Chelsea parting ways with manager Frank Lampard after a poor run of results, is a decision that should not really come as a surprise to anybody.
Five losses, 4 wins of which 2 were in the FA cup against much lower opposition and 1 draw summarises Chelsea’s woes over the last 10 games with Lampard in charge. Not the kind of numbers you want to be putting up with Roman Abramovich in charge.
Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich has a reputation for being trigger-happy, there have been 14 (soon to be 15) different managers in charge in his 18-year reign at Stamford bridge, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that another one is about to bite the dust, especially since Lampard has the 2nd worst win ratio of all 14 managers.
Unlike some of the previous sacks, this one was actually justifiable as Lampard has looked out of his depth a lot of times in his 18 months as Chelsea boss, and clearly lacks the tactical ability required to lead a top club.
I could go further into all of the reasons why Frank Lampard deserved the sack or we could just save some time and agree that he simply was not good enough for the job, anyone without sentimental attachments can see that.
Although sacking Frank Lampard is the right decision, the timing, however, could further put the club in a precarious situation, especially in terms of searching for his replacement.
It seems like Chelsea missed the window of opportunity to fire Lampard and replace him with Mauricio Pochettino who was unattached at the time, until he joined Paris St Germain 3 weeks ago.
The club would have gotten an instant upgrade and smoother transition, with one of the best managers in the world, who is very accustomed to the Premier League and in fact, London, having previously coached Tottenham, it would have been a match made in heaven.
Instead, Chelsea are now reported to have lined up Thomas Tuchel as Lampard’s replacement, the man who was sacked by PSG because they wanted Pochettino, the kind of moves you only see on Football Manager.
If the reports are true, then Chelsea would be getting an upgrade in Thomas Tuchel, just not as good as they could have had if they made the move earlier.
Thomas Tuchel comes into a different league in a different country to take charge of talented players who are also still trying to acclimatise to their surroundings in the middle of a tumultuous season, it doesn’t look like a smooth transition is on the horizon for Chelsea.
The German is also one of those managers that needs time to implement his own specific style of play, and as we have proven earlier, time is not a luxury managers at Chelsea have.
Having already missed the previous timeline, the best solution for Chelsea would have been to stick with Lampard till the end of the season at least, it’s not like they are going to win the league with or without him this season anyway.
And if at the end of the season, things still aren’t looking better than they are now, the club can then fire Lampard and take a more calculated approach towards searching for a replacement.
