Chelsea under Frank Lampard – Patience is key this season.

I must be honest I didn’t know how to feel yesterday morning waking up after the disappointing points dropped against Leicester on Sunday. Now, having taken everything into perspective, it’s important that we all realise that patience is key this season. 

The problem that we all have is that we were blessed being Chelsea fans, almost spoilt in a way that over the past fifteen years we have witnessed an unprecedented period of success. So much so, that in every single season we expect the same, for Chelsea to at least challenge for the title or a trophy. Anything less has been deemed as a failure.

During the same period, we have witnessed Roman Abramovich turn English football on its head as he became the first major foreign owner who was not afraid to splash the cash to build a new powerhouse in the Premier League. Record transfer fees, compensation fees paid to lure managers to the job or to fire them, it did not matter, Chelsea became a modern-day animal built to succeed driven by the solid spine of the team that survived through a decade. We can only be thankful that we were alive to have witnessed first-hand something we could only ever dream about growing up.

Since those times, the investment had continued, players have come and gone in addition to some of the biggest managerial names in football. More titles and trophies have been won with Chelsea being considered as one of the biggest clubs in Europe if not the world.

So, to the present day and to Chelsea’s transition having lost Eden Hazard to Real Madrid and the transfer ban we have. For the first time in recent seasons, Chelsea are not able to sign anyone to replace those key areas of the team. Everyone makes signings each summer as it’s important to being players into the squad that will provide immediate competition for places in the first team. Apart from Christian Pulisic signed back in January and Mateo Kovacic who had already been registered with us last year on loan from Real Madrid, Frank Lampard is unable to bolster his options but to work with those he already has at the club.

It’s clear that Chelsea find themselves well behind the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool this season. Both over the past few years have pinpointed players they needed in key areas and spent big money in to get the deals done. Huge investment from both have come to fruition with City retaining the Premier League trophy and Liverpool winning the Champions League in addition to coming a close second in the title race.

For years we have championed the idea of giving the youth a chance in our first-team and we have been searching for the next John Terry to take the step to then kick-on and establish himself. We have that now with the likes of Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi. All will be a big part of our squad this season confirmed by Frank Lampard in addition to the 20-year-old Christian Pulisic. All of them will play with the burden of expectation of this club and its supporters and it’s something that they will have to get used to very quickly.

However, think of those foundations I talked about that took us through that first decade under Roman Abramovich, in these players, we have a fantastic opportunity to literally go again but the most important thing they must have is time. We all know their individual quality; they need time to find their feet.

Frank Lampard is a young manager who is looking to find his feet back home at Chelsea and for the first time under Abramovich is looking to be given exactly that, time to implement his playing style, the demands he puts onto his players and the time to develop those exciting talents we have in addition to the established names we have here such as Christensen, Jorginho, Willian and Giroud.

It’s something that we must give him despite by doing so, it goes against everything we have become accustomed to. Now our mindset is to revert to type, to critique the team, to tell anyone that wants to listen where we are going wrong, who is having a bad game and who needs to be playing. We cannot help it as it will take all of us time to sit back, to take stock of the overall situation at our club and the bigger picture.

All of us are in the same position this season. The owner, board of directors, the manager, the coaching staff, the players and finally the supporters, we are all in this together – we need time to sit back to let Frank Lampard and his coaching staff conduct their work on the training ground day in, day out to take us hopefully to where we need to be whether that is this season, next season or the year after.

Rest assured that despite the disappointing start, they will continue to drive these players forward, to stop at nothing to achieve what we all want as the bare minimum this season – to try and finish inside the top four and fight for a trophy.

My message is clear, have patience this season with Frank and the players even when it’s going against us and not playing out how we would like. As a club the decision has been taken to bring in the man (with his staff) that can lead us back as challengers again with an exciting squad and a core unit of players that can dominate the Premier League. It may take time but he will get things right.
CD.

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