Frank Lampard can’t catch a break at the moment, with his Chelsea side now languishing down in eighth place in the Premier League table.
A fifth defeat in eight games has really piled the pressure on the shoulders of the young manager, but talkSPORT pundit, Perry Groves, believes Lampard only has himself to blame.
MORE: Another ex-Arsenal star blames Ozil for playing fiasco
“With Chelsea, the biggest worry is I don’t think the players are having Frank Lampard and Jody Morris as a coaching team, and they are not having Frank Lampard as a manager,” he said on the Sports Bar show on talkSPORT Radio, cited by talkSPORT.
“There is no intensity and no desire. […] Chelsea’s team is screaming for a 4-2-3-1; that is the best formation.
“But Frank Lampard is not seeing it, he makes no changes at half-time and keeps the same formation!
“I’ve said it before: When he got the job it was too early for him. He was learning his trade, and he did well last year in his free season because there was limited expectation and he couldn’t sign any players.
“But this team has gone backwards with £220m spent on it! He’s not an elite manager, and he’s at an elite football club.”
The major bone of contention is that amount of money which Lampard spent last summer.
Had his team been storming the league or at least be in the conversation, it wouldn’t be a talking point.
However, buying amongst the best strikers in the Bundesliga needed to work for Lampard and, frankly, both Timo Werner and Kai Havertz have been incredibly poor this season.
It does seem a case of when, not if, Lampard will be removed from his position, but that won’t solve the problem of players not being able to integrate into the more physical English top-flight.