Chelsea legend Frank Lampard has attempted to pinpoint the various reasons for the troubles whilst he was interim boss of the team.
Back in early April 2023, the Blues icon made another Chelsea comeback. He was appointed caretaker manager at Stamford Bridge until the end of the recent campaign. This development was consequent to Graham Potter’s dismissal. Unfortunately for Lampard, quality in matches appeared to deteriorate further when he replaced the former Brighton & Hove Albion boss. In fact, it was the first bottom-half finish since 1996.
The west London team also produced a record low amount of goals scored, as well as points, from their entire history in the Premier League. Was this all Lampard’s fault? No, I wouldn’t say much of the turmoil was caused by him. And the ex-England international agrees:
"‘I could see in training the the level wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough to get a result at Brentford at home or whatever, let alone Real Madrid,’ he said.‘When I got there I could see the team spirit and the togetherness was not there. It was nothing bad, but you have to train elite to be elite.‘The minute we didn’t get through against Real, you’re in to that end of season zone and what are you playing for and that is not the norm at Chelsea.‘At Chelsea, we should be playing for something. We played for not so much, another reason why motivation came down’."
Revelations from Ruben Loftus-Cheek over Chelsea exit
The Pride of London has previously discussed the misuse and undervaluing of Loftus-Cheek at Stamford Bridge. To be honest, the fact that he was often ignored or misplaced on the pitch was rather obvious to all onlookers. The right-wingback role was the final straw for me, and possibly the athlete himself. He did a reasonable job in the position without seeming too out of his depth. Nonetheless, I believe fielding people like ‘RLC’ on the wing exemplified the absolute chaos and terrible decisions on Fulham Road over the previous couple of years.
That’s right, clearly even the great Thomas Tuchel intentionally used Loftus-Cheek in the wrong part of the pitch. The reason for this: making a point to former ownership about a lack of squad depth. And none of this was lost on the footballer, with the now AC Milan man outlining why he wanted to leave the Premier League and join Serie A.
Basically, Loftus-Cheek is a part of the Chels‘ exodus because he was not playing enough. That’s according to the Englishman in pretty much his own words. A top-flight standard central midfielder in his own right, RLC admitted his love for CFC and its fan base. Yet he also explained that the areas he was deployed in were unsatisfactory.