The story at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night wasn’t so much that Chelsea had gotten one significant victory but more that Manchester City had finally lost whatever slim chances they had of retaining their Premier League title to Liverpool with their tight loss to the Blues.
Such was the situation that when a journalist focused attention back to the Blues win, Frank Lampard actually joked: “It’s nice to get a Chelsea question!”
Although it’s undeniable that Chelsea’s 2-1 victory was of tremendous significance to Liverpool, this was still a crucial win for the hosts. For one, it edged Chelsea ever closer to qualification for next season’s Champions League with Lampard’s side now fourth-placed and just one point behind Leicester City. The victory also significantly restored the five-point gap to Manchester United and Wolves, in fifth and sixth places, respectively.
On a personal level, this victory also represented a significant achievement for manager Frank Lampard. He has had a legendary career behind him as a player but he is still relatively new and yet to prove his mettle as a coach and manager, something the former England midfielder himself is very well aware of. Hence the pressure is very much on him to prove that he can consistently get good results against the best teams and the best managers now that he his robustly young, improving squad has already been strengthened. The Blues boss will be expected by the management and fans to compete for the Premier League title next season.
The match on Thursday did see Chelsea’s struggles at times against City but Lampard and his coaching staff cleverly managed to change the flow of the game twice by making excellent use of the water breaks. That’s definitely a sign of management prudence and savvy.
“We suffered for 20 minutes at the start of the game and we suffered for 20 minutes in the second half,” Lampard admitted.
“Of course, they are going to have a lot possession and sometimes they play without an out-and-out striker with a lot of men in midfield, so getting to grips with that was tough for us.
“Going into the game, we had a plan in terms of what we wanted to do off the ball and while we had some issues at times, the players did brilliantly in terms of their discipline and in maintaining it for the whole game.
“We were dangerous and we created the better chances, so I am delighted for the boys.”
Lampard has reason to be proud of himself too as Chelsea’s tactics were based on using crossfield passes to break City’s press, and they also enjoyed it when the ball was passed to Olivier Giroud, who managed to bring midfield runners like Mason Mount and Ross Barkley into play effectively.
Clearly Lampard’s key tactic was to hit the Cityzens on the break, emulating what others have done against Man City. Nothing wrong with that as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And if the tactic works, why not? No sense in reinventing the wheel, after all.
Lampard achieved this with great results primarily through the most dangerous attacher on the pitch that night, Christian Pulisic, who brilliantly opened the scoring after pouncing on a bungle involving Benjamin Mendy and Ilkay Gundogan on the halfway line.
Up till then, Chelsea were in fact creating the better chances with rapid raids and fully deserved their half-time lead. Then Guardiola rebounded and turned the game around by effectively employing City’s strength in depth via the introduction of David Silva and Gabriel Jesus.
This put the home side under pressure again, particularly after Kevin De Bruyne superbly-executed free kick leveled the score. However, through persistence and sheer dogged determination – not forgetting also that discipline that Lampard remarked on – Chelsea stuck to both their game plan and their blazing guns and fought tooth and nail to get their just reward.
It was Willian who was the prime mover in instigating the break that led to the red card, and confidently converted the resulting penalty as the final coup de gras to put paid to City’s hopes of winning the game, ending their title reign there and then.
Although much of the post-match attention was focused on the flaws of Guardiola’s side, particularly in defence, the excellent work done by Lampard and his players musn’t be overlooked by all accounts as any team in the League would know it’s never an easy task to come up against a formidable Guardiola side at any time.
Obviously to say that Lampard outwitted Guardiola would be stretching the truth like spandex but the fact remains that he did effectively influence the game with his innovative tactical tweaks, besides cleverly exploiting City’s vulnerability to rapid counter-attacks that befuddled Pep’s boys.
After the match, Guardiola himself was impressed and the former boss, manager and coach supremo of Barcelona made a frank disclosure that he sees Chelsea as serious title challengers next season.
“It was tight in both games (against Chelsea this season),” Guardiola said.
“When we won 2-1 at home, they were more aggressive up front and here, they were more patient and waited for their counterattacks.
“They have incredible players in the middle and players who can run. So, yes, they did well and congratulations to Chelsea for the victory.
“Chelsea is a classic team in the Premier League and European football. On their bench is Jorginho, (Mateo) Kovacic, Pedro and (Kurt) Zouma
“So, they have incredible guys in their squad, too, and then they have extra talent with Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech coming in this summer.
“That shows the (competitiveness) of the Premier League. Every season is tougher than the last and we are going to think about what we are going to do to improve.”
Lampard knows only too well that Chelsea still have much to do in improving themselves further in the quickest time possible as the following season is just right around the corner. He definitely won’t be smacking his lips just satisfied with bringing in RB Leipzig striker Werner and Ajax playmaker Ziyech.
Frank Lampard is definitely cognisant of how much the bar has been raised by City and Liverpool over the past few seasons.
“There is a clear gap and it won’t close overnight with one or two signings,” Lampard said after the win over City. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Liverpool and City have been works in progress for a few years now and they are getting a lot of success.
“So, I’m not getting carried away. We can get better. We can be better on the ball. We can have more possession. It’s one of the only games in which we didn’t have the lion’s share of possession but we have to accept that for now and be happy with the result.
Thursday night’s win may not have been a title-clinching one for Chelsea, no doubts about that, but it does announce in a serious undertone that Lampard’s side can actually provide serious competition for one next season.
He has had to cope with some serious trials this season – a transfer ban that had his hands tied, the loss of Eden Hazard to Real Madrid that hampered his team and a plethora of injuries. Yet despite all this, he has still racked up wins over leviathans Klopp and Guardiola. No mean feat by any and all standards, for sure. Expecially for a ‘novice’ coach.
Chelsea have already made their major raids in the transfer market while other clubs are still trying to figure out the who’s and how-to’s. The new season will see the pressure escalating for them as expectations are already on the rise.
But one suspects Frank Lampard and his Chelsea Blues will be ready for the action and will be right in the think of it!