Winners and losers of Frank Lampard’s interim coaching spell

Frank Lampard is back in the hot seat at Stamford Bridge once again, this time until the end of the season whilst the club look for a permanent manager to lead the rebuild in what is being described by sources as an “exhaustive process” – with that being said, Who will flourish under Lampard’s management? Who will see themselves get regular game time and who will be pushed down the pecking order, or remain there?

In this piece I am going to discuss the potential winners and losers of Frank Lampard’s interim spell, using previous logic and my own thoughts to figure out who we might see in the starting eleven regularly and irregularly.

The winners of Lampard’s tenure

Edouard Mendy :

Mendy was signed by Frank Lampard with the help from Petr Cech and Christophe Lollichon in 2020 and went on to become a regular starter over Kepa Arrizbalaga during Lampard’s first reign. Mendy subsequently went on to win the UEFA Champions League with Thomas Tuchel, as well as the Men’s best goalkeeper award that year.

The Senegalese shot stopper lost his place under Graham Potter and has taken a nose dive in performance with the World Cup being a prime example, however, I believe that Mendy will be trusted once again by Frank Lampard for the simple fact that he never let him down during his time in charge previously.

There were also rumours that Kepa Arrizabalaga had questioned Lampard’s tactics back in 2020 and the Spaniard even saw himself lose his spot to Willy Caballero.

Ben Chilwell :

In my opinion, this is the most obvious winner of Frank Lampard’s interim spell. Ben was signed by Frank Lampard in 2020 for a figure of £50m and instantly made the starting eleven over Marcos Alonso.

Chilwell revealed at the time that the Chelsea legend was a major influence in his decision to leave Leicester and join Chelsea and I have no doubts that this relationship will grow stronger over the next few weeks.

Lampard went as far as to tell Ben directly that he could be one of, if not the best left back in the world.

“He said I could go onto be the best or one of the best in the world in my position. That’s what I want to do now I am here. I want to win stuff and improve myself.

Ben Chilwell, GOAL, 2020

Ben has been an important part of the team under Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, but it does feel to me that the relationship between himself and Frank is at a different level and rightly so, the person who signed you will always have that element of bias.

I am expecting Ben to start regularly at left-back or left wing-back and as a result, flourish and provide some of his best form with Lampard allowing him the license to bomb forward and create chances through crosses and cutbacks.

Trevoh Chalobah :

Unfortunately for Chalobah, he spent the season where Lampard introduced key academy players such as Mason Mount, Callum Hudson Odoi, Tammy Abraham, Reece James and Fikayo Tomori on loan in the championship.

However, he did get a chance to work under Lampard during that pre season. In the game against Bohemians in Ireland, Trevoh played the second half at centre back with Kurt Zouma and his inclusions in the starting eleven over the next few weeks could be a welcome addition.

Kalidou Koulibaly has struggled this season but Graham Potter seemed to trust him more than Chalobah, with The Athletic even reporting that Potter had Chalobah in his back three for the eventual defeat to Aston Villa, only to then change his mind and start Reece James at right centre back on matchday.

Given Lampard’s favour and belief in youth, Chalobah could see himself be thrust back into the fold and none could argue he doesn’t deserve it considering his performances for the club have been way more positive than not.

On the flip side, we must mention that Frank Lampard ended up freezing out Fikayo Tomori, so there is a slight chance he sticks with others already ahead in the pecking order.

Raheem Sterling :

The Englishmen has had a hit and miss start to his Chelsea career. Renowned for being one of the best goal scoring wingers in Premier League History, Sterling has netted just four times in twenty league matches whilst his Champions League tally sits at three goals in seven games.

Lampard is known to be a long term admirer of Sterling, having told Callum Hudson Odoi to model his game off the Manchester City legend back in 2019.

“I don’t like to talk about other club’s players but Raheem Sterling is an incredible example of a player with great talent, whose work ethic added to that talent and improvement in a short period of time through absolute dedication, has seen him become a complete player, who we are all wowed by”

“He is a great model for Callum because Callum has those talents.”

Frank Lampard, The Guardian, 2019

With that being said, I am sure that Frank is going to rely on Raheem’s experience and quality, especially next week against Real Madrid. Chelsea are struggling to score goals and Frank will know that like himself, Raheem has been there and done it. He is one of the few serial winner’s in the squad and Frank’s main task will be getting the ball in dangerous finishing positions on a more regular occasion so that Raheem can tuck them away.

What makes Sterling so good is his versatility, at Manchester City and Chelsea, he has played off the left, off the right and as a false nine, giving Frank options to choose from based on the opponent.

Mykhailo Mudryk :

An image surfaced from Thursday’s training session of Frank Lampard and Mykhailo Mudryk engaging in discussion and fans started to get excited about the possibility of Mudryk starting to perform to the level that his natural talent and ability suggests he can get to.

The image was not the only instance that fans found interesting, but the fact that Frank Lampard actually tried to sign the Ukrainian before Chelsea with the Merseyside club having a £25m bid rejected last summer, several months before the battle occurred between Arsenal and Chelsea.

Everton had €30m official bid rejected last summer to sign Mykhaylo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk… 🇺🇦

…and Frank Lampard will be his coach now until the end of the season at Chelsea.

Here on first training session today ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/vFA4daSnwq

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 6, 2023

The Chelsea hierarchy will be hoping Frank can install some confidence into Mykhailo and I personally believe we will see him be a regular inclusion in starting lineups over the next few weeks.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang :

It is fair to say that it has been a nightmare season for Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, he joined last summer due to Thomas Tuchel and was expected to be a key man. Tuchel was dismissed shortly after and Graham Potter seemingly did not rate him with the exclusion from the Champions League squad coming to a shock to so many Chelsea fans and even players within the squad, according to The Athletic.

Aubameyang looks set to leave Chelsea at the end of the season and despite being 33 years old and inactive, Frank Lampard is known to be a fan of the former Arsenal striker having tried to sign him under the previous ownership.

According to a report from The Athletic in 2021, Lampard asked the Chelsea board for Aubameyang in 2020, but his request was vetoed and the club instead went to sign Timo Werner.

Chelsea need goals and they need them fast, due to his exclusion from the Champions League squad, Aubameyang will not be able to feature against Real Madrid but with Lampard preferring to use an out-and-out striker in each of his managerial stints so far at Chelsea and Everton (Tammy Abraham, Dominic Calvert Lewin and Neil Mapuay) plus the previous admiration, the Gabonese man could have a chance to end of his Premier League career on a high.

The losers of Frank Lampard’s tenure

This is such a difficult section because in an ideal world, a manager keeps everyone happy and there is game time for everyone, but that is just not realistic, especially given the fact that Chelsea have over thirty players in the current squad.

Kai Havertz :

This could come as a bit of a shock to some but I believe that Kai Havertz will see his minutes affected over the next few weeks.

A lot of the losers will be decided based on the formation Frank plays, if he continues with a three at the back, then there are even more limited spaces for Kai, and with my belief that Lampard will use either Joao Felix or Pierre Emerick Aubameyang up top, it leaves limited space for Havertz.

On the wings, I see Frank preferring the likes of Christian Pulisic, Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling and Noni Madueke whilst the number ten position or number eight positions could be occupied by Mason Mount or Mateo Kovacic respectively.

Frank signed Kai Havertz during the summer of 2020, but in actual fact, he ended up being one of the least favourites of his based on minutes played as this graph below from The Athletic shows.

Hakim Ziyech :

Once again, another Frank Lampard led signing, how can it be the case that the first two potential losers of the next few weeks are both his signings? Well, you would have to ask Lampard that if what I am predicting happens.

As you could see in The Athletic’s graph, Hakim Ziyech was ranked twelfth in terms of minutes played under Frank Lampard in his previous spell.

I do not see Lampard using Ziyech much, especially not over the likes of Raheem Sterling, Christian Pulisic, Noni Madueke and all the other wingers I had mentioned. I would even go as far as to saying that Lampard will play Mason Mount out wide instead of Ziyech in games where he wants to fit Mount in and have a different midfield.

The Morrocan is set to leave Chelsea in the summer and although it could be wise to play him and see if he can re discover the form he had in the first few weeks under Lampard, it seems unlikely that not only will he play, but also to perform to a high enough level for Chelsea to use that as leverage in summer transfer negotiations.

Marc Cucurella :

I am sure there is going to be more than three players over the next few weeks that are unhappy with the amount they are playing but my final inclusion for now on the losers list is Marc Cucurella.

Under Potter, Cucurella was used in a back three, but now under Lampard, not only do I see him using a four at the back in Premier League matches in which case Ben Chilwell will start every game, I also see him preferring the imposing yet calm figure of Benoit Badiashile on the left side.

We also know that Frank Lampard loves Cesar Azpilicueta, could he even be used in a three-man defence with Kalidou Koulibaly or Wesley Fofana shifting over to the left?

Personally, I see numbers going against Marc Cucurella and as a fan of the club, Lampard will know that he has been widely inconsistent this season since arriving from Brighton.

Next season is really important for Cucurella’s Chelsea future and I am sure that he will be hoping that Luis Enrique ends up being the next coach with the Spaniard preferring high levels of technical quality and press resistance, which Cucurella certainly offers.

My final mention would be Kepa Arrizabalaga but I already discussed him during Edouard Mendy’s section.