Frank Lampard said he has learned a million things in his first season in the big league. He might have to make that a million and one following the avalanche of plaudits for his work at Chelsea, led by football’s foremost tannoy, Roy Keane.
The ability to shut out the noise, good or bad, is central to the prospects of any public figure. The moment a manager connects with the great football chatroom is the day he cedes control of events.
Lampard’s last day ledger reveals a set of results based on a methodology fashioned over a 30-year career in the game, not 12 months at Derby County.
The Chelsea that finished fourth in the Premier League, that contests a 14th FA Cup Final on Saturday is his alone. The decisions he made owed nothing to previous regimes and everything to his instincts and understanding.
He eschewed convention in making Mason Mount a pivotal figure, in choosing Tammy Abraham over Olivier Giroud, in starting the season with Fikayo Tomori at centre back, all three Premier League novices keeping out experienced players that he would later recall. Only Mount was a consistent presence, indicating Lampard’s capacity to adapt, to ditch spent ideas, to accept he might have been wrong, and to be ruthless. This is how knowledge proceeds, from a premise, to a test, to an evaluation, to a decision based on evidence not prejudice.
The emergence of Giroud in the second half of the season, the measured deployment and skilful handling of Christian Pulisic throughout, the sensible reliance on the likes of Cesar Azpilicueta, Willian and Antonio Rudiger, and on the final day the removal of Kepa Arrizabalaga for Willy Caballero in goal are all expressions of sound leadership.
And now he has Keano onside. Imagine having the brooding man of Cork as a friend? The fear of disappointing him would have you at the training ground at dawn every morning. Not a problem for Lampard, who, among the many lessons learned in his first season at Chelsea, has flagged as a priority the need to factor personal space into his diary.
“The step up in terms of expectation is huge. The level of player, the demands to win. That’s been tough,” Lampard admitted.
“I’m obsessive about how I want to work. I have learned I need to get the balance right going forward in terms of needing to switch off a bit. My desire to be successful is so big. It feel like we have had an element of achievement getting into the top four. We have one huge game coming [in the FA Cup final]. All I can think of now is the next thing.”
Asking a subject to evaluate his own performance is mostly a useless exercise. With Lampard you sense a degree of honesty. Frank by name, frank by nature. Accepting that the top-four was both an achievement but an insufficient return for a club of Chelsea’s resource and ambition is a case in point, and betrays impressive maturity in a novice coach.
“We have seen breakthrough seasons. We have seen players like Giroud, Willian, Kovacic and Jorginho, people who have contributed throughout the year. It is always a collective effort. I’m proud,” he added.
“I knew to compete against not just Liverpool and City but Manchester United and Wolves, Tottenham and Arsenal who spent north of a £100m last summer. We knew it was going to be tough for us. We have been inconsistent at times, we need to improve but we should be happy with what we have achieved. We have had a good year but we want to be better.”
Lampard’s handling of Mount and Giroud in particular justifies his high rating. It took courage to risk a kid in the chasm left by Eden Hazard. And the decision to set aside his investment in Tammy Abraham during the first half of the season in favour of Giroud in the second revealed the wisdom of accepting there might be a better way.
On Mount, Lampard had this to say. “He will get better. You saw his technique with the goal [against Wolves]. It’s a special technique. Only the top players can strike balls that way. His all-round game has been brilliant, his work ethic, how he handles himself. He contributed a huge amount and this is just the start of his career at Chelsea.
About Giroud, he said this. “We all know he was not playing much at the start of the season.
“I was never unaware of his talents, but to have the personality, strength of character and talent to come in and affect things like he has before lockdown and since restart… he has always been big in the training ground and the dressing room for me.
“Players love playing with him. He has been a reference point for us in this period.”
Next up Arsenal, a big game for ex-Gunner Giroud, a rite of passage for Lampard, the chance to put a first pot in the cabinet as a coach.
Follow i sport on Facebook for more Chelsea news, interviews and features
More on Chelsea
- Havertz transfer tracker: Latest news on Leverkusen star’s proposed move to Chelsea
- Problem of his own making: Werner’s transfer will leave Lampard with a selection headache
- Lampard has made some statement in his first season and the future is bright
- No room for Pulisic? How Chelsea could line up next season if Havertz joins with Werner and Ziyech
- Barkley’s backwards career exposed in chastening night against Bayern Munich
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3f5q72U
Post a Comment