humble pie after making similar remarks about Andre Villas-Boas almost a decade ago. Furthermore, everything Jorginho said was correct.

In full, the Brazilian-born Italian international had this to say about his former gaffer:

"“Look, I’ll be really sincere here on Lampard. I believe, given he was a legend at the club, he skipped some steps necessary for learning before moving to a big club. He came to a club where he is a legend, without having experience at other clubs. I think he came too soon, skipped a few steps ahead and wasn’t ready for a job at this level, to be honest.”"

Many defended Lampard (myself included) due to his legendary status, positive first season results and vision for the future. While nobody is wrong, regardless of which aisle of the Lampard in/out debate you stood on, there are some things that made me think twice about my view of his sacking.

A lot of people were upset at the events that unfolded in late January, claiming that Lampard was canned following one bad month. Lampard had exceeded expectations up to that point, but it’s hard to overlook the free fall the club was in just a month after going temporarily top of the table. Lampard was ready to manage Chelsea from a tactical standpoint, he proved that when he took a team with a host of academy graduates and a transfer ban into the top four. However, where Jorginho is proven right is in Lampard’s poor man management.

The legendary No. 8 isolated certain members of the team for an extended period of time. Jorginho was one of the aforementioned players, although he ended up working his way back into the side at the beginning of the 2020/21 season. Players like Antonio Rudiger, Fikayo Tomori, Marcos Alonso, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Cesar Azpilicueta saw their minutes significantly reduced, as well. Credible reports claimed Lampard would completely ignore some of those individuals after his wish to sell them was denied by the club. Suffice it to say, the English manager wasn’t mature enough to handle this job.

Much like Villas-Boas back in 2012, Lampard quite simply lost sight of the present. He too was focused on the long-term future. Lampard was too busy making sure his name was attached to the long-term success of this current group of players. He succeeded in that regard, but along the way, lost sight of his immediate goals.

These are things Lampard missed out on because of his inexperience. His biggest bump in the road up to that point was losing in the Championship playoff final with Derby County. Oddly enough, Chelsea is the most toxic environment a coach can work in, so Lampard won’t let anything intimidate him from here on out. Being sacked by the Blues was undoubtedly a hard pill for Lampard to swallow. He’ll be better for it in the long run though, having learned some valuable lessons and matured a lot during his 18 months at the helm.

There’s no doubt Lampard will go on to achieve great things in management. I think I can speak for all Chelsea fans when I say that I hope his departure was more of a see you later than it was a goodbye. As much as we wanted him to be, behind the scenes details revealed Lampard simply wasn’t ready for the job quite yet.