Frank Lampard's tactical rigidity could cost him his job at Chelsea
By Tom Gott
Chelsea have had some tactically embarrasing performances since Frank Lampard's return to the club in 2019, but few have been as bad as we saw in Sunday's 3-1 defeat to Manchester City.
Sure, you can argue all you want that City were back to their electric best, playing the kind of unfathomable football which turned them into one of Europe's elite, but how did they manage to flick the switch and turn on the style in his game in particular?
The answer is in Chelsea's once-famed 4-3-3.
The midfield trio of N'Golo Kante, Mason Mount and Mateo Kovacic looked completely lost at sea. There was no structure, no communication and no organisation, and it left Manchester City, one of the best attacking juggernauts on the face of the planet, with an embarrassment of space in which to play.
Kante, in his job as the anchor of the midfield, continued to buzz around the pitch, even finding himself in attack once or twice, and Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan couldn't believe their eyes. They had been handed space in which to terrorise Chelsea on a silver platter.
Mount and Kovacic would bunch up on one side of the field, and there were even times in which all three of Chelsea's midfielders were so close that they would have been punished for breaking social distancing rules in the outside world.
You cannot give any Premier League team a free run at your defence, let alone Pep Guardiola's City. It was shambolic.
That's not to discredit City, who were absolutely electric and tore Chelsea apart, but all they were doing was showing their ability to capitalise on the Blues' shortcomings. If you give City space to play in, they'll play.
The truth is that Lampard's 4-3-3 is not nearly reliable enough. Despite the odd worldie performance, Kante cannot be relied upon to shield a defence consistently. He doesn't have the positional discipline needed, but Lampard seems to be ignoring that because of a good run of form earlier in the season.
The Chelsea head coach appears to be wedded to the 4-3-3 that eased the pressure on him earlier in the season, but the reality is that this formation is only bringing the best out of Mount, who usually thrives in that pure central midfield role.
Kante is weak at the base of the midfield, Kai Havertz isn't himself when not in attack, Timo Werner has to play out wide and everybody seems uncomfortable, yet Lampard does not seem prepared to change.
The boss clearly has some concerns about Kante, having championed the idea of splashing out on West Ham United's Declan Rice to offer some more security, but now that it is abundantly clear that Kante cannot handle the job, why is Lampard not at least trying to change?
It's important to be sympathetic to the fact that Chelsea don't have any other defensive-minded midfielders. In the 4-2-3-1 which most fans feel would be best, Kante would be required to line up alongside one of Kovacic, Jorginho or Billy Gilmour, which doesn't exactly inspire defensive confidence.
However, it's important to try something now. Try anything. This 4-3-3 is not working and hasn't been for a while now, and sticking to it is only going to end up with Lampard at the back of the unemployment line.
All eyes will be on Lampard's next two games. There's an FA Cup tie against Morecambe which may or may not be postponed because of COVID-19, before a Premier League meeting with Fulham for which Kante will be suspended after picking up a fifth yellow card of the season against City.
Kante's suspension may be a blessing in disguise for Lampard, who will now be forced to try something new. Finding a way to cope without Kante is paramount, and Chelsea will be expected to breeze past both Morecambe and Fulham even without the Frenchman.
A positive result against Fulham isn't going to ease too much pressure on Lampard, but it would at least show that there is an alternative to relying on this 4-3-3 or Kante himself.
Fans need to see change quickly. If there aren't any changes on the team sheet, they'll be in the dugout instead.