Chelsea winners and losers as Frank Lampard returns as manager
Frank Lampard #FrankLampard
A chain of rapidly-moving events this week has resulted in Frank Lampard returning to Chelsea.
The Stamford Bridge legend takes up the reins for the rest of the season following Graham Potter’s sacking last weekend, as the search for a more permanent successor goes on.
Chelsea fans will be thrilled to see Lampard back in the dug-out with a brief to improve their lowly league position of 11th and get them past Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Some players still at Chelsea from Lampard’s time as manager will also be delighted to see him back on the training grounds of Cobham, others less so.
We take a look at some of the potential winners and losers in the Chelsea squad now that Lampard is picking the side again.
WINNERS
Mason Mount
Just as Mason Mount’s days at Chelsea looked numbered and he’d dropped out of the side, back comes the one coach above all others who appreciates him.
Lampard made the England international the focal point of his midfield last time around, having worked with him at Derby and with a transfer embargo making new signings impossible.
It proved an excellent springboard into first-team football at Stamford Bridge for Mount and he was soon a regular for Gareth Southgate too.
Potter had demoted Mount to the bench of late, with a public bone injury not helping his cause, and speculation had grown he’d leave Chelsea in the summer, with Liverpool linked.
While it may be beyond Lampard to persuade the club to keep hold of him, at least Mount is more likely to get the game time required to remind everyone of his qualities.
Ben Chilwell
Potter had switched to a 3-4-3 shape for what proved to be the final games of his tenure, but Lampard always favoured either 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 when Chelsea boss.
That means Ben Chilwell, who has been playing left wing-back, could drop back to being more of an orthodox left-back in the four-man defence.
Lampard will likely favour Chilwell, a player he signed from Leicester for £45million in the summer of 2020, over Marc Cucurella in that role.
Chilwell played regularly under Lampard in the half-season before he was sacked and replaced by Thomas Tuchel, so the coach’s return should strengthen his grip on the position now over Cucurella, who knew Potter well from Brighton.
Edouard Mendy
One person who will be pleased to see Lampard back is Mendy, who has been firmly second-choice to Kepa Arrizabalaga this season – something not helped by injury setbacks.
Lampard famously grew frustrated with Kepa’s mistakes and dropped him. Initially this was for Willy Caballero in January 2020 before he briefly regained his spot.
But Lampard deliberately went out and bought a new keeper in Mendy that summer and when Kepa passed straight to Liverpool’s Sadio Mane to give away a goal early in the 2020-21 season, there was no way back until Tuchel came in.
Mendy isn’t long back from his shoulder injury but it will be interesting to see if Lampard’s dislike of Kepa has endured and the pair swap in the Chelsea pecking order again.
Hakim Ziyech
It has been a really low-key season for the Moroccan, who has started just nine games and been involved in only one goal.
Potter relegated him to the bench and from the squad entirely for the last three Premier League games, though he did feature in the first leg against Borussia Dortmund.
Chelsea aren’t exactly short on attacking players and Potter’s systems didn’t automatically favour quick and tricky wingers.
But Lampard’s will and let’s not forget he was the coach who signed him from Ajax for £36m.
Although Lampard is only back temporarily, everyone in the squad now gets a kind of clean slate and Ziyech will have an advantage because his abilities are already well known to the coach.
Christian Pulisic
The same could apply to Pulisic, who is another struggling to make much impact in an injury-disrupted season.
Potter had been using him more regularly than Ziyech in recent games but the American was hardly impacting games.
It was under Lampard in 2019-20 that Pulisic enjoyed some of his best form, contributing 11 goals and 10 assists, scoring in the FA Cup final and making the shortlist for the Premier League Young Player of the Year award.
With Chelsea in desperate need of some inspiration up front, Lampard could offer Pulisic a few more opportunities.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Things can hardly get any worse for the striker, who was totally frozen out by Potter.
Aubameyang hasn’t played since he came off the bench late in the 2-0 loss at Tottenham and was set to be ushered out of Stamford Bridge in the summer.
He’d annoyed the club by celebrating with his old Barcelona team-mates after they recently beat Real Madrid in LaLiga and he was culled from the Champions League squad to make room for January arrivals.
But Chelsea urgently need a goalscorer and Aubameyang is a rare centre forward in their squad. He can’t feature against Real Madrid but Lampard will surely reintegrate him for some league matches.
Indeed, Lampard actually wanted to sign Aubameyang when in charge before, only to be rebuffed by the Chelsea board.
Conor Gallagher/Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Lampard favoured homegrown players from the Chelsea academy first time around, with the likes of Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James profiting.
Admittedly, his hand was forced a little because of the transfer embargo in his first summer, but Lampard’s willingness to trust Cobham graduates could benefit Gallagher and Loftus-Cheek.
Loftus-Cheek, who missed a lot of Lampard’s first spell with a bad achilles injury, has started a good chunk of league games this season, in fairness.
Gallagher was used more often off the bench by Potter, but that could now change.
LOSERS
Marc Cucurella
As mentioned in the Chilwell entry, Cucurella could find his game time squeezed of pushed out of the left-back position.
While Potter was also playing Chilwell on the left, he’d been carving out a role for the Spaniard in the three central defenders.
But if Lampard goes with his normal formation, there will only be two rather than three slots available and Cucurella would understandably be the one to dip out.
Kepa Arrizabalaga
Probably the least happy to see Lampard walk through the door again.
Kepa was unceremoniously dropped from the Chelsea side last time after Lampard grew tired of his costly errors and Mendy was signed to replace him as the No 1.
Now established once again as the first-choice, Kepa will just have to hope that Lampard isn’t as ruthless with him this time around.
It does help his cause that Mendy is only just back from a shoulder injury though the Senegal international was Tuchel’s first choice at the start of the campaign and Lampard may agree.
Joao Felix
It isn’t immediately obvious where on-loan Joao Felix fits into a favoured Lampard line-up.
If he returns Mount to the selection, Felix won’t be able to occupy a playmaker role and if the accent is on flying wingers he won’t be out wide either.
He may potentially still use the Portuguese star up front if Aubameyang doesn’t come back but you sense the options have dwindled for him.
Kalidou Koulibaly
Every member of the squad will now come under renewed scrutiny and though Kalidou Koulibaly plays every game, he is prone to mistakes.
Sloppy defending has cost Chelsea dearly in so many games and it will be a top priority for Lampard to fix.
He doesn’t have much truck for defenders who don’t pull their weight and dropped Antonio Rudiger last time he was at Stamford Bridge.
Thiago Silva should be available again soon so the pressure on Koulibaly – and everyone else – will only ramp up.
