For some, it is another big test of the blues heirarchy resolve to be patient, a virtue that is scarcely the cup of tea of Russian owner, Roman Abramovich. The model has been simple: invest in the best talents across the continent, get a top level manager to oversee the business and challenge for and actually win the big trophies. It is a model that has worked for the most part of his reign since he took over the club in 2003. Different managers have gone in and out the door but trophies have remained. The message is clear.
Yet, Lampard had to come in a peculiar year. Last season the club was slapped with a transfer ban. Chelsea obviously is not the kind of club you can stick around in on the excuse of "rebuilding". The club understood however that it was what was required with Eden Hazard leaving the club eventually. Maurizio Sarri left the club having won the Europa League and with the blues qualifying for the Uefa Champions League but not without enduring a difficult relationship with the fan base as well as some top players.
The tune is expectedly very different after one full year at the club and after having spent heavily in the summer. Lampard's second season at SW6 was always going to be about more than squad building and fighting to grasp or is it make sure of a last minute top four place. The performances and quality of play is also expected to be better and rightly so given the investment and overall talent in the squad. The new signings have got to be given time to gel but that is particularly where the issue lies with Lampard's Chelsea.
The humbling 3-1 defeat at home to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City a couple of weeks ago was actually more shuddering than the scoreline suggested. Outclassed is an undermining way to describe the dominance of City on the ball as the blues fumbled along on the pitch. It was an horror show of technical and tactical ineptitude at the highest level; one that should not be seen from a talented team. The more disturbing issue was how more shellshocked Lampard the manager was on the touchline than the players who were even battling to compete against a City team without five starters. He was not erratically ringing the changes at halftime with the team three goals down but Lampard exhibited yet another fallibility that has bedevilled his reign: questionable substitutions in both choice and timing.
For a manager who is only three year old in the game ( of football management) and who has gotten two teams to a Wembley final in each of his previous two seasons as well as qualifying for the Champions League round of 16 twice, he has had a stabilizing impact of sorts but the burning question is if he has the tactical wherewithal, depth and ingenuity to take this team close to where the potentials signals they could be. Two of his major signings have struggled as the manager scratches his head trying to decipher the best positions for them. Kai Havertz currently looks like one of those signings the club has made in the past who have struggled to create a niche for themselves in the squad despite their talents not being in doubt. Is he a playmaker? A winger? A support striker in the hole? Lampard is still trying to find out. Timo Werner runs. O he does! However, he has struggled. The lethal finisher who constantly pops up off the left channel that was the cynosure of most eyes at Leipzig has been reduced to a hussler grappling at chances without success.
There's also been discontent if not disgruntlement over the possibly excessive use of Mason Mount as well as the underutilization of his genuine striking options. How Olivier Giroud's most recent goal scoring run was shuffled off of late is quite interesting. The issue of structure and balance remains a recurring theme whilst Lampard himself has questioned desire a couple of times.
The blues are set to play relegation threatened Fulham on Saturday knowing that there is no longer room for errors. Already, with 26 points from 17 games, Chelsea, going by the history books are in danger of missing the Uefa Champions League. Even with how unpredictable and particularly tight this season has been, a glance at the top four shows at least three occupants who more or less should be guaranteed a Champions League slot. Chelsea is up against it already in terms of how they wrestle what looks a solitary spot left among them, Spurs, Everton and Leicester. On paper, that could be a challenge to fancy but in reality, the blues are the only team still trying to come to terms with what they are on the pitch and in between games.
The question as regards the sacking of Lampard is only a matter of how genuine the patience mantra is at Stamford Bridge and how long it is going to last. However, no other manager has ever been given this long. Not even Roberto Di Matteo, another club legend who ended the long wait for the Champions League. The times are different, the circumstances are unique but will the outcome remain the same? Time is ticking.
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