KING POWER STADIUM — Chelsea are into the FA Cup semi-finals and the Frank Lampard Experiment has taken another intriguing turn.
In his first season in charge of one of the country’s leading clubs – a job some do not believe he deserved after only a season in charge of Derby County in the Championship – Lampard is guiding Chelsea towards Champions League qualification and is two games away from what would be an unexpected first major trophy, a little more than year in the role.
There was a feeling that Chelsea’s owner Roman Abramovich wanted to have his cake and eat it, too, by expecting Lampard to blend youth from the academy into the first-team during a transfer ban and still compete for the top four when he first joined, but the 42-year-old is doing just that and could add a cherry-flavoured FA Cup on top.
The win on Sunday, by a single goal from substitute Ross Barkley, showed his ability to make tough changes at half-time to completely alter a game they were on their way to losing.
Lampard was clearly particularly unimpressed at the first 20 minutes, standing in his technical area in Nike trainers and down jacket, hands in his joggers pockets, like a JD Sports senior supervisor dismayed by the way the hoodies have been hung by the new teenage sales assistant.
It was not pretty from Chelsea.
Billy Gilmour, the tiny 19-year-old midfielder with a giant future, was guilty of several stray passes which led to good Leicester chances. Ben Chilwell’s left-hand side delivery from a free kick also found Wilfred Ndidi completely unmarked, but he headed straight at Willy Caballero.
When Gilmour passed straight to a Leicester player again, Youri Tielemans the lucky recipient whose 20-yard effort was pushed out for a corner by Chelsea’s goalkeeper, you had to double check he was wearing the right coloured shirt and was not, in fact, an imposter cleverly snuck into Chelsea’s XI by Brendan Rodgers.
During the mid-half drinks break, Lampard gave Gilmour a little tap of reassurance on the shoulder: it’s okay, just make sure you hang them straighter next time, and stop mixing up the basketballs and the footballs in the bin by the counter.
It seemed to do the trick: on the half-hour Chelsea had the best moment of the half, Gilmour slipping an intricate pass into the run of Christian Pulisic, and the American powered a shot that Kasper Schmeichel smartly beat over the crossbar.
Gilmour did not, however, return after the break, replaced by Mateo Kovacic as Lampard made three changes, also taking off Mason Mount, 21, for Barkley and Reece James, 20, for Cesar Azpilicueta, to bring some much needed older heads to the team.
The subs completely changed the game. Chelsea were on top from the restart and found the winner 18 minutes into it.
It was a perfectly-timed burst of speed from Barkley, accelerating from the edge of Leicester’s penalty area in time to meet Willian’s cross to sweep the ball first-time past Schmeichel.
The midfielder, of course, provided one of the more bonkers lockdown talking points, back when people were desperate to fill the coronavirus void by discussing anything to do with football, when Chelsea posted his outrageous “5k time” of 16 minutes and 11 seconds, only a few minutes slower than Kenenisa Bekele’s world record, and the midfielder was accused of faking it by recording short bursts.
On this evidence, perhaps Barkley, who kept his counsel, had actually been harmlessly practising sprints after all. Who knows: but for some it filled a few of those empty, football-less months.
There must be a strange dynamic to playing right in front of a manager who is so keen to sign you, as Chilwell found himself.
Knowing that every tackle, every sweet touch or pinpoint cross – of which there were many – could convince Chelsea to add a few more millions onto the the next bid.
The defender almost landed what, admittedly, looked more like a cross into the top corner on the hour, but the ball dropped onto the crossbar.
Lampard would love to have Chilwell as his left-back and in the first half the 23-year-old was often mere metres away from Chelsea’s manager.
He did not disappoint, having added the consistency and maturity to his undeniable talent which has made him a contender as England’s first choice and a future major transfer.
While the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to slow down the transfer market Chelsea are playing catchup from their transfer ban and by adding Ajax’s Hakim Ziyech and RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner – and maybe Chilwell, too – suddenly Lampard looks like he has a real side capable of challenging at the very top again.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/387wam1
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